Games
FIFA 2008 - CROSS PLATFORM
So Fifa 2008 is to take on the Konami Pro Evo franchise head to head for Christmas for the first time. It shows how much EA games think of their rivals that they credit them with creating a real sense of competition in the football genre. But while Pro Evo has taken leaps and bounds in the past 5 releases, that’s only because it had such a long way to come. In it’s 13 years of existence, EA’s Fifa brand has been played by gazillions of soccer fans and there’s little doubt these developers have enough time and experience under their belt to put up a serious fight to any competition.
If you haven’t played Fifa you’re either an alien, a girl or a vegetarian. Hell even most vegetarians have played Fifa. It is the one game every console-owner in Ireland and the Uk have owned at one point in their lives. Of course it’s a football simulator and includes almost every aspect of the game that you might want to replicate. Fifa’s biggest bragging rights lie in it’s sheer size. You can play as one of over 600 licenced teams in 30 leagues with 15,000 players in all, which dwarves the selection available in it’s main rival Pro-Evolution. Of course the big news for Irish fans is that this year, for the first time, you can play as any of the FAI league teams from Derry City to Bohemians to St Pats. You might find the commentary a bit sparse compared to a big-name match, but it’s nice to get some recognition for local football stars.
This has been tweaked a little every year and this latest edition is no different. Advanced skill moves have been introduced into the game and you can flip flap, step over and rainbow flick to your hearts content if you can manage the maneuvres. While the idea is very welcome - we’d all like to have our players be as nimble as Ronaldo - it’s actually quite difficult to master and isn’t quite as fluid as it should be when you do get it right.
Making things harder still are the improved sensitivity of the controls. Now you don’t just have to be careful with the weight and direction of every single touch, but you also have other factors to consider as the game is dragged one step closer to real-life simulation. Get your head round this: every time you shoot, the following can affect the result. 1 which foot you shooting with 2 the proximity of a defender who might put you off 3 your level of balance when you strike the ball 4 how dry or well-maintained the pitch is 5 how good a striker you are and 6 how tired you are and 7 your teams emotional state at that point in the game. And we think footballers get paid too much? Don’t be ridiculous.
Another new addition is the Be A Pro mode where you can play as your favourite player all the way through the match. That means, if you’re playing as Steve Gerrard from Liverpool your job is to stay in position, make the tackles and feed the ball to the forwards. The camera and player control always stays with you even when you haven’t got the ball and you can get prompts to tell you if you’re out of position. It’s quite a clever little idea and a totally new way to play the game – fair dues to EA for finding a new angle on a very old franchise.
Better late than never, there is at last a 5 a side option available to players on the ps3 and xbox 360. Not everyone wants to play a full 11 on 11 with random strangers or computer controlled players on your squad so it’s nice to have a small size fixture available for the first time. The whole online experience is indeed bigger and more varied with the ability to create players, manage teams through all the tournaments and match your wits against other hooligans on the net. For now, all strong and confident at Fifa 2008 as the best version yet hits the shelves for next-gen consoles, but it will all kick off when we see what Pro-Evo have to offer in the next few weeks.
Jonathan McCrea
