Last week, I was playing FIFA 08 on XBOX 360 with my friends. After a thorough beating in a custom champions league, we thought let’s give PES6 a try. After we bought FIFA 08, we had not played PES6 at all. After we loaded the PES6, within seconds from kick-off, we realised that something was not okay with PES. We simply could not relate to the arcade style of PES anymore. We didn’t even finish the half. We switched back to FIFA 08, back to real football gaming!
I was always a PES fanboy. I absolutely H-A-T-E-D the EA series. I have been playing Konami series only since PES4. I’ve played enough of PES4, PES5, WE8i and finally thousands of hours of WE9. I had never thought that I’d ever choose FIFA over PES. But I have. I never thought FIFA could outperform PES. But they have. I know it could be hard to digest. But guys, FIFA 08 is the hands down winner this season. I haven’t seen PES 2008 yet but reports confirm that Konami has lost this battle.
So how did FIFA 08 dethrone PES, the eternal emperor of football gaming? They’ve got all the licenses of 620 teams in 30 leagues, next gen graphics and most importantly, they’ve got the gameplay right. Yes, they’ve got the gameplay spot on this time. Let me explain in detail.
Goodies
An area where FIFA has always done well. There is certainly some pleasure in playing for Chelsea, who are in fact called Chelsea and wear official Chelsea kits. During the PES days, I’ve always downloaded the patches to make it look as real as possible. With XBOX 360, such mix and matches are much more cumbersome and sometimes impossible. So, too see all the teams that matter to us having the correct team, player names and the most accurate kits, is absolute joy. An interesting point is that whenever the game is loading, you don’t have to look at screen that stares back at you with the words ‘loading . . .’. In such situations, you’ll be put in what’s called an arena where you as the player can do/practice your stuff and beat the goalie. So, you’re always kept busy, which is a nice idea. The commentary is awesome. Andy Gray and Martin Tyler do a fantastic job despite some repetitions. Crowd noise and chants are life like. The stadiums models are so beautiful and the pitch is nice looking too. You know what, you have an option of how you want the pitch to be mowed, squares, circles etc!
Gameplay
The important aspect of the gameplay in a football sim is the ball physics. This has been the problem area for FIFA for many years. There were either inaccurate physics or purely scripted ball movements. This time, it is near perfect. Sometimes, you might feel that the ball is floating in the air for too long a time, but that’s rare. Another important aspect is the speed of the game. The pace of the game in FIFA 08 is perfect. It’s not too fast or not too slow, it’s just perfect. It allows you to pass the ball around or keep the ball until you find an opening. Now you can think which makes the game more creative and interesting. The passing and setup in PES was more intuitive whereas in FIFA 08 it’s based on your planning and creativitiy. One thing that PES players will find difficult in FIFA 08 is the player response. In PES, the moment you hit the ‘pass’ button, your player passes the ball. In FIFA 08, there is a slight delay in player response and this can be quite frustrating initially. After you get used to this lag, it wouldn’t matter much.
You can’t beat a whole team by dribbling with one superstar player. Dribbling is not difficult but since the game is slowed down, it is quite possible for the defender to knock you off and take the ball, if you’re not too far away, unless you can do the step overs, rainbows, rabonas etc. These special tricks incredibly easy to perform but only with special players. Basically, you don’t have to use six fingers on eight buttons to perform a trick move. When I say easy to perform, I’m referring to the training mode. In match situations, either that does not come to my mind or I don’t want to take a risk of losing the possession. There is no referee on the pitch but appears only during cutscenes, mostly with a bad news. I don’t have a problem with referee not being there. Sometimes, similarity of the referee’s jersey and that of my team confuses me, so that’s fine.
Also, I’ve played WE9 for two years with no crowd in the stadium. So, that’s fine. Only this time, I feel that formations matter in a FIFA game. Your choice of formation can really impact the result. Similarly, if you get someone on your sent off, unless you do something preventive, you can get punished. Still, I’ve not found too much value in substituting players. In PES, the fatigued players would run so slowly that you’ll automatically substitute them. Also I always thought the PES method is little faulty. Can’t professional players play 90 minutes? I understand they would get slower but it should not be that they simply walk or jog.
Defending is easy one may say. All that you’ve to do is make some contact with the opponent and you have the ball. When you play skilled players or play in higher difficulties, you can see attackers dancing through your defence and get into a 1-on-1 situation soon. FIFA 08 rewards only enterprising and creative football. In PES, it is quite possible for anyone to build an attack without too much of difficulty. In FIFA 08, you really have to sweat a bit to make a decent end product from an attack. The size of the pitch is really big and game play is slow which mean you’re seeing what you see in real football. It is not an arcade game. It is a simulation, a near-perfect simulation.
You also have a tournament mode, where you can create your own custom tournament in the way you want. It can be a knockout cup, group league cup – with or without two legs with/without away goals rule, or it can just be a league. As you have 620 licensed teams, you can practically re-create the current champions league set up and win the trophy for Chelsea. You should be playing and winning tournaments. For every win and especially tournament wins, you’ll be awarded points. You can use these points to unlock the third kits of the team you want, that is if you have enough points. So, the game keeps you busy, in someway or the other.
Single player games
EA has brought in a massively addictive revolutionary feature in the history of football gaming. That’s called ‘Be a Pro’ mode. In this mode, you play as one fixed player for the whole match. You may say that this is not new, what’s new is the amazing camera angle. The ‘Pro Cam’ is not your regular camera angle that you’ve normally played in a football game. Suppose you play as Malouda as the left winger, throughout the match this cam does the difficult job of showing both Malouda and the where the action is happening. When the opponent is attacking us and the ball is in our penalty area, Malouda may not be doing much. He may be just waiting for his moment in the left midfield. The cam angle shows both the ball and Malouda. This means that the camera will have to move swiftly to capture the action around the ball without losing sight of your player, which it does ever so smoothly. The real fun is when you (Malouda) get the ball and dribble through the left wing and when you get closer and closer to the penalty box, the camera gets closer and closer to you, to such an extent it is almost a first person view, like you’ve seen in some of the action shooter games.
This is a game where you’ve to think like a footballer, you have to use the space, lose your marker, stay in your position etc. In a full match, you’d get the ball, may be 10 times and you should make the best of these chances. You can ask for passes and lobs to which your team mates would respond, if you’re in reasonable positions. At the end of the match, you would be rated bases on successful passes, shots, goals, occasions of out-of-position, wrong calls for passes etc. I tried playing as John Terry and that must have the worst performance by Captain John in whole career. It takes a lot play as a defender in football games. The exhilarating thing is when the camera gets behind you (that’s when you have the ball), the camera height is so low that you could see the crowds in the stands cheering and chanting, which makes you feel that you’re ‘there’.
Overall, Be a Pro is a fanstastic football experience, which has very very long replayability value. The pity is, this fantastic ‘Be a Pro’ mode allows you to play only exhibition matches, you cannot play a competition or leagues. They’d have saved it for FIFA 09, I guess!
The smart thing EA has done is, even when you’re playing a non-’Be a Pro’ match, such as a league or a cup competition, you can still use the ‘pro cam’. The single player game is best payed in this camera mode. If you’ve not played this camera angle, then you’ve not played FIFA 08. The AI thinks better now. They play creatively and punish you if you leave gaps in defence. As always, there are various difficulty levels. If you’re already a football gaming genius, I’d advise you to start with ’semi-pro’ difficulty and slowly move along.
Multiplayer player offline games
PES was pure gold in multiplayer games. While playing multiplayer games, FIFA 08 can be a little frustrating. That’s only until you get used to the speed of the gameplay, weight of the ball and the player capabilities. They’ve made those animations in such a way that it resembles real football. Stuff like making a 180 degree turn as you’re gathering the ball, is not every player can do. When the players fall down, they may not be able to get up on their feet within second (thinking about Drogba here 
). These things can be frustrating as a gamer but it is realistic. You should expect such things in FIFA 08 and be disappointed. PES has pampered us quite a bit in someways, but EA have managed to create a real football game.
XBOX Live
Alongwith the ‘Pro Cam’ stuff, FIFA 08 online is the best feature of this game. Many many lounges and leagues and you get matched with your opponent in few seconds. In gameplay, there is no lag at all. It plays as smooth as an offline game. EA have also now introduced 5 vs 5 online ‘Be a Pro’ games. Here 5 players on each side pick the players they want to play as, and compete in a ‘Be a Pro’ game. Yesterday, I played this mode for the first time where I joined a Real Madrid vs Espanyol game, where I played as Robinho in rght midfield. I played crap football in the first half, losing possession, mis-directed passes and all that. In the second half I played better, making an assist and setting up another, before missing an open goal sitter. We won 3-2 after extra time. With FIFA 08 online, you’re promised of thousands of hours of exciting football against random opponents of varied style and strengths.
Gripes
So, is FIFA 08 the absolutely perfect game? Impossible. We’ll always find faults even with the best. The areas where FIFA 08 miss out slightly is in the way it differentiates team strengths and player strengths. In a certain level, if you’re playing Newcastle or Slavia Prague, you won’t find too much of a difference. Similarly in my team selection, there’s not too much to choose between Shevchenko and Kalou. May be I’ve to play more games to realise the difference but atleast in PES such differences are very obvious. Also, the menus are little difficult to view and navigate. And of course the player response time. It’s ok that we’re getting used to it, there should not be too much of a gap in the first place between my button press and the player actions. I play with wireless controllers. That could also be the reason.
Plus points
Pace of the game
Size of the pitch
Player animations
Be a Pro mode
Pro camera angle
Excellent online features
Minus points
Clumsy menus
Not too much of a difference between various team
Player strengths and specialties not very obvious
It can be very hard for some people (that’s why I play on semi-pro difficulty!)
Final Word
I never thought I’d say this – ‘FIFA 08 is the best football game I have ever played’. This EA’s effort makes you feel you’re playing football, makes you think like a footballer or makes you watch a game like a football fan. This is the closest thing to real football. You have to use the space, have sound tactics and make the right decisions to win a match – just like in real football. I always felt that either PES should get the licenses or FIFA should get the right game play. The latter has actually happened. If you have not bought this game, I strongly recommend this game for you. I’ve written this as a very very satisfied customer. Football is simulated, finally!
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