FIFA 08 Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

Oh dear. It's like Boro in the UEFA cup final.

Fifa 2008 was actually released in 2007 but I guess EA are aiming to ensure it covers the 2007-2008 season. Which is why I was confused when I picked my favourite team of Liverpool to play with and even more confused when I noticed they still had Craig Bellamy in the team, and then completely flabbergasted when I saw that Bellamy was black.

EA have been hitting the top end of the mobile market and releasing some really solid hits which is why I found this to be such a disappointment. It's not like I was even playing it on some low end phone, the K800i is capable of so much more, as clearly demonstrated by having a quick go on another EA title Need for Speed Prostreet which looks just fabulous.

This, unfortunately does not. But let's skip the poor graphics, racial misrepresentation and the odd whistle for the sound aside for the moment and concentrate on the gameplay. Quite frankly it's really poor. In an era where mobile gaming is really beginning to step up a notch and we can play some flowing games like Real Football 2007, the speed of Fifa 2008 is mind boggling.

It's like wading through a muddy field in about four layers of clothing. It can take ages to get from one end of the pitch to the other even if you're erratically sprinting. Passing is ok, but don't get me started on the shooting. Oh, all right then. I couldn't believe that the shot button is the right soft key. Left soft key would have been ok, in fact any other key would have been ok, but you can't customise the keys at all. What this means is that when I'm dribbling with the joystick, I have to let go to shoot as the right soft key is far too close to the stick. This is not a pleasant experience.

All is not too lost as you can play on landscape view which is one of the only nice touches in the game. This makes the screen size and the controls a little bit easier to use, but not a lot. All the moves are in there, you can dribble (no tricks though), pass, shoot, volley and header, but the game feels really clunky when playing. It looks nice in training mode but in the match it doesn't play very smoothly.

The game also isn't that realistic, and while EA have paid for licenses, the squads are all wrong. There are plenty of teams in there for each main league in the world, and 8 international teams, but I was expecting more. I was also not expecting the AI to be able to score from any angle on the pitch, and some of the goals scored are ridiculous. Yes, there's a replay feature but this is becoming standard in football games of this ilk.

There are a few modes, training, friendly, season and club challenge so you may be occupied for a while. Club challenge is basically a series of scenarios where you have to come from behind or win with ten men. And when you or the opposition scores, it doesn't help to have Andy Gray's face and an inane comment alongside it.

I could go on for longer, but this review is already getting pretty long and suffice it to say if you didn't get the gist that we were distinctly unimpressed, then, well, we were distinctly unimpressed.

There are far better and bolder games out there, this is not terrible, but was a bit of letdown from the usually solid EA.