Update 'eth the Blog 'eth (Games)

FIFA '08 Demo

Now there's essentially 3 types of people in this world; those who like and play the Fifa franchise (i.e. the goons), those whom play the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise (the cool cats) and those whom don't care either way, usually because they don't like football (!) but sometimes because "they like both". Pah!

Previously, I would have placed myself among the "cool cats" (naturally), however I did waver slightly when I got my hands on the 360's Demo. As always, the game looks pleasant, but it's usually what's under the hood which has let FIFA down in the past. This year there's a huge improvement. Here's a mini-review I did on PESFan.com

Bad things

Goalkeepers. Terrible. The A.I is atrocious; they never come out to close players down, when the balls played through - or anything.
There's still too many "Hollywood saves" in my opinion. Not to mention how they seem to be diving in slo-mo. That leads me onto my other annoyance:

Game speed. Was it lagging? I changed the camera from the default cam to a closer one and it seemed to play faster? Anyway, it's still rather sluggish. It's possible that I'm just used to playing PES6, but I also watch a lot of football too and don't think it's at that pace.

Passing. It's harder, but there's something about through passing that doesn't seem right. Either it's intercepted or it'll get through to your player no matter what. And by that I mean it felt scripted. At one point the ball went through a defender and my own player as it dropped over (through) my player and I volleyed it home (looked nice, but when I saw the replay I wasn't impressed...) There's no freak occurrences, no mistakes (unless obvious)

Good things

The tricks. Difficult to pull off (partly to do with the speed, maybe) but also because they're just difficult to pull off successfully. However, once mastered it could make the game too easy (I'm still not a master of PES6 a year on...) Once you do pull them off though, they work effectively - leaving the defender in your wake.

Animations. As expected they are very good, and they do seem to add to the experience instead of just being something aesthetic.

Physics.... Are better but still not as good as PES in my opinion. It's less scrappy than reality, less gritty - but it is better and has been improved. I like how players will stick out a foot to try and gain advantage of a short pass, though it happens sometimes when it is required to which may become annoying.

Overall. I'm really considering getting it. It used to be a 'this or that' choice between Fifa and Pro but I feel this year they both (will) offer totally different things. When it comes down to it though, PES is my kind of game. Fifa still feels much more like an individual showboat than a team effort.

FYI: Pro Evolution Soccer also has a release date (October 26th) with Fifa releasing their title a month before (September 28th)