FIFA Soccer 08

"Die Electronic Arts, Die!!!"

Oh
My
God

When I bought Fifa 08, I was full of great expectations. I'm a "Fifa fanboy", if I say so myself. I don't say PES/WE sucks, I just liked Fifa better. And yes, that's a past tense. This game is a complete failure.

First of all, there are the problems in the tactical department. The AI doesn't make any sense. If the opponent has the ball in midfield, your entire defense will be running around in the penalty area. In real football, they would still be a lot further ahead on the pitch, as there is a certain little thing called offside in football. Your midfield will be where your defense is supposed to be at that point, and your attackers will be where your midfield is. Meaning you will have to start defending with your attackers. Sure.

Sometimes when you're attacking, your own teammate will, without a reason, crash into your player, so you end up losing the ball. That happens at least one time per game, which is too much. When your attacking on the wing, and you're preparing for a cross, the two teammates who are in the box will suddenly charge AWAY from the area, leaving nobody in the box to finish your attack. Imagine your on midfield and in possession, and the entire right wing is completely desert, except for one of your teammates. In that case, that one player should run into that wing. What happens in Fifa? He just runs away from the wing and into the overcrowded center of the mifield. These are just a couple of examples of the idiocy in this game.

Then there are some other really annoying things, that have nothing to do with tactics. For example, if you get a pass, it takes your players at least two controls to really have it under control. If you want to make a pass before these two controls are done, it will always end up being way too soft. Which makes quick transitions from wing to wing nearly impossible. Sometimes you're defending and you're pressing the shoot button, to get that ball away from there, and instead of shooting, your players will first attempt to control the ball, and you will end up losing it. Fifa has never been perfect, but this is the first Fifa where you constantly have the feeling that your players aren't doing what you want.

Then there is the ref. Laughable. You will get sliding tackles from behind when you're through on goal, nowhere near the ball, and the ref will be waving play on. But the slightest touch you have on them, will be punished. They will get free kicks from just out of the box without you ever pressing a button. On legendary, a freekick just out of the box almost equals a goal against.

Injury time has always been annoying on Fifa, but here it's just incredible. My record is getting a goal against in minute 107. No, this is not extra time, just injury time. It's unbelievable. Also, every time the ball goes out for a throw-in, time keeps running for 30 seconds.

The keeper is downright the most horrible I've ever seen. He's especially horrible in high crosses, where he will just run towards where the ball is being crossed; even if that is where the corner flag is.

Then there's heading. It's incredibly easy for you to give a high cross and to head it. The only way you can head is by pressing the shoot button. You can "aim", but there's no control over the power of the header. You will end up heading the ball over an empty goal half a meter away from that goal, and you won't be able to do a thing about it. It just happens. The CPU has the same problem, fortunately. In fact, the lower someone's statistic for heading is, the easier it is to score from headers... Sure.

Speaking of statistics. Fifa is always bragging about having soooo much statistics. But they're completely useless, especially on higher difficulty levels. It doesn't matter if you play against Lincoln City or Real Madrid, they're just as good. A defender with 40 for speed will catch up easily with the likes of Eto'o, etc.

Then there's the sound. I always liked the way the crowd cheered when you score in Fifa. Well, that's over too. The volume of the fans when scoring a goal is incredibly weak. I also pity the Porto fans. When playing with or against Porto, home or away doesn't matter, there will be one "fan" using a megaphone the entire game. The weird sound is the most annoying ever, and will make you wanna throw up. I like the commentary in English, but if you are Belgian or Dutch, then you can start crying now. The co-commentator is the dumbest *sshole ever. He starts EVERY phrase with "jaa" ("yeah" in English") and half of the words he says is "euhm".

Finally, the quality of the disks is horrible. 1 time out of five I play this game, it blocks and I have to restart. This has nothing to do with my PS3, as every other disk I have works fine. I have to friends who own an Xbox360, and they have exactly the same problem as I do.

Don't think I'm just someone who's frustrated because he sucks at the game. After three seasons in Carreer mode, I won the Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey twice and Spanish Supercopa twice on Legendary with ALMERIA.

The game has its fun moments, but the frustration is just too big. I didn't mention a whole lot of other negative points, so you can imagine how much this one sucks. The only ones recommending this piece of crap are brainless Fifa fanboy nerds, period. Stay away from this crap, and buy yourself PES.

I've always been a Fifa fan, but that's over now. The entire friggin' team who "worked" on it should get the bullet for this. I opted for the 2/10, cause I liked the explanation. "Severe problems prevent any real fun". Couldn't say it any better.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/08

Game Release: FIFA 08 (EU, 09/28/07)