PLATFORM: Xbox 360

PLAYERS: 1-4 RATING: 3+

GENRE: Sports

With EA’s popular soccer franchise having undergone a substantial rebuild for Xbox 360 last year, the 2008 iteration is more about refinement than revolution. Generally speaking, FIFA 08 plays a bit slower than before. That’s not a bad thing, it simply means you have to be a tad more tactical in your approach play. FIFA 08 is thus now less frantic than Konami’s rival Pro Evolution Soccer series and is more of a footy purist’s game than a pick-up-and-play arcade fest. Scoring has been tweaked slightly; shooting from distance is less effective and it’s harder to score from crosses. There are also some new skill moves, none of which seem to have any bearing on the ease with which opponents can dispossess you in single player mode. However, the real point of interest is the new Be A Pro mode, whereby you take control of a single player for an entire game (tip: don’t bother playing at left back unless you like standing around watching as everything else happens… um… nowhere near you, usually). It’s a fascinating new take on a genre that has had few radical shake-ups recently. The drawback is that the mode is available only in one-off single player games, so there’s no facility to develop your player’s skills over a season. No doubt this will come in future iterations of the game, and although the mode is undeveloped in present form, it gives a tantalising glimpse of the directions EA will eventually take FIFA.

RICHARD BETTS

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