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| FIFA 08 |
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 Release Date: 10/9/2007FIFA 08 brings you closer to the action than ever before. Experience a game that matches the complexity, finesse, and play of the Beautiful Game. More user control, social gameplay modes, and even greater depths of authenticity ensure that football gamers and fans can elevate their game and rise up to win glory for their club.
It’s hard to believe that EA’s FIFA franchise has been around since 1993. We’re talking grunge era folks; plaid flannels, the Gulf War, and not even an outside chance that Team U.S.A. would be a World Cup contender…or even be in the big dance for that matter. Things have changed a great deal from the early 90’s, both in the video game world and in the way that U.S. citizens embrace soccer. Systems are hundreds of dollars this day and age and rival many desktops in power, and many U.S. gamers are actually more excited for E.A.’s next-gen football that is NOT endorsed by Mr. Madden. But regardless of the console’s power or a country’s view on soccer, EA Sports has been there with a FIFA title for fifteen straight years. Title number sixteen-FIFA Soccer 08- is EA’s most complete soccer title to date. On paper, FIFA Soccer 08 is packed with the features that soccer players expected in the previous two FIFA next-gen titles, but EA was unable to completely deliver. We’re talking about online leagues, advanced ball striking physics and analog stick player maneuvers that are both signature and free-form at the same time. But as we all know, video soccer games are played on pitches of 1’s and 0’s and not on a legal pad, and EA has built up somewhat of a reputation as a “paper champion”. To their credit, EA has put out some of the finer sports games ever with the latest versions of the NHL and NFL franchises, so there are some seriously high hopes for FIFA Soccer 08, especially after perusing its feature sheet. The one thing that no soccer fan has to worry about in FIFA Soccer 08, and has never had to worry about in an EA soccer game, is licensing. This title simply has more sports licensing than anything that has come before it, as it seems to have players and teams than there are people in Redwood City. While a pro hockey or college football game may have a few hundred teams and a few thousand players, FIFA Soccer 08 comes equipped with 576 licensed teams within thirty sanctioned leagues and a total of fifteen thousand players (we feel sorry for the EA interns assigned to FIFA Soccer 08’s data entry). Pretty much, if it is soccer –related and it’s on this planet, it’s in FIFA Soccer 08. That’s authenticity taken to its apogee. Better-than-average facial and body maps (players still look greasy though), stellar animation sets and realistic pitches help to make FIFA Soccer 08 feel more authentic too. Bottom line: If we had separate scoring for “Licensing and Authenticity” we’d give FIFA Soccer 08 a ten, and probably petition to have the maximum score changed to eleven. Having some obscure player or team in a professional sports game is only the be-all-end for sim junkies and those that simply must play with their hometown favorites. The rest of us non-club managers and casual soccer fans need serious substance to go along with the experience; that is, the title has to have a feature set at least around the status quo for a 2007 sports title. It did take EA two Xbox 360 iterations to finally figure this out, but they seem to have caught up nicely with the current trends in sports video gaming. We’re talking about online leagues of course, first and foremost anyways. Screenshots  
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