FIFA 08 Demo Impressions

[dbdynsty25]

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG

Umm...he is right you know.

But it could be the greatest game ever created on the f'n planet and it would garner the same response from him. Wow...he got ONE right.

[GB_Simo]

I'm clearly playing a different, far more enjoyable demo than the majority here, then.

All I've played so far is Man Utd vs Barcelona, me as the English team each time. If Barca don't have a better option on the ground, they play the aerial ball against me quite willingly. They've scored more than one goal against me that came from a ball played through the air, in fact. The forward players are making good runs into space, this being particularly evident in the case of the opposition team since I'm doing a wonderful job of giving them room to move into. The ball physics seem improved, and I like the shooting so far too. I've had a shot from Giggs take a wicked deflection and loop just wide, and teed up Scholes for a shot from distance that was on his left foot and took a bobble as it got to him. High, wide and not all that handsome, the end result, exactly as it should be.

I've won every header I should have won, and a couple with players whose ability in the air saw them win balls they should have really lost. Having turned the passing assitance off, I'm having no trouble with through balls either, though it's hard to gauge standard passes until I adapt to using manual pass control again.

I really haven't seen anything so far that's stood out as a glaring problem. Everything that's happened to me has been quite believable, and what I'm seeing in front of me bears some kind of resemblance to a football match, which is all I ask. I'm far, far happier with this demo than most of you.

Edit: Forgot the player switching. I have had a few problems with that, mainly when one of my players is under AI control and closest to a loose ball - sometimes I'm not being allowed to take control of him.

[seanmac31]

I'm clearly playing a different, far more enjoyable demo than the majority here, then.

All I've played so far is Man Utd vs Barcelona, me as the English team each time. If Barca don't have a better option on the ground, they play the aerial ball against me quite willingly. They've scored more than one goal against me that came from a ball played through the air, in fact. The forward players are making good runs into space, this being particularly evident in the case of the opposition team since I'm doing a wonderful job of giving them room to move into. The ball physics seem improved, and I like the shooting so far too. I've had a shot from Giggs take a wicked deflection and loop just wide, and teed up Scholes for a shot from distance that was on his left foot and took a bobble as it got to him. High, wide and not all that handsome, the end result, exactly as it should be.

I've won every header I should have won, and a couple with players whose ability in the air saw them win balls they should have really lost. Having turned the passing assitance off, I'm having no trouble with through balls either, though it's hard to gauge standard passes until I adapt to using manual pass control again.

I really haven't seen anything so far that's stood out as a glaring problem. Everything that's happened to me has been quite believable, and what I'm seeing in front of me bears some kind of resemblance to a football match, which is all I ask. I'm far, far happier with this demo than most of you.

Edit: Forgot the player switching. I have had a few problems with that, mainly when one of my players is under AI control and closest to a loose ball - sometimes I'm not being allowed to take control of him.

I'm having the same experience. I think some people just see non WE-soccer and turn up their noses like it's winter vegetables or something. It plays a lot more like soccer than Madden does like football, I'll say that much.

[FifaInspected]

I need to share my .02 on this as someone who plays and enjoys both WE and Fifa.

I've enjoyed the demo and have played no less than 12-15 halves. First thing that I noticed was that the game plays more organic than previous next gen Fifa titles. I've seen multiple shots get deflected off a player and then hit the post or go in, i've seen the CPU play an aerial game..On one occasion 2 CPU players heading the ball near mid field before the ball hit the ground. If seen my AI guys react very well on corners, attempting to ditch their markers (and on one occassion succeeding) I've also seen my AI guys make brilliant runs into space.

I also love the manual through ball.. Talk about brilliant. Now we need to have a feel for how far we need to pass the ball.. I love this. That alone adds a whole new dimension to Fifa titles. If you want to make a long through pass with manual turned on, hold down the button and you will not ahve any problems. I also like being able to use the manual through ball to play the ball into space or knock it forward a bit.

Sure, there are some valid points above, but it's Fifa.. and it's a good Fifa when compared to previous versions.

Add to what should be a very entertaining game... 600+ teams, 30 leagues, automated online leagues, online interactive leagues, online 5 on 5 with up to 10 consoles (Last I read, AI players reportedly will make up the rest of the roster so the games will be 11 v 11) and I'd say it's going to provide us with an incredible good time.

[/list]

[RobVarak]

I was a lot more enthusiastic about the online leagues before this cataclysmic F--- up with the EA world servers. Not exactly inspiring confidence.

[wco81]

Two on two online, though, and I am there.

But that won't be until a couple of months after release, right?

And I think each human player must use the Be A Pro mode, which means a different camera angle for each human player?

[Rodster]

Good impressions from GB, Sean and FIFA. I might have to try the demo again. I'm back to neutral on whether to get FIFA 08, kinda leaning towards it. When is PES coming out for the PS3/360?

[JRod]

Good impressions from GB, Sean and FIFA. I might have to try the demo again. I'm back to neutral on whether to get FIFA 08, kinda leaning towards it. When is PES coming out for the PS3/360?

October for the UK/Euro release. I'm guessing next Feb for our version. Unless you have a PS3 then you can get PES:UK and it will work. Heck I would recommend you do that anyway because it will be easier to get all the option files.

[Rodster]

Good impressions from GB, Sean and FIFA. I might have to try the demo again. I'm back to neutral on whether to get FIFA 08, kinda leaning towards it. When is PES coming out for the PS3/360?

October for the UK/Euro release. I'm guessing next Feb for our version. Unless you have a PS3 then you can get PES:UK and it will work. Heck I would recommend you do that anyway because it will be easier to get all the option files.

I may actually go that route if they're not asking a ransom for it on ebay. Won't the option files for the UK version work on the US game? I don't see why not. I think this is one sports game i'm definately getting on the PS3 unless Konami screws up the framerate.

[seanmac31]

Some nice moments taken from the demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKA0swMMJRI (CPU passing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85nDd8f0gcg (shot and save)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pucf7zMAF3A (special move)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEEPUmdUfes (special move)

[ScoopBrady]

Well I can't say I'm surprised at this thread at all. Oh well, I really enjoyed the demo. I particularly like the pro cam. For those that liked the isometric camera in NHL 2k7 you should give this camera a try.

[pk500]

It's a stunner, but I'm with Adam and SeanMac on this one: The FIFA 08 PC demo is pretty damn good.

I think FIFA 08 does some things better than the vaunted PES 6 on the PC, some worse.

THE BETTER:

-- Players without the ball run into space much more intelligently than in past FIFA's and as well as PES 6.
-- The AI for man marking is miles better than any previous FIFA and as good as PES 6.
-- It's SO much easier to dink a small lofted pass in FIFA 08 than it is in PES 6. It's accurate, too.
-- Shooting controls, one of my main, longtime quibbles with Konami soccer, are much better in FIFA 08 than in PES 6.
-- The manual through ball is very nice, as others have mentioned.
-- The new feature that allows you to switch to the proper defensive guy with a flick of the right stick is very nice. It allows you to play smart defense, but it's not an auto-switch feature. It's manual switch, but it manually switches you to the correct guy, who isn't always necessarily the guy right on the ball. If you have a guy running into space, the right stick manual switch will switch you to the defender covering that man running into space instead of the man with the ball. Pretty cool.

THE WORSE:

-- The CPU doesn't use the air enough. They move through the midfield well in the PC version, but everything is on the floor. The only time the CPU uses the air is to shoot or cross from the wings.
-- Pass speeds still aren't varied enough. It's not the laser ping-pong of past FIFA's. In fact, it almost seems the opposite. Every pass on the ground seems slow, deliberate. That's not a bad thing for build-up, but it almost seems that using the air is mandatory for any kind of quick counter-attack.
-- Ball physics aren't as organic as PES 6, but at least the ball is magnetically attached to the players' feet as it was in past FIFA's.

I've gone from having ZERO interest in FIFA 08 for the PC to planning on grabbing it. I'm curious to see if EA has cured one of the biggest flaws of all FIFA games, that every team plays nearly the same. A Second Division side could challenge Barcelona in past FIFA's. That shouldn't happen.

EA is definitely closing the gap to Konami. It's not quite at PES yet, but it's closer than ever.

Take care,
PK

[tjung0831]

It's a stunner, but I'm with Adam and SeanMac on this one: The FIFA 08 PC demo is pretty damn good.

I think FIFA 08 does some things better than the vaunted PES 6 on the PC, some worse.

THE BETTER:

-- Players without the ball run into space much more intelligently than in past FIFA's and as well as PES 6.
-- The AI for man marking is miles better than any previous FIFA and as good as PES 6.
-- It's SO much easier to dink a small lofted pass in FIFA 08 than it is in PES 6. It's accurate, too.
-- Shooting controls, one of my main, longtime quibbles with Konami soccer, are much better in FIFA 08 than in PES 6.
-- The manual through ball is very nice, as others have mentioned.
-- The new feature that allows you to switch to the proper defensive guy with a flick of the right stick is very nice. It allows you to play smart defense, but it's not an auto-switch feature. It's manual switch, but it manually switches you to the correct guy, who isn't always necessarily the guy right on the ball. If you have a guy running into space, the right stick manual switch will switch you to the defender covering that man running into space instead of the man with the ball. Pretty cool.

THE WORSE:

-- The CPU doesn't use the air enough. They move through the midfield well in the PC version, but everything is on the floor. The only time the CPU uses the air is to shoot or cross from the wings.
-- Pass speeds still aren't varied enough. It's not the laser ping-pong of past FIFA's. In fact, it almost seems the opposite. Every pass on the ground seems slow, deliberate. That's not a bad thing for build-up, but it almost seems that using the air is mandatory for any kind of quick counter-attack.

I've gone from having ZERO interest in FIFA 08 for the PC to planning on grabbing it. I'm curious to see if EA has cured one of the biggest flaws of all FIFA games, that every team plays nearly the same. A Second Division side could challenge Barcelona in past FIFA's. That shouldn't happen.

EA is definitely closing the gap to Konami. It's not quite at PES yet, but it's closer than ever.

Take care,
PK

There you have it people....GET YOUR ASSES TO CHURCH AND REPENT!!!! The Apocolypse is upon us!!!!!

[Naples39]

It's a stunner, but I'm with Adam and SeanMac on this one: The FIFA 08 PC demo is pretty damn good.

I think FIFA 08 does some things better than the vaunted PES 6 on the PC, some worse.

THE BETTER:

-- Players without the ball run into space much more intelligently than in past FIFA's and as well as PES 6.
-- The AI for man marking is miles better than any previous FIFA and as good as PES 6.
-- It's SO much easier to dink a small lofted pass in FIFA 08 than it is in PES 6. It's accurate, too.
-- Shooting controls, one of my main, longtime quibbles with Konami soccer, are much better in FIFA 08 than in PES 6.
-- The manual through ball is very nice, as others have mentioned.
-- The new feature that allows you to switch to the proper defensive guy with a flick of the right stick is very nice. It allows you to play smart defense, but it's not an auto-switch feature. It's manual switch, but it manually switches you to the correct guy, who isn't always necessarily the guy right on the ball. If you have a guy running into space, the right stick manual switch will switch you to the defender covering that man running into space instead of the man with the ball. Pretty cool.

THE WORSE:

-- The CPU doesn't use the air enough. They move through the midfield well in the PC version, but everything is on the floor. The only time the CPU uses the air is to shoot or cross from the wings.
-- Pass speeds still aren't varied enough. It's not the laser ping-pong of past FIFA's. In fact, it almost seems the opposite. Every pass on the ground seems slow, deliberate. That's not a bad thing for build-up, but it almost seems that using the air is mandatory for any kind of quick counter-attack.

I've gone from having ZERO interest in FIFA 08 for the PC to planning on grabbing it. I'm curious to see if EA has cured one of the biggest flaws of all FIFA games, that every team plays nearly the same. A Second Division side could challenge Barcelona in past FIFA's. That shouldn't happen.

EA is definitely closing the gap to Konami. It's not quite at PES yet, but it's closer than ever.

Take care,
PK

There you have it people....GET YOUR ASSES TO CHURCH AND REPENT!!!! The Apocolypse is upon us!!!!!

Well it's not as if PK is going to pay for this game.

[Rodster]

It's a stunner, but I'm with Adam and SeanMac on this one: The FIFA 08 PC demo is pretty damn good.

EA is definitely closing the gap to Konami. It's not quite at PES yet, but it's closer than ever.

Take care,
PK

There you have it people....GET YOUR ASSES TO CHURCH AND REPENT!!!! The Apocolypse is upon us!!!!!

PK how do you know first hand about FIFA 08 for the 360? You didn't buy one after all?

[pk500]

PC, my man. PC.

Take care,
PK

[Jared]

OK. I've gone from not happy to somewhat intrigued after playing some more and noting the following things:

I've also discovered the left trigger as the player run button (it would help me to actually read the instructions), and that's helped a lot. I've also discovered the wonder of manual/semi passing settings...

You get burned if you try and make a defensive play out of position. AI passing seems really good. I've seen the AI make some really smart passes that I haven't seen in a FIFA game before. They will punish you if you leave an opening on defense. It's difficult to do against the AI defense, because they don't seem to leave any holes in the middle of the defense. However, this could be because of the relative quality of the teams in the demo...if some League Two team is easy to beat because of bad defensive positioning...wow. That would be impressive. I am curious to see how this plays with crappy teams.

Passing is such a mixed bag...I experimented with passing at semi or manual, and at times I found it to be a lot more enjoyable...with more control, you could (at times) do what you wanted. But it was somewhat difficult to get the ball where you wanted, or to judge the correct weight of the pass (especially on through balls). I really wish through balls were smarter in this game...it's a big difference to me between FIFA and WE. I don't know how much control I want for through balls...a big part of me just wants it to be that if there's space, the player (depending on passing ratings) will put it nicely into space. I'm not sure if you have that in FIFA 08 yet.

Player seem heavier than in WE, and it seems more difficult to quickly cut to change direction. This isn't necessarily horrible...but I'm not "feeling" a big difference between Christian Ronaldo and a lumbering center back in agility. By the way, I'm not saying that there's no difference whatsoever. It's just that the difference isn't as noticeable as in WE.

Fouls seem a bit like WE9 in that there are a few more touch fouls than I expected. That's a definite bonus.

I'm also a bit torn on the shooting system. Shots are definitely dynamic...lots of spin, and lots of randomness. It's actually a wonderful thing...I've seen some pretty nice shanks (and no repeats of that first physically impossible Rooney goal I saw before). I'm wondering if it's too random...but we'll have to see after more gameplay.

It's growing on me. I can definitely say this: it's the best FIFA in a long time. Whether I'll be playing it instead of WE/PES remains to be seen.

Oh, and this post from the Evo-web forums clarifies some of the differences between the two games, and sort of helped me understand the "mentality" of FIFA 08 a bit better.

"In pes if you see a player with a bit of space infront/around him, say for example a winger, you pass the ball into the space infront of him and then he will go after the ball and you end up crossing/dribbling/etc. But the key is that you make him move by passing the ball. In fifa its the otherway round, you have to keep possesion and wait for a player to make a run/create space and then you pass. It seems something small, but it really does make a big difference to how you need to pass/play the game.

Whether you like it or not is a different matter, some will find that you dont have enough control because of it, other will say thats how football is played and it highlights the team ethic of the sport. I think its great, however I do notice how much of the ball i lose by trying to make something happen. Especially when attacking, most of the time ive tried to pass to a player so i can make him do a run/dribble/etc but more often then not the defender gets the ball. However if i keep possesion and wait for a player to make a run, then pass, it works. He gets the ball and has space to then do something. As mentioned with the xavi example, the get/give/ask method of playing. I also noticed this alot when i changed tevez for saha. Tevez for the most part stays central with defenders around him, meaning that most of the balls i played to him (in the pes manner) meant i lost possesion. Saha actually made a lot more runs and had more movement allowing me to keep possesion of the ball higher up the pitch as he was making space for himself for me to pass to."

[Jared]

Oh, and where's Macca? I want to hear your opinions on this.

[RobVarak]

Oh, and where's Macca? I want to hear your opinions on this.

He's busy putting goal after goal past me and Zep in NHL 08 LOL

[seanmac31]

I've been playing around and I think I've discovered the secret to making the auto through ball more effective. Basically, you need to initiate a run with the player you want to target right before you hit it. Voila- the through ball goes into open space rather than into the defender.

A few other quick notes:

-The game really gets the size and shape of the different players down. Wayne Rooney is absolutely hulking out there, as is Rio Ferdinand. They definitely move differently than the smaller players and are harder to get off the ball.

-You can finally shield the ball from the defender.

-The skill moves actually work very nicely once you get a feel for them, and EA has done a good job of keeping the players who are truly effective with them down to a minimum.

[JRod]

PK,
You are playing the old-gen version. That's the better one. The 360/PS3 uses the new engine which is piss poor. We are playing two different games.

[Jimmydeicide]

I've been playing around and I think I've discovered the secret to making the auto through ball more effective. Basically, you need to initiate a run with the player you want to target right before you hit it. Voila- the through ball goes into open space rather than into the defender.

A few other quick notes:

-The game really gets the size and shape of the different players down. Wayne Rooney is absolutely hulking out there, as is Rio Ferdinand. They definitely move differently than the smaller players and are harder to get off the ball.

-You can finally shield the ball from the defender.


-The skill moves actually work very nicely once you get a feel for them, and EA has done a good job of keeping the players who are truly effective with them down to a minimum.

Yeh? well what about Tevez? may be a slight error there. Hes built like a brick shithouse, looks more like the bronze statue in Jason and the Argonauts.

[pk500]

PK,
You are playing the old-gen version. That's the better one. The 360/PS3 uses the new engine which is piss poor. We are playing two different games.

John:

Interesting.

Well, then it must be an improved last-gen engine because this year's game is much better than FIFA 07 on the PC. That still had all of the hallmarks of the past FIFA games, such as laser-like shot speeds, dopey ball physics, horrid AI.

This game is noticeably better.

Take care,
PK

[pk500]

Yeh? well what about Tevez? may be a slight error there. Hes built like a brick shithouse, looks more like the bronze statue in Jason and the Argonauts.

I think Tevez's face and head bear a strong resemblance to Fred Gwynne dressed in character for Herman Munster. Talk about a blockhead.

Take care,
PK

[Rodster]

Yeah i'm looking forward to the PC version especially with all the great mods for it. It's good to hear the PC game has been refined some more.