After months of hype and speculation, the demo of FIFA 08 has finally arrived. I’m not going to get into the whole FIFA/Pro Evolution debate (well, maybe a little bit) but I can now finally see a time when football purists will embrace the EA game and stop all the snide remarks about it being too one-dimensional and babyish.
The latest incarnation in the popular series proves to be a real monster of a sports game with several new features designed to make it play more like a real game of football and to hold the interest of serious gamers for more than just a few days. New features include manual controls, custom formations, enhanced AI, management mode improvements, the ability to create your own online football clubs, and a replay sharing facility.
However, probably the most radical new addition is the Be A Pro: Co-op Season mode, where you assume the role of a single player and join up with your friends or other online players to form a team. This makes for a real test of your individual skills and puts more pressure on you to perform for fear of a rollicking from your team-mates. With lush graphics and animations and impeccable commentary and sound effects, as well as a massive array of real teams to choose from FIFA 08 has come of age, and now has the on-field realism to match its massive bank of licensed players and teams. I would argue that right now, this is probably the best football game you could play. [Video over the fold]