Most of the goals come from crosses into the box rather than skilled runs down the centre. Scoring is difficult as a mentioned earlier. You won’t always be on the ball and you’ll end up running round the field quite a-lot but when you run through the defence and power the ball into the net you’ll feel personal satisfaction. It’s a new way to play a football game and it works quite well. Instead of controlling the whole field of eleven men you’ll control your favourite player and try and enhance his performance in that position.
One of the best new features this year which adds a new angle to the game is the Be A Pro mode which allows you to control one key player from a team of your choice. But if you do master them you’ll be laughing all the way to the cup final. This is strictly for the pro players however as it is pointless trying to pull off a trick, failing and letting the opposition head up the field and belt one in. Making a welcome return are skills which can be mastered by tapping and pushing buttons and triggers. Tactics are the key now and thus the learning curve is higher than in previous titles but is a joy to behold once mastered. FIFA 08 changes this and makes you pass, play and perfect your shooting until the ball hits the back of the net. Games of old required you to run down the centre, shoot and score. The engine feels more fluid and tighter to play with and requires more skill on your part.
The real update to FIFA 08 is in the underlying game. Graphically FIFA 08 looks very much like its predecessor albeit with some smoother looking pitches and players and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’ve just gone and wasted another £40 on a crap update. On the surface some of the changes look minimal. After all unless your name is Manchester United, real-life football doesn’t have that many goals per game! It’s frustrating and you’ll be throwing the controller at the near misses that you can’t quite convert but what you can be guaranteed of is a comprehensive and slick footballing game. FIFA 08 focuses on making a realistic football title with the minimal of goals possible. Football is all about scoring, right? Wrong. To put it in simple terms, FIFA 08 is bloody difficult. I’ll set the record straight, it does have flaws. With an introduction like that you’d probably be thinking you’re about to consider purchasing the definitive game of the year. To some this is about as good as sex gets. And not similar to those girlfriends you want to leave firmly in the past, it is purely about the future for FIFA. Vladislav Vassiljev's ludicrously late challenge on Griezmann was penalised on a video assistant referee (VAR) review, with the Atletico Madrid forward converting the resulting spot-kick before Mbappe's crisp finish finally rounded off the scoring.FIFA 08 is a radical improvement of those stale instalments of past. Pokatilov managed to prevent Maksat Taykenov bundling into his own net, with Moussa Diaby denied a goal for offside before Rabiot's close-range finish. Hernandez levelled with Coman for assists when he laid it up for Benzema to prod in at the near post, and the Real Madrid striker was soon celebrating again when he finished into an empty goal after playing a delightful one-two with Mbappe. Mbappe's hat-trick was completed by the 32nd minute, the forward rising between two static defenders to head home brilliantly from Coman's inch-perfect cross. It took just six minutes for Mbappe to get Les Bleus rolling with a cushioned, side-foot volley from Theo Hernandez's cutback.Īnother six minutes followed before Mbappe struck again, drilling home after Kingsley Coman – playing at right wing-back – had got beyond the hapless Stas Pokatilov, who had rushed out of goal wildly. Mbappe starred on his Paris Saint-Germain stomping ground, with two superb first-time finishes paving the way for him to wrap up his hat-trick with a fantastic header before he then teed up Karim Benzema after the break.īenzema had made it 4-0 just four minutes prior, with Adrien Rabiot and Antoine Griezmann getting in on the act before Mbappe fairly had the final say in an emphatic victory.
Going into Sunday's (AEDT) Group D fixture knowing a win would ensure its spot in Qatar, the reigning world champion had little trouble in brushing aside a team placed 122 places below it in FIFA's latest rankings.