Call us lucky or call us bastards, either way we feel like some of the more privileged soccer fans on the planet right now. We have spent the last week flip-flopping between the FIFA 08 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 codes that have come into our office, trying to determine who has made the best buys, devised the winning formation and put the form on the board to take the sport into the next-generation and demand your hard-earned. To try and determine which game you, the humble soccer hooligan, should bet on in this year’s big Christmas final – FIFA vs. PES.
Of course, like any big sporting encounter, there has been months of off-field training and preparation. For FIFA it has all been about big spending. They’ve got the licenses, they’ve got the modes, they’ve got all the fancy skills… but can it all gel together on the field into one cohesive attacking threat? PES on the other have made only minor cosmetic changes to their line-up, instead focusing on strengthening the relationships within the squad to keep the threat moving forward like a well-oiled machine. It’s an intriguing match-up, one of the closest we’ve seen in years, and we’ve gone behind closed doors to see how both camps are pulling up mere weeks away from the big event.
We’ll start with the current champion, PES. Konami know they are onto a good thing, and they’re not about to rock the boat. As we have experienced with the last few instalments, the changes here are minimal: it’s not so much about making a huge evolutionary step and bringing the series to next-gen in style, as it is about making the same game a little prettier and a little smarter. Although the final product is far superior to the – well, let’s just say it – pathetic X360 iteration of last year’s game, we’ll compare the PS2 versions to give you a better idea of how it has changed.
The most notable change is in game pace. We would estimate it plays about 20% faster than last year’s game. That is in the speed in which the ball moves, the players move and the entire game gets around the field. This does require a bit of gamer adaptation before you slip back into the groove, but is ultimately more enjoyable. Perhaps it’s merely a bi-product of Konami working with the improved processing speeds of the next-gen machines? It’s certainly a strange reversal from last year’s game, which was slowed down from the 2006 game.
Shooting has certainly had a good going over and we found ourselves blazing goals which last year would have seemed impossible. At this early stage this scares us a little because PES is famed for its incredible balance and this gives the game an attacking edge. Especially because the A.I in the preview build wasn’t up to scratch on player selection and body-blocking, both of which take away from your ability to defend. We’ll monitor this closely, but given past experience, we don’t expect it to plague the final release.
The overall feel though is of a game that is one step closer to perfectly simulating the real deal than it was last year. The game is amazingly fluid, and the importance of good timing even more acute. You’ll notice now that the ball goes all the way to the character model – none of this goalkeeper stopping a ball that’s a foot from his hand bullshit – and that influences the gameplay accordingly. You have more control of a ball at your feet and, conversely, if you let the thing get a little too far away from you it can be pinched be a defender more easily. This requires much more selective use of the turbo button as ball control becomes looser with speed of motion: another subtle change that just brings the game back to Earth a little bit more. Unfortunately, despite unfulfilled promises, Konami have not forwarded us the X360 code and to be honest we doubt the Japanese developer will have it running as nicely as the PS3 game. Let’s just say it’s ‘the vibe’ we’re getting.
This leaves a gap in the defensive line for FIFA to exploit, given that its X360 iteration is actually shaping-up a little prettier and more fluid than the PS3 version. We tested the code on PS3 and X360 and would certainly nod in the favour of the latter. In addition, FIFA will be available to the all-important Wii market – but exposure has never been EA’s problem. It has been gameplay. FIFA has been chasing PES’s gameplay for years and never quite got there, prompting them to rewrite the code from scratch this time around… finally.
Certainly FIFA is making a concerted attempt to take the concept of soccer gaming into the next-generation. A new trick button, combined with the right analogue stick (Fight Night style), gives the attacker all kinds of funky moves that are applicable to specific player’s strengths. You should see Ronaldinho dance! The visuals have really stepped-up, with some fantastic player animations and independent ball physics that give both shooting and general paddock navigation a sense of weight and realism. In addition, the A.I has been remodelled with each character (apparently) making 1,000 decisions a second based on what you are doing with the ball - a huge leap from last year’s game, we’re told.
Perhaps the most significant evolutionary step in FIFA 08 is the new Be-A-Pro mode, which allows you to play as one specific player on the paddock. If you choose to play Gerrard in midfield, for example, you are expected to act in that role and the camera will dynamically pan out depending on the position of the ball. So, if the goalkeeper has it the view is a wide-screen end-to-end shot. The goalie kicks it up to a defender and the camera moves in a bit. You spy a gap, make a run and the defender plays a through-ball into your path. At this point the camera is pretty much in third-person as you have the ball. You can see what the player would see and pull off the new trick moves in a much more immersive fashion than you do on your typical ‘TV’ angle. You’ll even get some camera ‘jogging’ Gears of War-style should you clamp down the run button. And then as you centre the ball the camera spins to follow the lob and pans back out. It’s very, very well done and it’s extremely fun.
There is no doubting FIFA’s effort to take soccer to the next level with this mode. Indeed, the long-term idea is to have 11 on 11 online matches we’re everyone plays their position just like real deal – they told us this mode is expected in FIFA 11. And we’re not even going to begin rattling-off the impressive numbers of licensed heads and jerseys they have throughout the game, although we will point out that the inclusion of the A-League is a huge boon for the series’ Aussie fan-base. But for all that FIFA have done to drive the sport forward in the gaming space with FIFA 08 there is still one prime problem: gameplay.
PES plays better: at least in the preview code. For all its amazing technical advances, FIFA’s engine just can’t keep pace with the human mind, and PES’s can. In FIFA you find yourself constantly willing players to turn a little quicker, pass a little faster, run into those huge gaps. In PES the game is with you, all the way down the flank and into the box.
What this ultimately means is that, bar the few gamers who want to try their luck at the A-League or give the new Be-A-Pro mode a whirl, very few PES gamers will make the leap to FIFA in this iteration. Alternatively, FIFA fans that give PES a solid session may very well ‘transfer’ the other way. But we tend to think that PES’s number is almost up because, despite the gap in gameplay quality, FIFA is closing in and it will only narrow further as EA master their rebuilt engine. Plus, it’s getting hard to deny the new and intriguing features FIFA are offering. Hell, they may possibly do it this year: we’ll give you the final word as soon as review code arrives.