Blacklover
Youth Team
Started manager mode with Caen and they are rubbish so it's quite a challenge.
1 win and 2 draws later these are a couple things that need a look at:
Gourcuff who is rated ****e and because of that should not be in over the several forwards and strikers they have rated much higher, anyway he actually bags 2 goals and I sub him out in the 85th minute and end of match some other forward on my team with 0 shots gets man of the match. Game still does not know how to handle subbed out man of the match candidates.
AI teammates still do not come to the ball but once you pass, control switches almost immediately to the pass recipient, which is good, but it still does not give you the step needed to beat the CPU to that ball that should not be a 50/50 ball or worse 100% CPU's ball.
Keepers are very sound, but still cannot hoof the ball past the halfway line? Odd.
Free Kicks that are not shot on goal, corner kicks and goal kicks all need this new method of aiming/placement. A placement circle that is present on the pitch that denotes where the ball might land. If you are a highly accurate passer/crosser, the placement circle would be very small and you could almost pinpoint where you want to place the ball, if you are average to poor the placement circle should be very large and could randomly land anywhere in that circle. Not sure of any player that just boots the ball without knowing where they are going to try to place it, particularly those players taking the spot kicks.
Temporary injuries are cool, but if a CPU player is temp inj and you play the ball out of touch for treatment to ensue, when it’s resolved the CPU does not give the ball back to you like they should. Fair Play.
There should be some sort of shield button, pace control is a start, but there just needs to be more impetus on the player controlling the ball actually trying to keep it away from the player trying to take it. Simply having an arm up and dribbling/ball control using the foot that is farthest from the defender would do.
Some better things:
Rotating the ball from one side of the field to the other is finally a very sound tactic and you can exploit the CPU when you do this, but not unrealistically. The CPU does slide over to protect but you can create mismatches and temporary lanes to the goal that I have never seen in previous versions of FIFA.
Kits are very nice, different sponsors on home and away as it should be. I would like to see some sort of Kit Viewer, I was disappointed to see that when you Create a player that you cannot select teams there as that would be a perfect location to browse the kits.
Goalkeepers are positionally sound, maybe even too much on some teams.
CPU tries to shepherd you towards the sidelines and does a good job of pressuring anything down the middle, I wish I could say the same about my own CPU controlled teammates though as one goal came off a dribble right down route 1 that all my defenders just backed away from. I suppose that is cool as it does happen now and then but why does it always happen for the CPU?
Free agent list finally in the game for transfers. I wish you could trade international players to club teams though. I could use a top notch Russian Striker at Caen.
Be a pro is actually quite fun. It doesn't feel as good to me as the actual normal game does but I was shocked at how playable it actually was and will probably spend some time with it.
All in all there is plenty to do in FIFA 08. Manager mode, one off games, custom tournaments, Be A Pro mode, the challenge mode, the online options etc
I wish Dynamic weather was in and the Russian League and some gameplay sliders and I would be completely happy.
1 win and 2 draws later these are a couple things that need a look at:
Gourcuff who is rated ****e and because of that should not be in over the several forwards and strikers they have rated much higher, anyway he actually bags 2 goals and I sub him out in the 85th minute and end of match some other forward on my team with 0 shots gets man of the match. Game still does not know how to handle subbed out man of the match candidates.
AI teammates still do not come to the ball but once you pass, control switches almost immediately to the pass recipient, which is good, but it still does not give you the step needed to beat the CPU to that ball that should not be a 50/50 ball or worse 100% CPU's ball.
Keepers are very sound, but still cannot hoof the ball past the halfway line? Odd.
Free Kicks that are not shot on goal, corner kicks and goal kicks all need this new method of aiming/placement. A placement circle that is present on the pitch that denotes where the ball might land. If you are a highly accurate passer/crosser, the placement circle would be very small and you could almost pinpoint where you want to place the ball, if you are average to poor the placement circle should be very large and could randomly land anywhere in that circle. Not sure of any player that just boots the ball without knowing where they are going to try to place it, particularly those players taking the spot kicks.
Temporary injuries are cool, but if a CPU player is temp inj and you play the ball out of touch for treatment to ensue, when it’s resolved the CPU does not give the ball back to you like they should. Fair Play.
There should be some sort of shield button, pace control is a start, but there just needs to be more impetus on the player controlling the ball actually trying to keep it away from the player trying to take it. Simply having an arm up and dribbling/ball control using the foot that is farthest from the defender would do.
Some better things:
Rotating the ball from one side of the field to the other is finally a very sound tactic and you can exploit the CPU when you do this, but not unrealistically. The CPU does slide over to protect but you can create mismatches and temporary lanes to the goal that I have never seen in previous versions of FIFA.
Kits are very nice, different sponsors on home and away as it should be. I would like to see some sort of Kit Viewer, I was disappointed to see that when you Create a player that you cannot select teams there as that would be a perfect location to browse the kits.
Goalkeepers are positionally sound, maybe even too much on some teams.
CPU tries to shepherd you towards the sidelines and does a good job of pressuring anything down the middle, I wish I could say the same about my own CPU controlled teammates though as one goal came off a dribble right down route 1 that all my defenders just backed away from. I suppose that is cool as it does happen now and then but why does it always happen for the CPU?
Free agent list finally in the game for transfers. I wish you could trade international players to club teams though. I could use a top notch Russian Striker at Caen.
Be a pro is actually quite fun. It doesn't feel as good to me as the actual normal game does but I was shocked at how playable it actually was and will probably spend some time with it.
All in all there is plenty to do in FIFA 08. Manager mode, one off games, custom tournaments, Be A Pro mode, the challenge mode, the online options etc
I wish Dynamic weather was in and the Russian League and some gameplay sliders and I would be completely happy.