14 DAY TRIAL // 
Some gamers will simply refuse to believe that Fifa has changed the way sports are viewed on the PC and consoles in general. After seeing and playing the next installment, Fifa 08 at GC in Leipzig, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people will want to get their hands on this extraordinary piece of technology.
We have to make a serious difference in the way FIFA is built for different platforms and for the time being the PC is lagging way behind. The first two versions I played were the PC and PS2 version of 08 and I wasn't too impressed with the changes. Sure, they were some awful betas but nonetheless any gamer could spot the differences. The first thing that will strike anyone is the level of complex animation that envelops everything. The players are moving a lot more naturally and I tried really hard to get an accurate shot from a considerable distance without much success. Every time the goalkeeper not only did his job a lot more accurately than in the previous Fifa but he was considerably more gracious too. The EA branded gamepad (with rumble) made a lesser impression and I found them to be quite annoying, even if they were "inspired" from the PS3 counterparts.
From these two versions I moved on to the PS3 version and the producer explained why the version for PC and PS2 looks kind of crappy and the one for the Sony's behemoth looks almost godlike. The main difference comes from the engine and the PS3 (and Xbox 360) uses a next-gen engine as the other two versions are running on current-gen. He went even further and explained how they actually calculated with Mayan mathematical precision the impact between the player's boot and the attached shoelaces to the ball, making practically every hit completely different from the previous one. The effect is not for show because I tried shooting several times and the ball had completely varied from trajectory to effect. Even if I was training with Ronaldinho he was nothing like the Adidas commercial where he shows the ultimate perfection. Besides the amazing physics the game features a bizarre (in a good way) mode of training where you can control the player from a quasi-third perspective and the guy that made the first demonstration had Ronaldinho even more proficient than in real life. I thought to myself: God damn, I have to learn everything all over again but right after I snatched the gamepad from his dying hands (just kidding of course, I would never kill somebody over the game? maybe maim a little) I discovered the system has improved significantly and it was a lot easier to perform all kinds of tricks that were a little difficult in Fifa 07 like Ronaldinho's signature move with the fake step sideways. The first and major modification is the fact that the player has to hold down L2 button in order to activate the trick stick. It may seem like a hustle at first touch, but I gained the relevant knowledge in a short time. The second obvious and exercised scheme is not as useful as it is beautiful: when holding the L2 button down you have to press the R1 to make any player start lifting the ball and performing simple tricks, the most important one being the volley. It may not have a significant impact in a human-to-human match but it's sure nice to watch it.
Another interesting feature that EA seems to be quite proud of is a trainer mode that allows the player to actually control the entire team exactly the way a real trainer would. The details are a little bit fuzzy as the developer went pretty fast through it but it will be quite an interesting gimmick in the final version. The game will also feature all the other stuff we've used from EA and they even included other leagues and preset modes.
My hands were shaking a little bit when he handed me the gamepad especially because of the way he asked the question: "Who wants the one with the Konami controls?". My hypocrisy took over and with a shy gesture I grabbed the controller. Remember, this is a guy from EA and not some hidden Pro Evolution Soccer fan. I actually enjoyed the candor and their straightforwardness when it came to their main competitor and I think and I hope Konami is the same. The game seemed natural and a lot more balanced and the main reason was the goalkeeper. As I was saying before they not only worked on his animations, they have also managed to make him a lot more efficient. The players were clearly different and I finished the game with an honorable 2-2. The AI is not half-bad but I have no idea on what the difficulty setting was. I'm not the slowest guy around when it comes to FIFA and the PS3's cell processor was doing a decent job at keeping me constantly on my toes.
When the presentation was over I had only one thought: this game will be the best one since the 1999 version. Many people believe that FIFA has been on a down slope since then, but the 2008 one will certainly change this belief. If Konami doesn't perform some kind of a miracle with the next PES they will be in deep.... trouble because this is by far the best football game I have played and seen. My biggest surprise concerning EA is their new policy concerning the fan base. They have actually listed what the community had to say and a lot of good propositions have made their way into the game, like the well-known problem of player selection on the defensive. The launch is not too far away and everyone will get their chance to enjoy this promising football simulation.
