Another year is another series. I want to make a reservation right away that the assessment and the feeling of the game come from there, from the time when we managed to get a new series of footsim. Now, of course, you understand that the game repeats itself, but in 2008 I was glad of the novelty, like a boy.
FIFA 08 has introduced interesting innovations in the Career mode. One of these innovations is the sports school, which allows you to develop young players and gradually prepare them for the main squad. Sometimes I used it, but then I realized that it was boring and more interesting to assemble a team of famous football players. There are also more opportunities for personal training, which gives coaches more control over the development of individual players. These elements add a bit of depth, but it cannot be said that they make a career more exciting - rather, they are just useful improvements that diversify the usual regime without making it revolutionary.
Unfortunately, the graphics and visual aspects have hardly changed, which is what the fans, including me, were waiting for. Electronics decided to submit another part of the series on the same engine, as far as I remember. This makes the game slightly outdated. It seems that the FIFA series at that time needed a new engine and more significant visual updates to step forward. Football players, stands, stadiums - all this already looks standard and rather formulaic. "FIFA 08" continues to follow the usual formula, and against this background, the lack of serious graphical improvements only underlines that the time to switch the game to more modern "rails" has been missed.
One of the most interesting innovations is the "Be a Pro" mode, where you can focus on the career of one player and control only him on the field. This allowed us to take a fresh look at the football match, making it more personal and exciting. However, this mode has its drawbacks. Sometimes it is difficult to control one player, given the overall pace of the match and the need to stay in the right position, which requires habituation and patience. As a result, despite the interesting idea, the mode is perceived more as an experiment and does not achieve to become a full-fledged independent mode, which is worth the time when you need to play a whole season for one football player. It's just boring.
As a result, "FIFA 08" leaves a double impression. On the one hand, she was pleased with new details, such as the sports school in her career and the innovative "Be a Pro" mode, which allows you to immerse yourself in the match from the perspective of one player. These additions have diversified the gameplay and shown that the series has potential for development. On the other hand, the lack of major improvements in graphics and visual aspects highlights the stagnation the game was in. The game remains a familiar, proven experience for fans of football simulators, but this is not enough for it to become a landmark step forward.
8 out of 10.
