A guest review by Barnsey

It’s probably easier to start this review with a brief history lesson... Kick off, Kick off 2, Dino Dini's goal, sensible soccer, Kick off 3, FIFA International Soccer, FIFA 96 through to FIFA 02, Pro Evolution 1 to 6 via ISS Soccer, then finally Fifa 07 and now Fifa 08.

Now I’m sorry that just looks like a list of names but basically you've just joined me on a timeline through my footballing career. I played a bit of Sunday league and for my school when I was younger, but I realised at a young age that my aspirations of lifting a trophy at Wembley were going to be slightly restricted by the fact I can't do anything talented with a football to save my life.

So I switched to playing football on computers, starting on my Amiga 500+, via my PC then through the various consoles I’ve owned. Now granted, my playing skills on screen are almost as bad as my real life attempts to kick a football around but at least this way I can't get hurt or dirty.

What I’m trying to say is that I know football games, I’ve played them a lot, a HELL of a lot, I’m not ashamed to admit I’m not the best player in the world, but then I like to think that some of the guys I play with are pretty damn good and the hidings they deal me are countered by the occasional sweet win that I get 'a la giant killing a premiership team', I remember certain goals, I remember where I was, I remember who scored them and I remember how great it felt to score them (25yards, turning chip shot playing as Rangers vs. Inter Milan, on a Saturday afternoon 21st October 2005 playing
Pro evolution 4).

Now I’m sorry I’ve rambled on but I just want you to know my history and know how excited I was about getting FIFA 08, you see, ever since Pro Evo 5 and FIfa 06, I’ve felt disappointed with football games, I’ve felt that games just lost something. Fifa went too serious and simulation and Pro Evolution no matter what some people say was a completely different playing experience on Playstation vs. Xbox, the Xbox was slow and choppy and the playstation maintained its fluid playing style. Basically my friends and I, with a few exceptions, stopped playing football games. So I was looking forward to the new fifa because I felt that 07 had potential last year.. it didn’t quite deliver, but it was better, they'd built the game from the ground up and it was a good start.

What made me want 08 more was the fact that finally on a console, I could play as the lower league teams, I’d been waiting years to finally play as the real teams I support, forget the clash of the titans of United v Chelsea, I wanted to get to grips with a grudge match between Wolves and West Brom, I wanted to play Notts County Vs Nottingham Forest, Wednesday Vs United.