Right, i guess Ill give my impressions now. The regulars probably know what my issues were with 07 and UCL. But for those who dont ill just add them.
Previous FIFA issues:
07:
Goalies: Either they would make super 1-on-1 saves, concede daft freekicks with poor positioning/reaction or they would make daft skippy jumps to save all the long range shots, whether powerfull or tame, the animation would always be the same.
Shooting - I never felt incontrol, it was too subtle with the stick, the slightest difference in angle could mean the ball would be centre, wide right or wide left. Just felt like no control. Also the finesse shot you had far too much control, with easy goals being scored.
Heading - Poor, you had to time it right, but even then there was a lack of control, randomness to it that you could still end up chesting the ball in your area. Attacking headers were unrelated to the cross, a high/lob cross and a standstill jump shouldnt allow you to make a bullet header. 07 did!
Nets - Steelcage
Player likeness - This too was poor, they looked like LOTR extras and also in stats and stature little difference was felt between players.
Dribbling - Now im not a dribble king but the slow, over animated players meant you could never do a quick turn to get away from the opposition and keep possesion. It also carried on for too long meaning you would end up feeling like you were controlling a boat; "oooh im going right.....ooh im going left...ooh too far....oh ive lost the ball again".
Overal speed - I felt this was oke, not as fast as pes but it felt ok.
UCL:
This game just didnt get a look in because the responsetime was just far too slow for me. And together with the animation lenghts of 07 meant i felt in even less control. Cant comment on the rest as i didnt get to find out.
History:
I hadnt played a fifa since RTWC98 untill last years 07. And that only kept me going for about a month. Ive played all the pes' from the iss snes days right up to pes6 on the 360. Ive given up on pes because i play singleplayer and couldnt stand another year of the ML, wereas i wasnt sure i would get fifa08 as an alternative because 07 and UCL just werent good enough for me and if 08 was too close to them i wouldnt bother either.
So with that said, you guys know where im coming from.
On to FIFA08, Ive played about 10 halfs now and messed about a bit in the arena. The short version is; i agree with Jack. Now the long version which ill comment on my issues with the previous games;
Goalies - Look very good and balanced, great last gasp saves, good footing for basic catches and no "super" saves, skippy jumps, etc. So in other words they look and play really good. The only negative, and its a really really small detail, is that single handed saves made with the palm that go over the bar can be a bit powerfull/high. But thats it so far. Also close saves are now realistic, you can hit a controlled "slow" shot under his body into the corner. Just time it right.
Shooting - In the arena its really quite excellent, it takes getting used to, i still am, but the response time and stick control means you can pretty much place it where you want. In 07 you had quite a bit of control, but getting the correct angles on shots was really hard and not good enough. In 08 though you notice you have more "angles" to work with and because of that have better control. Ingame shooting seems to work aswell really, although ive not had too many opportunities. I hit a nice longrange effort with carrick that was long and just past the post. Ive hit a couple of hard close range shots which have received a good, fair save. No super save, just how you would expect. You can also adjust the amount of comp control your shot gets, from totally free, to semi, to assisted. (assited i think means you choose power but the shot will be on goal and the rest is based on all the ai calculations (wind/footing/favorite foot/defenderpressure/skill/etc), semi means you choose subdirection (left/right/centre/?) and power and manuel you choose everything (how far left/ how far right). Thats what i think/remember it to be. It feels good and accurate. Ive tried one finess shot, a classic henry, edge of the area coming in from the left with a right foot shot, it went past the goalie and hit the post, bounced back and eto was on hand to blast it in. Im not sure how good it works, as ive only tried it once with a lot of space and one of the best players and correct power. So in real life you would expect henry to come close, which is what i did. Dont know how easy it will be to consistently do it though. Shots also vary nicely, hard high, hard low, etc. Nice dip and bounce to them.
Heading - It seems good to me, i think pes had just that bit more control, but its a great improvement on 07 for me and feels good. They could maybe have some more speed/power when doing defensive headers but it could also be my defenders/timing/pass header/far header skill atm. But they are nicely contentested across the pitch. Ive conceded quite a few attacking headers from freekicks witht he strikers making good runs or my defender not picking up someone. A couple have gone in, but most are either saved or just over the bar/wide. Seems balanced. Havent had the chance to get onto an attacking header as ive got crossing on manual and its tough.
Nets - Really nice, good animation to shots and a nice crisp sound when the ball hits it. The only negative i can find is sometimes the sound of the crisp net will be slightly longer then what you would expect when the ball hits the side netting. A wide header/shot will hit the side netting for only a small amount of time (im sure you know the type where the ball gets "caught" in the net and stops instead of going along it, in a natural way). This is greeted with the nice crisp sound, but its just a fraction longer then you would expect it to be. Thats it so far, overal really good.
Playerlikeness - Well as Jack said you do really feel the difference between players, speed, turning, strenght make a big difference. From a distance, tele cam, they look pretty good to me. Not on pes level, but you can see, and more importantly feel, which player you are using. Giggs,rooney,ronaldo ect are all easily spotted. Same for figo, crespo, matterazzi, etc. Closeup however they still seem to have weird proportions, either the shirt/shorts are to baggy or they are to wide, but up close its not as good. Quite a fwe of the faces look good, but not on the pes level. You only really notice it in replays/cutscenes which for me arent important. When playing the game you do notice which player you are using.
Dribbling - Trick stick dribbling looks really good, in the arena. In a match you will end up on you face or dispossesed looking a bit of a twat. But the actual animation looks really good, smooth and natural. More importantly though, atleast for me, is the shortness and speed of close control. Its tight and fast, meaning you can do quick turns/adjustments to keep possesion or just to get past a player. I could never do this in 07 and it really pissed me off. But now 08 has shortened/speeded up the close control animation i once again could go past players and react to the opposition instead of the planning it needed in 07 and the even more planning needed in UCL. Ive noticed myself quickly going to the right or turning back to keep possesion. Its not as sharp as pes, but its damn close! Maybe it is, but having to use the analog slows me down as a d-pad oldskooler. Another important aspect to this is player stats, doing a quick turn to keep possesion with rooney works well, he's strong and can keep the defender off the ball, however if you use a lightweight, say scholes, and you have viera trying to get the ball you are likely to be dispossed. You can turn, but viera is going to still be coming at you and he's just to strong. So like real life you either need to keep you distance and not let the opposition get to close, or you have to have a better/stronger player to still be able to come out on top. Pretty accurate imo.
Responsetime - Its good, fast and sharp. Its close to pes, but body weight/strenght/speed play probably an even greater role then in pes. You can do quick turns and stuff and pass it about quickly. Shooting is also very responsive. Really the whole game is just far more responsive meaning you can react to the opposition when passing, moving, shooting, heading, etc. Something which wasnt really possible in the previous games.
So final thoughs and my apologies for the length.
FIFA07 represented a new, serious direction from EA towards football. They built a brand new engine and most of us saw it as a game with great potential. It had its bugs and annoyance but the actual base of animation/ai/graphics were there. The overal gameplay just wasnt good enough at that point in time with some elements lacking and other just poor. UCL, from what i read, corrected quite a few of those. The stutter/collision bug to name one, but for me the responsetime was far too slow to play it.
FIFA08 has forfilled the potential that was shown with 07 and looks to become an excellent game. it plays well, looks good, sounds good, and has the teams/modes/leagues to kepp us playing it.
Im getting it, i was always more looking forward to this then pes because as a single player pes just doesnt have anything more to offer. FIFA on the other hand has two things now, the obvious teams/leagues/modes/etc but more importantly gameplay that is equal or nearly equal to pes. Some of the animation and movement is really stunning, and the way players react to each other and the collisions between each other is really good. The graphics and sound is also excellent. It can again be improved, maybe another increase in speed, but its a great game now. Not could be, not next year, but now and pes will really have to come up with something really, really, really good next year otherwise even the most diehard pesfan will be looking at fifa and seriously considering buying it. For me this year there will onyl be one game, and its easily FIFA08.
EDIT
Supercancel is in its rt+lt. You can see it in the control menu
