FIFA Soccer 08 [PS2]

There are now custom formations in the game, so you'll be able to assign your players specific attacking and defensive runs and fiddle with the general formation of your team, just so long as you stay within the confines of the rules. It's another simple addition, and one that will likely be taken for granted, but the fact it's in there at all earns the game some extra brownie points.

Aside from the new modes that we've already mentioned you'll also find several old favorites that, while they haven't changed much, are still fun to toy around with. The meat of the game will still be the Manager Mode for the true soccer diehards, as it gives you total control of the moves of your favorite team. You can now assign preseason friendly matches and there are also a slew of new training options, some of which are unlockable, that will help develop your team's football prowess.

FIFA 08 also has the classic challenge mode that seems to be finding its way into more and more of the EA Sports lineup. Essentially you select a section of the world, then a league to play in. You'll then be given a specific set of win conditions, like scoring a certain amount of goals on a given difficulty and the only way you can unlock the next challenge is to beat those win conditions. The mode is simple enough but there are a ton of challenges to work through and should definitely be appreciated by the many diehard fans that are out there.

On top of that there's a practice mode to hone your skills, a lounge mode, and a tournament mode where you can participate in plenty of licensed tournaments or create your own, depending on what you're in the mood for.

The overall feeling that players will get from playing FIFA 08 on PS2 is one of control, much more so than what we see on Xbox 360 and PS3. You can adjust to passes a bit better, you can nudge guys off of balls in the air, and you can call defenders to your goalie when he takes a goal kick so you can stop your human opponents from getting a cheap steal and then getting an easy score. You'd be hard pressed to find anything to add to FIFA 08 on last-gen systems at this point, which makes this version feel like a fitting conclusion to an awesome series.

It's too bad that the presentation values of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 couldn't be melded with the awesome gameplay of the PS2. As it stands the visuals on the aging system are definitely starting to show their wrinkles. The blurry player models from last year's game are back again and everything from the cinematics to the replays just don't look all that good. Even the pitch looks a bit barren. The animations still performs well, even if they aren't as detailed as they are on current-gen platforms.

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