Last week, I compared this year’s two main football games, FIFA 08 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. And I scored both of them around about 80/100, although FIFA08 was the better of the two. (See FIFA08 v PES 2008) Today, because it’s so different, I’m reviewing the Wii version of EA’s rejuvenated footie sim. And first impressions aren’t good.
EA have had to alter a lot because of the Wii’s unorthodox control system. It’s now all done with the motion-sensing malarkey. Even stuff as simple as passing, which is just a tap of one button on the PS3, 360, etc. has become incomprehensibly difficult. If you’re wondering how the game differentiates between passes, through balls and shots; it doesn’t. Or more accurately, it can’t.
To accomodate for these crap controls, the camera has been placed behind one of the goals, end to end. There is a reason to this madness, as the directions of the controls wouldn’t match up with what was happening on the screen if you could change camera angle. Not that it matters. Even with the vertical camera, you’ll soon resort to gesticulating wildly, hoping to get lucky with a goal. And the camera angle gets even worse if you are Player 2, and you have to shoot from the top down.
Other than those points and the lack of the PS3/360’s crisp graphics, it’s business as usual. 15,000 players from 621 teams in 30 leagues make up the roster, and it has a few pretty decent minigames too. All in all, however, this is crap. It has the glitz and glamour you would expect from a FIFA game, but the controls and the actual gameplay are so poor that it’s hard to appreciate.
Judgement:
Camera? Crap. Controls? Crap. Passing? Shooting? Defending? All crap. Wii football games will be good eventually, but this really isn’t. Avoid this. It’s crap. 53.
