Those damn tricks...
To pull off a trick you need to hold down the left trigger, hold your left thumb-stick in the direction you want to move and move your right thumb-stick into various positions in order to pull off the likes of step-over or a 360 roll.Now, you also use the right trigger to run faster in FIFA 08, but for some reason you can't run fast and use the trick system at the same time. This means that you can be running down the pitch, but in order to take on the defender with a trick move you'll need to slow down to get past him. It just feels awkward at times and you does mean that the momentum of an attack seems to be lost, plus it's also pretty difficult to master without being tackled. On the positive side, this does mean that online matches aren't full of people constantly doing tricks and taking the mickey out of you and when you do pull off a trick successfully it feels like a satisfying achievement.
Where the FIFA franchise has almost always excelled is in its presentation, but because there's so much on offer in FIFA 08, the menus are fairly cluttered and can be fairly confusing to navigate and a number of the editing options, such as the creation of tournaments, is just plain confusing and badly thought out.
There are a number of superb new features and enhancements to the series though. In FIFA 07 I was really disappointed that the Xbox 360 version didn't include lower division teams, but in FIFA 08 they do! This means I can take my beloved Walsall FC through the managerial mode and play at crappy grounds against the likes of Accrington Stanley – brilliant.
You can also play lower league teams online, although finding an opponent that doesn't want to play as Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea or Barcelona is still pretty difficult. Offline, there are some balancing issues with the teams and being a fan of the lower leagues I've noticed numerous inconsistencies. I've played World Class mode with Manchester Utd against Chester City and been beaten 1-0, the same score that I got beaten when I played Man Utd Vs Arsenal. Though the lower division teams can't pull of the same tricks moves as the premiership players, they still seem to have the same defensive intelligence and therefore there doesn't really seem to be much of a difference between them.
The managerial mode is also lacking in cohesion with limited options and questionable decisions from the board of directors in between matches. Unbelievably, I was sacked as the Walsall FC manager after drawing one game, despite winning the previous 12.