Real Football 2008? More Like Real Crap

Football, otherwise known as soccer to the Americans (for lack of common sense), can be found in almost every single modern video games platform. Given that the Nintendo DS is one of the more popular platform, it's not suprising to have another football title grace the two-screened handheld console.

Both Konami and EA have cornered the market with their Winning Eleven and FIFA titles but now here comes Gameloft with Real Football 2008.

Both Winning Eleven and FIFA 08 come with their own sets of strength. Winning Eleven has the cool World Mode, not-so-dumb AI, the gashapon machine and the 360 degrees playback camera. FIFA 08 looks like the old FIFA 98 or 96 for the PC, which is saying alot for a Nintendo DS game, has high production values, a myriad of licensed teams/players, and a rocking soundtrack.

What does Real Football 2008 bring to the table which is already occupied with two heavy-hitters? Nothing much other than very fast but pong-ish gameplay. It looks like a water-down, el-cheapo version of Winning Eleven, and I thought developers can't go any worse than Winning Eleven.

The lack of licensed teams doesn't really matter but the oddly named players, in an attempt to mimic the names of their real-life, licensed counterparts, are in bad taste. Is that Patrick Viera on the cover of the game?

I would stay away from this game if I were you. The lack of any redeeming factor shows that you are better off with FIFA 08 or Winning Eleven.

Scoring an Own Goal With Fifa 08

You know how sometimes Nintendo DS owners get the short end of the stick with games that look like their ancient, 10-year old iterations on the PC?

Such is the case of Fifa 08 for the Nintendo DS. As an EA release, it has practically everything from the "E-A-Sports, It's in the game" intro announcement, a rather nice soundtrack that sounds like they hired a bunch of hooligans to sing for, lotsa nice teams to choose from, a bunch of gameplay options and online play (I think). And while it's missing an intro movie...it does sound rather complete doesn't it? The whole shebang..so to say.

Once you start the game however, you'll be met with some of the ugliest looking graphics this side of wherever. To me, there is no point in having a brand new 3D engine just to dish out bland looking textures. Game developers should spare gamers from this sort of garbage by opting for no close-ups..or heck, cel-shade the entire game, give it an entire new look and feel.

It is a shame though as I thought the commentary was brilliant, given the limited resources available on EA's DS cartridge.

Personally I prefer the smooth, crisp graphics of Fifa 06 and Winning Eleven DS. Sure they didn't have close-ups of players in their (paper-thin) 3D models all the time not unlike Fifa 08, but those games were fun to play and you don't feel the need to barf looking at them.

Click here if you absolutely need to purchase Fifa 08. Personally, I can't wait for the release of Winning Eleven DS: Goal x Goal! this October.