Digital Sportspage Blog

Online team play for FIFA 2008 held some hope for me. Since so many players are controlled by humans, I was hoping that some of the AI issues in FIFA would be diminished, leading to a fun experience. And occasionally, I get games like that. However, many of these games end up being more frustrating than fun. After playing quite a few 5 v 5 games, I find that these frustrations boil down to two primary problems.

First, player response time is a very poor. This is a frequent complaint in the offline game, being one of the main weaknesses compared to Winning Eleven. Unfortunately, response time is noticeably worse in online team play. There are a number of situations where I find myself holding down the button hoping to clear/pass, only for my player to hold on to the ball and turn the ball over. Furthermore, the combination of a relatively small pitch and increased pressure from human opponents means that defenders are always quickly on the ball. Without the ability to quickly act, unnecessary turnovers are common. Second, AI teammate defensive positioning is very questionable. Defenders will often push forward, which is fine as long as they all push forward in order to pull an offsides trap. But too frequently, a lone outside back will be hanging well behind the defensive line, which leads to ample one-on-one opportunities. Combine this with over-eager human-controlled midfielders, and the defense is often at a major disadvantage.