FIFA Soccer 08

The on-field play is actually pretty good, forgiving, of course, the standard stumbling points for sports games, like repetitive commentary.

Overall this is a great little package, even though it is one that feels like it won't be truly perfected until next year.

FIFA Soccer 08 on the Wii is not for everyone. In fact, there are a lot of people who will find this title quite dull.

The game modes aren’t as fleshed out as the other versions of the game.

EA's football series makes a moderately successful debut on the Wii, with family-friendly control and some neat minigames.

The control system is the biggest drawback and may be unfixable, due to the very nature of the nunchuk and the remote. However, families that just want to introduce their kids to the world of simulated football may find much to like, with the easy family play option.

Patience and perseverance are required. [Dec 2007, p.]

A case of unnecessary-motion-controls spoiling a perfectly average football sim. [Dec 2007, p.56]

Wii Sports demonstrated just how much depth can be wrung out of the simplest of mechanics like swinging the Remote. FIFA 08’s approach is almost the opposite, offering a huge variety of gestures that only superficially interact with the game. FIFA is a solid game, but this Wii port makes it harder than it should be to enjoy the strengths of the core design.

Overall though, FIFA 08 feels like a game that tries to please several people, and instead, pleases a very small minority.

FIFA 08 has laid the groundwork - online and off - for what could be a fantastic franchise on Wii, but until EA figures out how to reconcile FIFA's requisite button combinations with the button-starved Wii controllers, the advanced techniques are useless and on-field options have been cut in half.