I have reached the final league games of my debut season in FIFA 08 Manager Mode with Celtic. I have been trailing Rangers all season, they were 7 points in front for many of these games. They are faltering, the lead is now just 2 points with 5 matches remaining.
Are they going to collapse, like they did in real life this season?
I have recently just switched to the FIFA series, I am loving absolutely every minute of it, in what has been a 10 year absence. I am a PES fanboy, but like most in the PES community, I’m disappointed with this years version.
Like many of my games this season, I defeated both Dundee Utd and Inverness 1-0. I went on a 7 match winning streak mid-season, winning all these games 1-0. I am enjoying that I am finding the majority of games a real challenge. Although, I must admit that I would like to see EA make the good teams good and the bad teams bad in FIFA 09. They all play very much to the same standard.
My biggest victory in FIFA 08 was 4-1 against Hearts early in season, which is extremely rare for me. I play on Professional Difficulty with 6 minute halves. Although, the other night whilst playing EURO 2008 I hammered Greece 6-0 in the Semi-Final, again on Professional difficulty. I was over the moon, everything I attempted came off, which again is rare for me as the goal-keepers are superb in EURO 2008.
A BIG turning point in my fortunes in both FIFA and EURO was switching from Assisted shooting to Semi Auto shooting. I am finding that I am having more control over my shots now, I am scoring from different areas of the pitch, and getting joy from free kicks. It really is trial and error with a lot of the settings in FIFA, this is one area that has definitely improved my game. My ultimate goal is to play the full game on manual settings. That’s a long way off for now.
Back to the action, a rare feat, I absolutely destroyed Aberdeen 4-0. That man Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink grabbed his 2nd hat-trick of the season and the victory was topped off with a free kick from NAKAMURA. That’s my third free kick goal in 5 games, I just love pulling these off, a sweet feeling.
Rangers drew their game, they lead with a superior goal difference of 9. I asked a question a few articles back, if FIFA is scripted similar to PES in that the CPU will allow you to catch up. It certainly looks like it, I had resigned the league title many matches ago, as Rangers replicated all my wins.
This could be the defining match in the league campaign, Hibernian who I have not beaten all season, and they just happen to be my Cup Final opponents. They have dominated both league encounters so far, it was an evenly matched game and was seperated by a cool finish from McDONALD after playing a neat 1-2 with JVOH, to give me victory.
I went into the final match of the season against Hearts, level on points with Rangers, but 9 goals worse off. I could only do my part and ensure that I won my game, and that’s what I did. Again by that old familiar scoreline 1-0. The match finished with no mention from the commentary team with regards to the League title, no mention in my PDA message screen, a trip to the Statistics menu and this is what I saw.
I lost the league on goal difference, Rangers won their game. I don’t know how I feel, as I said I resigned to losing the league many games ago as Rangers maintained a 7 point lead for many weeks. I won the majority of my games, but so did they.
I have a small matter of a Cup Final in my final fixture of the season against Hibernian, the season could yet finish on a high in my debut campaign. Onwards and upwards.
I think FIFA sometimes allows you to catch up, sometimes not. It’s a little like PES in that respect, but not so transparent. Bear in mind though that I’m far from intimate with FIFA. Much like yourself, until this year (well, last year and the very good FIFA07) I’d spent 10 years not playing FIFA.
The WENB news was an anti-climax in the end, eh? And now their site is down. I hope their podcast pops up later—I think that’ll have all the juicy stuff, with them dropping hints about all the details that are still embargoed.
Hi Greg
Yeah, I was a little disappointed with WENB. If they had the Konami exclusive, why not post what they knew. If it’s because of NDA agreements, then they will never have exclusives, as all the gaming media outlets will have access to the same information at the same time. I found pictures posted across the web before WENB posted theres. Here’s CVG PES 2009 SCREENSHOTS
They look impressive to me, an improvement on 08. Need to see an in game video to see the improvement. I am hopeful, I have said before, I have no loyalty to either franchise. I will play both if they are good.
Adam has took a lot of stick in the forums, here’s his reply to a poster on Evoweb, ADAM’S REPLY ON EVOWEB.
Going back to my MM, I was a little gutted at losing out on goal difference. I am glad I lost out in the end, as it would have felt scripted like PES. I still have a chance of Cup Glory.