EA Sports/All formats (£29.99-£49.99)

Like so many of my free kicks, EA Sports has hit the wall with the latest version of its football franchise. Fifa games have always struggled in the shadow of rival sim Pro Evolution Soccer, and the impression here is of a games studio trying a bit too hard.

Football games are already so sophisticated that few obvious improvements are needed. This game claims that its footballers make 1,000 decisions every second, though 95 per cent of those are probably about which one of their fleet of cars to drive. However, football is known as the beautiful game, not the overcomplicated one. Fifa 08 has much to recommend it, but in losing sight of the simple gameplay that makes sports sims successful, it misses a trick. There is also a description of Jermaine Jenas, the Tottenham Hotspur midfield player, as someone who makes the game look easy. I’m afraid he doesn’t, and neither does EA Sports.

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