I have had a pretty "hate-hate" relationship with the FIFA series. In the past, it wasn’t even close in comparison to Konami’s Winning Eleven series. FIFA may have had all the licenses, but it couldn’t come close to it’s gameplay. However with the release of FIFA Soccer 07 for the original Xbox, it’s done more than come close – FIFA has exceeded Winning Eleven. The only problem I have with this game is that I wish it were ported over to the 360 as is.

With 27 leagues and 500 total teams, the licenses are all there, although some of the rosters aren’t very up to date, nor are the players as accurate as they are in Madden. That being said, it can be difficult to make sure 5,000 players are all correct. As an American, I prefer playing either as the US Men’s National Team or as a team in Major League Soccer (MLS). All teams are represented, however the player ratings are somewhat European-biased. For example, of Sharlie Joseph of the Revolution has an overall rating of 66. If a team from Europe buys his contract over the winter, I would bet that in FIFA 08 his rating would magically increase just because he’s in the Premiership. The ratings aren’t horrid, but I would think that an MLS Championship level team could and should have higher ratings than a top Mexican League team or at least as on the same level as a relegation level-Premiership team.

The game itself gives you the option to get right into a match, start an interactive league (more on this later), go into tournament mode, play challenges, practice or go online for a friendly match-up. You can also go into manager mode, which is like a franchise type game. It’s a little different than the American football game as you have sponsors and you can be sacked if you don’t meet their standards but with any sports game, the same goals are there, and that’s to win everything.

While the manager mode is a lot of fun my new personal favorite are the interactive leagues. You pick your favorite team and then your schedule matches them – you play people who are fans of the team you are scheduled to play that week. All of the wins/draws/losses are combined so that all Everton fans that play will then show in the standings. Every win is a point and the team with the most points wins that week. Interesting take on it and it’s a lot of fun. The only drawback for an American is that you cannot play MLS interactive leagues, so if you’re a Revolution or DC United fan, you’re out of luck. In fact there are only four leagues that allow this. Even if you aren’t a loyal supporter of any of the leagues it’s worth checking out as it can be a lot of fun.

The silly stuff that everyone comes to love is there – you can earn points and then use the points at the shop for goofy sound effects or other various ‘bonuses’. It’s not my thing but I see why it’s there.

Graphically the game is excellent. It’s below what you would see on a 360, but not by much. It’s definitely passable and doesn’t make you long for the 360 – unlike say NCAA Football or Madden where the graphics were night and day between the two consoles.

The audio is satisfactory. Sometimes the play by play has to play a lot of catch up. Other times, it calls the offside before you hear a whistle. Again, on the MLS teams you don’t hear a lot of player names but let’s face it – this game isn’t made for the USA.

Gameplay is excellent. I feel like I’m out on the pitch when I control my character. It is a very smooth transition from Winning Eleven and of course the right thumbstick lets you perform some special moves. The black and white buttons still aren’t great for control but you can do what you want to do for the most part. In order to pull off some of the special moves, you’ll need to be familiar with combos but if you’ve played your share of Street Fighter, you will be fine. There’s also goalkeeper control available if you’re so inclined. I have had an issue where I’m pressing the Y button trying to head the ball but instead the keeper charges the ball. The Y button only is used for a through pass while on offense, so I had to relearn that control. Once I did that, I was fine.

Your computer controlled teammates seem to be playing to win while on offense – they’ll call for the ball when they are open and will try to evade defenders. On defense they could be better. Sometimes they do suffer from stand around it is, but a quick switch to human control will take care of that. More often than not I find that the defenders stand around when you pass the ball back to them – when your opponent is in your defensive area, the computer controlled players do react to the situation – whether it be trying to cut off the angle or just ‘hacking’ the player, you do see activity.

Aside from the interactive league, you can still play in a ranked match or a traditional unranked friendly. Going online every time updates rosters. It’s nice that they check, but often I think they are just updating something I’ve already updated. In addition, when you leave the online part of the game, it will ask you repeatedly to save the online roster and overwrite it. Yes, I get it, I’m saving the roster. Asking four times is more than enough and bordering on idiotic. Every game I’ve played has been very smooth and is all the more impressive as I have only played people from Europe (well at least that’s what they’ve told me). Of course, with so many Europeans playing the game you’ll probably have to be playing the game on their schedule (5-6 hour difference on the East Coast from the UK, depending on actual location).