Real Football 2008

kobashi

kobashi

Champions League
19 May 2004
the first facts on Ubisoft's Nintendo DS soccer game, Real Football 2008, have arrived.

With its amazing accessibility, Real Football 2008 lets anyone who loves football, regardless of their level, to set the field on fire by performing dribbles, step-overs, centres, and spectacular goals. You're also sure to be totally immersed. You'll play in larger-than-life stadiums, take on players with realistic behaviours, and feel just like you're a real player as you use the microphone and touch screen during the match.

Features:
# Fun and incredible football right from the first minutes of play: Extremely intuitive controls that make it easy for you to put together awesome football feats, regardless of your level, and perform spectacular technical moves (bicycle kicks, step-overs, back-heel, flip flap, lobs, etc.).
# Innovations that truly take advantage of DS functionalities: Yell into the microphone to influence the referee's decisions. Shoot penalty kicks with the stylus on the touch screen.
# Graphics and animation that push the limits of immersion and establish a new standard of quality on the DS: Discover the atmosphere of the biggest football fields with nine stadiums that have been modelled down to the smallest details (bleachers, fans, field textures, etc.). Plus, the 3D graphics and animation of the players are copied from the top football players, making you feel like you're attending a real match.
# Advanced, dynamic artificial intelligence: Your team-mates and opponents adapt your playing style, offering never-before-seen strategy depth. You'll see them run the ball, use defence pressing, or even be replaced based on the decisions that you make.
# A multi-player mode for an infinite lifespan: Play up to 4 players with several cartridges and start playing in never-ending, unforgettable football tournaments with friends.

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevanc...08/video/x2yzpq_real-football-2008_videogames

rf200801.jpg
rf200802vj6.jpg
 
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There are loads of vids on the official website, including how to pull off some of the tricks in the game:

http://realfootball2008.uk.ubi.com/tricks.php

Looks like they've really ripped of Pro Evo with some of them! Still, this looks quite good and shows what Konami could do if they really pulled all the stops out. I guess it's understandable that they concentrate on the next gen versions, but PES DS could be so much better.

Anyway, I digress. Looking forward to this, only a couple of days!
 
I thought it was not out till november! Just seen october 12th on website so all good. :)

Somebody on gamefaqs has got it. You can play Euro 2008 with the real groups from the qualification stage, World Cup plus different European League's in Season mode (English, Italian, French, Spanish, German).
 
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Well, I just picked up the review copy two hours ago. So if you have any questions go ahead and if you want picture proof I can do that as well. I got the Fifa 08 review copy before the release as well and played a near final build of PES08 on the PS3 some weeks ago. I'm gonna review the PS3 version of PES08 as well and they will hopefully send out the review copies in Scandinavia tomorrow.

But for now my time will go to Real Football 2008 on the Nintendo DS, which is pretty good so far honestly. The controls are great as well and resembles PES a lot. You can do various tricks by holding down the L-shoulder button and then pres one way on the directional button. There's everything from the sidestep, 360 degree trick, elastico/flipflap, la pedals and that's it I think.

Easy mode is too easy as I win my games with at least three to four goals to the other side every match, but normal difficulty is a little too hard - still new to this game though.

The weird thing is that yep, they got SOME of the real names for the clubs like Liverpool, Birmingham and Barcelona. But Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal and other top clubs doesn't have the real names and those not the real logo either.

Even though some of the clubs has real names, none of the clubs has real player names, so this is PES1 all over again. The names are cleverly written though so you know who it is actually. And the weirdest thing is, that the squads are a combination of last years and this years squads - so you find Cassano, Reyes, Saviola and Pepe in Real Madrid CF.

There's not that much loading and you can change tactics and substitutions on the fly and it's really easy and fast. The radar are always present on the bottom screen, and a arrow beside a player indicates if he is free or man marked at that specific moment. There's 5 leagues (spanish, english, italian, french, german) and then and national league. Euro Cup, World Cup and such are present as well - I think there are 12 tournaments in total.
 
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I'm playing the Euro Cup now btw, trying to win it.
You can use the built-in microphone as well to affect the referee's decision, but I don't know how this is really working just yet. I'm yelling but it only made the decision worse and I got sent off..
 
Thanks for your impressions game killer. Is there any edit mode to speak of? Can you change any names or move players between clubs?

How does it hold up gameplay-wise compared to PES? It looks a lot better on the videos.
 
Game Killer what is the game like on hardest difficulty? How do you find the crossing and shooting? are the GK's any good?

How is the defending aspect of the game?

How does it compare to FIFA 07/08 and PES6 on DS? Has anyone on here actually got FIFA 08 on DS? Is that any good?

I just hope people buy the game as it will be £19.99. If it sells Ubisoft will give us a 2009 version which will hopefully improve on the faults you have listed.
 
FIFA 08 on DS isn't so hot in my opinion. I really wanted it to be good so I sat with it for a long time, but it's just not much cop.

Graphically, it's tight by DS standards. Good variety of player types, kits and animations. Particularly impressive is the goal net animation.

Sounds are good too. Commentary is functional, not too annoying, but obviously massively stripped down. You can record a custom chant using the microphone and a basic, sample-based arrange page in the option mode.

The gameplay is a bit off though. The animations take too long to complete, meaning you constantly have to think two or three steps ahead. Passing is difficult as you have to press pass as soon as you see an approaching player or he'll tackle you. This isn't so bad if it happens in midfield, you just think to yourself 'ok, that was rubbish, must be better next time.' However, when it happens to your centreback after receiving the ball from you goalkeeper, allowing the onrushing striker a free pop at goal, it gets very, very annoying very quickly. I swear this happened in 9 out of the last 10 games I played. The most frustrating thing is that you can sometimes see this happening but are powerless to stop it.

Overall it's a good effort, and perhaps with a lot of patience you could overlook the shortcomings. However, it exposes itself as a bit underdeveloped in the gameplay dept on too many occasions to be properly recommended.
 
Not impressed with FIFA 08 on the DS, I still think FIFA 06 was the best DS football game. Although this one does look interesting.
 
thanks for the mini review joystick. Well I am gonna try and see if HMV will sell me Real Football 2008 tonight. If not I will pick it up tomorrow.
 
Joystick said:
Thanks for your impressions game killer. Is there any edit mode to speak of? Can you change any names or move players between clubs?

How does it hold up gameplay-wise compared to PES? It looks a lot better on the videos.
Click to expand...
There is no Edit mode whatsoever; you can not transfer players or names. You cant edit anything at all.

The gameplay is in some way far from being like PES. It's really really hard to describe, because the whole difference from Real Football to PES (which I have played for over 7 years) is the ball physics and movement I would say so far. Maybe I can describe it in a better way later, but if you are used to the PES controls you will feel at home in Real Football, though the a lot of the gameplay seems to be automatic which is what annoys me the most so far.

kobashi said:
Game Killer what is the game like on hardest difficulty? How do you find the crossing and shooting? are the GK's any good?

How is the defending aspect of the game?

How does it compare to FIFA 07/08 and PES6 on DS? Has anyone on here actually got FIFA 08 on DS? Is that any good?

I just hope people buy the game as it will be £19.99. If it sells Ubisoft will give us a 2009 version which will hopefully improve on the faults you have listed.
Click to expand...
I haven't tried the hardest difficulty yet as I am to complete the Euro Cup on easy first. Even on normal it seems kinda hard, but of course I'll try it out later.

The defending is no good, hold in the B button and you get the ball. The referee makes some bad calls as well when you're sliding. The whole defending just feels off as you don't get any contact with the opposing player most times. It feels akward, but I'll have to try it more.

I would say your own goalkeeper is pretty good, you can run out as in PES and Fifa so it works really really well. I'm positively surprised by the goalkeepers so far.

I haven't tried Fifa or PES on the Nintendo DS I'm afraid.

Hmm, Fifa 08 sounds more impressive than Real Football 2008. There's a real lack of sounds and licenses. There's no big player varierity and no names and fonts on any of the shirts. Not detailed at all.

I'll go play a little more.
 
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just picked this up from Game. it is in the buy one get one free section so got this and Sim City.

I have played one game which was scotland vs faroe islands in euro 2008 qualifier . on normal default and beat them 5-1. I hope this was because they are rubbish or gonna have to bump up the difficulty.

The players do have that auto-sidestep game killer. noticed that straight away. The game is not too bad and for £20 I glad i purchased it. I noticed there is no save function but when i quit game it still lets me load up the euro 2008 qualifiers so it saves automatically.
 
I was going to get this, but I just can't see a footie game being half decent on the DS. I'll see what impressions people give.
 
kobashi said:
just picked this up from Game. it is in the buy one get one free section so got this and Sim City.

I have played one game which was scotland vs faroe islands in euro 2008 qualifier . on normal default and beat them 5-1. I hope this was because they are rubbish or gonna have to bump up the difficulty.

The players do have that auto-sidestep game killer. noticed that straight away. The game is not too bad and for £20 I glad i purchased it. I noticed there is no save function but when i quit game it still lets me load up the euro 2008 qualifiers so it saves automatically.
Click to expand...

Yep indeed, it is auto sidestepping.
Good to know that it saves, I'm gonna test it out as well and then write up the review tomorrow maybe, before getting PES08 sometime soon.

Btw, can a mod please change my name? I haven't used this username for 5+ years, I'm known under the name of Anastacio in the gamingindustry.
 
Just got hold of it now... Not that impressed. There's a delay in the passing which is really frustrating, and I'm scoring for fun on normal mode. I've scored a few headers and when watching the replay, the ball appears to slow down before it reaches the player's head to ensure it's a good header. :eh:

Will keep at it though.

EDIT: Or will I... Just played Estonia in a Euro 2008 qualifier on hard. 6-0. Yeah I know, it's Estonia, but the goalkeeper didn't save a single shot.
 
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Hmm... not so great so far. The dribbling is a bit overpowered. I just ran around half the Germany team and slotted in a goal. By contrast, passing is a bit of a lottery, but I like the way the yellow arrow at least shows where your pass will go.

I'll give it some more time this weekend but I think it's generally a bit average.
 
yeah i have played more and seems like an average footy game. its not terrible but nothing great.

PES2008 is out in two weeks so wonder if that will be any good.
 
Can anyone help me find the boxart and some screenshots without watermark??
Because I recently lost my acces to the press-site, because of some error in the e-mail, which I will get fixed later.

EDIT:
Found the boxart..
 
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Well I've given it a full day (thanks to having no 360) and it's utter crap. Not worth a penny.

After two or three games on hard I'm regularly beating teams 6-0, all you have to do is press pass and shoot, the goalkeepers save nothing. And in 20-odd games I've not conceded a single goal, rubbish.

The best DS football game, I think, was FIFA 06. FIFA 08 is alright, PES6 isn't that good. I hope PES2008 is a good game, from the looks of the Wii version they do take the game seriously on more than just the PS3/360/PC.

EDIT: Just played all three for a few hours (Real Football, PES and FIFA) - Real Football is shite and way too easy (as difficult as counting to 2), Pro Evo has good gameplay but is way too easy (in both Real Football and PES the opposition never manages to get a shot in, even on the hardest difficulty setting). FIFA has good gameplay and is by far the hardest game of the three, on World Class the opposition will score if you don't defend well enough.

So FIFA 08 wins out for me, no competition. I just wish it had the Euro 2008 mode from Real Football, I love that it includes the qualifiers and everything.
 
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Gameloft should be praised for all the game modes they have included. even though it is unlicensed they have done really well to put them all in but the gameplay is just not good enough.

Scoring is way too easy so the game becomes unplayable. Jack Would you say FIFA 08 is worth getting hold of then?
 
Ummm, tough one. It's good but it's not stopping me from playing Zelda Phantom Hourglass (which I love). If you need a football game on the DS then yeah, I think it's worth the price, but if not then probably not. It's ten times better on the 360, put it like that!
 
"Perhaps Real Football's silliest feature, though, comes when being booked by the overzealous ref for yet another ill-intentioned sliding tackle. You're meant to influence his punishment decision by bellowing protests into the microphone. Not something that particularly appeals and a rather ineffectual tactic when it came to spewing my own embarrassing invective. Thankfully, it's cleverly bypassed by tapping loudly on the microphone itself, so problem averted."

:lol: What a ridiculous idea, imagine if you're playing on the bus or something? Silly.
 
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