It used to be that portable sports games were mere shadows of their colossal console cousins. You usually wouldn't get more than a basic game mode, and if you were lucky you'd also get a season mode that would let you play your way through a team's schedule but that's about it. FIFA 08 however will make those days a distant memory. It comes packed with teams and gameplay modes, and its online options are more extensive than those you'd find in home console games only a few years ago.

Let's start by looking at the action on the pitch, because if the game can't give you a good game of soccer than it doesn't matter how many features it has. FIFA 08 delivers a fairly solid soccer game, but it seems that the improvements to the AI that were added to the console versions this year were not included in this year's PSP iteration. In fact, if you have FIFA 07 then when you're on the field you'll find it hard to tell if you're playing the 07 or 08 version of the game. The trick system is back from last year, but just like last year it is difficult to use. You'll need to hold down the left trigger and then select the trick and it's just too cumbersome to pull off a trick within the short window of opportunity you usually have for a trick. I also found the shot button to be a bit too sensitive. The power of your shot is dependent on how long you hold down the shot button, but it charges up very fast and leads to a lot of shots that go sailing over the crossbar. These issues aside, FIFA 08 does provide for a fun game of soccer. The game is more sim than arcade, and as in a real match you'll need to spend a lot of time moving the ball around, patiently waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

In addition to the standard quick game mode, you can also play the game in a number of other modes and there are a few mini game tossed in as well. The manager mode is surprisingly deep; perhaps even a bit too deep for a portable game. As a team's manager you'll have to set your line-ups, negotiate player contracts and salaries, manage team chemistry, and handle a number of other responsibilities. If that's all too much for you to keep track of, then the game's tournament mode may be more your speed. You can play in a number of tournaments for Europe's top leagues or create your own custom tournament. Here it will all be about the soccer and you'll guide your chosen team through the length of the tournament with the game handing the simulation of the other games.

Challenge mode is an enjoyable mode that presents you with 61 different game situations and presents you with goals to accomplish in each. For example, you may be down one goal with 20 minutes remaining in the game when the challenge begins and your goal will be to win the game. The challenge mode has appeared in other FIFA games before, but I don't remember the prior versions scaling the difficulty as nicely as in FIFA 08. The first couple of challenges start you off with a nice lead and your job is to maintain the score margin until the end of the game. The game also divides the challenges into two tiers of difficulty and allows you to play all of the challenges in a tier in any order you'd like. This is nice because if one has got you stuck it won't block off the rest of the mode from play.

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