One of the greatest pleasures of supporting a side who have just found their way into the Premiership is that they're suddenly represented in the mainstream: stickers, televised matches and last, but not least, a place in the year's batch of footballing games. True, you'll be one of the weakest teams in the game and the players will have generic faces and inaccurate stats, but the point is you'll be there - and you can bet that you'll do a better job with the digital approximations than their flesh and blood equivalents will in real life, too!

So imagine my pride deflating when, upon booting up FIFA 08 to marvel at my beloved Derby County's (pitiful) stats, I discovered that EA have done something mightily impressive: they've included every Premiership, Championship, League 1 and League 2 side in the game - a huge improvement on last year's effort. And they've not just made up the difference with some approximations either; there are accurate kits and sponsors, squad numbers and names. It's an impressive achievement and one they've done well to pursue, because if there's one thing FIFA has consistently done better than Pro Evolution Soccer in recent years (and at my count there are about three things in total) it's the polish and superficial styling. By ensuring that every team is here, all present and correct, I can not only play a disbelief-suspending FA Cup with plucky underdogs, but also play tense Derby County vs. Ipswich Town grudge matches with my housemate. This is a big step up from the last incarnation and is something that should not be underestimated.

On top of this, FIFA 08 plays a rather good game of football. Gone are the days when FIFA was predictable and arcadey; this is varied, tactical and often very challenging stuff. Sure, the tricks and snazzy bits are still in there (if you know how to use them effectively - your humble reviewer models his football on the Nineties Wimbledon model) but at its heart it has gone down the Pro Evolution Soccer route to such a degree that it has now surpassed it. While Pro Evo has played a faster paced, more arcadey game of football in recent years, FIFA has done the opposite and slowed it down to be a pretty accurate simulation. On top of this, the graphics are streets ahead of Konami's franchise, with recognisable players, fully licensed kits and nice details like recording equipment dotted around the grounds, while the sound is so far ahead as to be no contest at all. Although the commentary isn't always accurate, it sounds as natural as to make effective background noise in a way that Pro Evo has never managed, its commentary always sounding so unnatural and forced that you could never quite suspend your disbelief until you either switched it off, changed the language or filled your ears with cotton wool.

There are several different ways of playing the game, allowing you to play individual tournaments (the FA Cup, Champions League, or the Turkish premier league, to name but three), to have a five year management career (which has some basic control over player growth, transfers and tactics with an unfortunately clunky interface), friendlies and the Challenge mode. While most of these explain themselves rather nicely, the Challenge mode is a strange beast, so unique that it deserves its own explanation. Like last year's effort, there are 150 challenges for the player to complete (each set of fifteen unlocks an achievement, incidentally another area much improved from last year), which range from the fairly standard (win the match in normal time) to the plain awkward (score in the first five minutes of the match with John Terry). This makes for an entertaining, if sometimes head-bashingly frustrating, diversion from the standard fare of leagues, management and friendlies.

The multiplayer experience deserves a special mention as well, because EA Sports have delivered their usual polish here to great effect. You have the choice of playing a one-off friendly, creating or joining an online league or intriguingly representing your favourite club in an online accumulative table. I don't think I helped Derby County much by reviewing the latter, and while it's not really deal-clinching, it's another example of how EA are trying to make the whole game as feature packed as possible; the multiplayer lobby even provides the latest football news via online radio while you're waiting!

The online matches themselves play out rather nicely - you have to think a little quicker, because impressive as the AI is, it can't match a real, intelligent human (or the Xbox Live teenage equivalent). The matches are pretty lag free and considering how much is going on that's another achievement that EA can be proud of - it may be my imagination, but the pace feels a little slower, presumably to ensure that lag isn't a problem. One downside to the Live experience is that, despite EA's best efforts, there are a handful of unsporting players still at large. Although I experienced no people quitting before full time (largely because they were beating me), I did find one player who frequently paused the match when I was on a good break in an attempt to wrong foot me. EA have actually got safeguards in place to stop this tactic (only three pauses allowed per match and not when the other player has possession) but these slipped through the net (if you'll excuse the pun) due to being goalmouth scrambles.

The most interesting mode is not the online game however, but a brand new addition: 'Be a Player'. This allows you to assume the role of any player (excluding the keeper) for a match and the game rates your performance based on everything you do on the pitch, from your positioning to shots on target to the accuracy of your passing. The camera pans in and out on your player, so you can always see where you are in relation to the ball, and a handy 'plus' or 'minus' appears above your head, letting you know how you're doing on the fly. It's incredibly satisfying to create space and call for the ball, potentially turning games around single-handedly; the feeling this creates when you're playing centre forward, with your team trailing 1-0 with two minutes to go is wonderful, and it's impressive that a game can evoke this much passion - something I must say that the FIFA series has failed to deliver to me in the past. It's a shame EA didn't take this through to its natural progression and have a Career mode for a player where you could gun for top scorer and secure a big money transfer based on your performances, but my guess is that they're doing their old (tedious) trick of holding onto that development for next year, in order to ensure that people feel the need to upgrade.

The differences from last year might only sound incremental on paper, but FIFA 08 provides all the polish of last year with some excellent new features with some additional flair and panache. FIFA 07 played a nice game of football and gave Pro Evo a real run for its money - but by making the superficial gulf between them even more massive, EA have won my wholehearted endorsement: A full roster of (surprisingly accurate and up to date) line ups, a shedload of tournaments, some challenging and interesting 360 achievements and a brilliantly implemented Be a Player mode have meant that rather than making the slight changes and updated squads the fans have come to expect, EA have produced a significantly better game all round without tinkering with the winning mechanics of the actual on-pitch action. Whether you've played FIFA 07 to death or skipped it altogether, FIFA 08 is well worth a purchase, and if you're waiting for a great and well-rounded football game for your 360 then my advice is quit waiting for Pro Evo 7 and enjoy the full licensed glory of this splendid football game - consider the wait over.

Reviewed by Alan Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).