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FIFA 08 looks great, uses lots of math to kick balls

You might not think it while playing sports, but there's a ton of math involved in every single motion you make. Yes, that's right, there are people who care about how many degrees your bat swings, or how a ball travels in the air, or other more confusing arithmetic terms we really don't want to think about at this moment. The fact remains that in addition to making a great looking soccer game, EA wants to let you know they're putting a ton of math into FIFA 08. They've got a 22-page document detailing all their little formulae for the simple matter of shooting the ball. Impressive, no?

We're not going to talk about the graphics. We're excited to hear about all this math! Tricks will play important roles instead of being nothing more than flashy nonsense and luckily, their implementation is simple, fluid, and realistic. Plugging gaps in your defenses is easier with the new ability for the team's formation to change on the fly. If you'd rather do it yourself (kind of like playing Final Fantasy XII without Gambits ... try it, it's a hell of a lot of fun and an insane challenge on Active Mode), you can click the R3 button and take control of your keeper. Everything seems less ... automated, more real and dependent on your actions as a skilled player. We're glad -- EA needs to put more attention like this into all their games.