The biggest change in the game (and the most welcomed tweak) is also the simplest - one we’re amazed has taken this long to implement. Passes and crosses are now governed by the direction you point the D-pad or Left thumbstick in and the length of time you press the corresponding button. You have to laugh at the fact that FIFA has been going on PlayStation since 1996 and EA has only now realised this is how it should have been done all along. The difference this manual control makes is incredible, if a little tricky to get used to after years of juggling several buttons at once just to play a simple through ball. Now there’s nothing easier than playing a perfectly weighted defence-splitting pass that ends with your striker dinking one over the onrushing goalie. The beautiful game has never looked so gorgeous.

And yet, for all the improvements there’s something almost indefinable about why FIFA 08 doesn’t seem quite right just yet. Perhaps it's something to do with the way the ball still feels a bit floaty and tethered to the boots of players by an invisible piece of elastic; perhaps shooting and the subsequent goalkeeping still feels a bit hit-and-miss; perhaps you still feel like you’re fighting against the controls at times when it comes to passing and through balls. It’s difficult to explain more succinctly unless you have a common frame of reference - like playing the game. Whatever it is, it’s telling that even after complimenting FIFA on a good job, we’d prefer Winning Eleven.