In FIFA Manager 12 you are responsible for all aspects of the evolution of your team. As coach, you need to take care of the players, organize training, and prepare strategies to help win all the competitions you're entering.

In addition to the tactical functions of a football coach in FIFA Manager 12 you must attend to other important matters, such as finance, new contracts, transfers, budget, management of image rights of the club, official communications with the press, etc. You don't have to run everything yourself though, and there are assistants available to automate some of these tasks.

There aren't many significant improvements to report in FIFA Manager 12 from the previous version, other than updated teams and player data, and graphical improvements to the 3D match view.

On the subject of the 3D match view, the graphics engine in FIFA Manager 12 is a long way short of FIFA 12. Animation can be choppy and up close the players are quite hideous, even bearing a resemblance to zombies with their strange red and green eyes! Bizarrely, there's no in-game sounds in FIFA Manager 12, which leaves matches feeling a bit flat.

Still, watching matches in FIFA Manager 12 is arguably more entertaining than in Football Manager 2012, and we were very impressed with the in-game interface, which allows you to change tactics and strategy, and shout instructions to the team and individual players without leaving the match.

The also program contains hundreds of clubs, with more than 41,000 players and the top leagues in the world to choose from.

The complexity of FIFA Manager 12 is a bit daunting at first but luckily it doesn't take long to find your way around the game.

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In recent years, the FIFA series has developed into a worthy rival to Pro Evolution Soccer, and in fact many will argue that FIFA 12 is a more complete soccer experience than PES 2012.

What's new in FIFA 12?

Building on the success of recent years, FIFA 12 introduces three main developments: precision dribbling, tactical defending and the player impact engine. These all - and especially the latter of the three - have a major impact on the gaming experience.

What does this mean?

The impact engine has arguably the greatest impact on gameplay, and it really changes the dynamics of tackling and contact in the game. FIFA 12's impact engine makes tackles look and feel much more realistic, and will no doubt result in more player injuries! When two players jump for a ball in the air in FIFA 12, they will no longer always land together perfectly, but may fall depending on the contact made with the other player.

Defending in general has been refined, and it's not longer possible to just hold down the 'pressure' button and expect the nearest defender to squeeze up and snatch the ball from the attacker. In fact, do that in FIFA 12 and you can seriously mistime the challenge and allow the player through. Timing is everything in this new tactical defending system, and while it's frustrating it's ultimately more rewarding when you start getting it right.

When dribbling in FIFA 12, you do feel in much more control than previous versions. Getting past defenders is more enjoyable as a result, and neat tricks seem easier to pull off.

How realistic is FIFA 12?

Very. As always, FIFA 12 is fully licensed so you'll be able to play with your favorite players and clubs, and the game will follow the summer and winter transfer windows, so teams will mirror their real life counterparts.

Graphics have had an incremental improvement, and animation is also better than last year's game. The full version of FIFA 12 will also have a big online component, with a much greater social element. Support Your Club League Tables will exist, allowing your performances with your favorite teams to contribute to their community standings overall. EA is also promising to keep FIFA 12 fresh with real-world soccer news.

What's in the demo?

The FIFA 12 demo gives you access to Manchester City, AC Milan, Olympic Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Arsenal. The options are fairly limited, and settings such as choice of ball, weather and length of the halves are not incorporated in this demo. All other aspects of the game are also missing, so you play just one practice game, but it still gives you a good impression of FIFA 12.

FIFA 12 is an incredible soccer gaming experience which is as close you can get to playing a real game of soccer on your PC.

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The game sees you assume the role of a single player, who must help your team of five human or computer-controlled players (or a mixture) defeat the opposition. The game controls are something of a breath of fresh air compared to the fiddly keyboard command systems employed by some of the bigger games like FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer. Instead, United Football adopts a method similar to first person shooters, whereby you use the mouse to direct the player, pass and shoot and just rely on four keyboard buttons for moving forwards and backwards and strafing left and right.

Once you've mastered this fluid control mechanism using the helpful in-game tutorial it's time to battle it out against your pals, or friends from across the World. United Football is solely an online game, but it's fast enough to be as enjoyable as any offline soccer sim. You can choose to join a game, create your own, or text chat with the rest of the community to arrange your own matches. Unfortunately, the United Football community is still a little small so you'll struggle to find a game where both teams will feature just human players.

Graphically, United Football adopts a cartoony approach rather than going for realism. This works well though, the animation is smooth and the customizable characters look great.

If you're fed up with the clumsy controls and graphic-intensive demands of the big name PC soccer sims, then Ultimate Football makes for an immensely playable alternative.

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Having been blown away by the previous version of FIFA, we found it hard to imagine how EA could possibly improve its slick soccer sim. However, after a few matches of this demo version it’s clear that the changes aren’t merely cosmetic.

Refined gameplay

The enhancements to the gameplay in FIFA 11 make it feel a lot more like real football. The new Personality+ system means that players move and act as they do in real life. This means, for example, that Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney will charge around after the ball when he’s not in possession; while his strike partner Dimitar Berbatov is more content to stand around waiting for something to happen!

Other tweaks to the AI help to make FIFA 11 the most enjoyable version to-date. For instance, on crosses, it’s now normal to see more than one player coming up for the ball. You’ll also notice that the players are a bit faster than they were in FIFA 10.

Another important change in FIFA 11 is the ability to control the goalkeeper, which feels very natural and adds an extra element to the gameplay.

Handballs are introduced for the first time in FIFA 11. When a defender is positioned in the line of a shot he may stick out his hand to block it. The frequency of handballs is a little higher than it would be in real life, but you can disable them, or define that they don’t occur in penalty situations.

FIFA 11 also features a more refined passing system, giving you more control over ball distribution. The Pro Passing feature lets you measure passes more precisely by weighting them. The repertoire of passes has been beefed up too, and you can now perform swerve passes, flicks, driven lobs and apply backspin to balls.

One of the changes we didn’t like is the new penalty kick system, which is based around a power-bar. Stopping the pointer in the right place is very difficult because it takes a while to respond to your button press. This makes scoring penalties in FIFA 11 a difficult thing to do.

Graphical tweaks

At first glance, FIFA 11’s graphics don’t look that different to the ones in the last version. Once you start seeing replays or close-ups, however, you realize that player likenesses are now more realistic. EA modeled player faces using photographs, and facial expressions are now more varied and change according to the player.

Another neat addition to FIFA 11 is the ability to upload your own audio for use within the game. You can record your own chants, add audio files of actual team chants, and define the music that a team runs out to.

Game modes
FIFA 11 is still stacked with lots of game modes, including officially licensed leagues, exhibitions, training and Be a Pro. The one significant change this time out is the rehashing of the Manager mode, which is now known as Career mode, and integrates with Be a Pro. This is now more involved in that you start out as a player before becoming a player coach and eventually a fully-fledged manager.

These interesting new features, combined with super intelligent gameplay, make FIFA 11 the quintessential soccer sim.

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The game features a series of significant, much-needed improvements to PES 2010. Gameplay has been tweaked to improve control, more game modes have been added, and the graphics and overall presentation of Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 are breathtaking.

Enhanced gameplay

The biggest changes in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 are to be found in its gameplay. The last couple of PES releases were panned for not innovating on the game mechanics, and for making silly little changes that only served to hamper playability. This time, developer Konami has essentially ripped out the game engine and fashioned a new way to play Pro Evolution.

Passing is one of the most immediately obvious improvements in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011. In previous versions, passing the ball to a team-mate was quite a rigid experience, with the ball being drawn automatically to the receiver’s feet. Now when you make a short or a long pass, you need to be much more aware of where you want the ball to go, directing the ball precisely with the d-pad as you hit it. Use of the new power meter that appears under the player is crucial for weighting passes. With the right combination of direction and power Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 lets you play satisfying balls into space for a player to run on to.

Defensive controls have also been tweaked in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 so they rely less on AI. Previously, defenders would automatically hone in on attackers (even when not highlighted), whereas now it’s up to you to bring them out, apply pressure or let them hang back to hold up play.

Attacking is made more exciting in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 with the inclusion of assignable feints. There are lots of new flicks, tricks and moves to try out, and you can pre-select which ones you want to use, assigning them to a particular analog stick gesture.

More power to you

Make no mistake, Pro Evoltuion Soccer 2011’s new gameplay system is tricky to master and requires lots of sharpness and concentration. But this is very refreshing given the last few iterations have felt sluggish and automated. One of our favorite improvements was the way the system no longer remembers button presses for so long when the ball is about to be received by a player you’re controlling. This makes it easier to pull out of a tackle or change the direction of a pass before you make it.

The tactics system in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 has been revamped as well. The confusing card-based player profile system from PES 2010 has gone. It has been replaced by a more intelligent, less confusing interface, where formations and player roles can be set by dragging and dropping their icons around the pitch board.

Graphical improvements

Out on the pitch, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 is, for us, the most realistic looking football game to date. Player movements are slick and feel natural, and the flight of the ball is much more authentic than the dead-weighted pig bladder of previous versions. Up close, player likenesses are accurate, although Konami still seems to have a problem with mouths, and everyone looks like they’ve got a mouthful of stones.

There are several new games modes in Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, including new competitions such as the Copa Libertadores and UEFA Super Cup. Interestingly, there’s now also the option to play Master League online.

Presumably an effort to keep up with FIFA 10’s expandable content, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 includes a range of fun extras to play with. There’s a stadium editor and league editor, as well as more comical stuff like the ability to turn the ball into a piece of candy, or deck your players out in cowboy hats and other accessories.

Licensing is one area where Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 is still lagging behind FIFA. Sure, it now has the UEFA and CONMEBIOL tie-ins, but the major leagues of Europe are still not fully licensed, meaning more fake names and made-up leagues for PES fans. Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 is a game that deserves to have the full rights afforded to FIFA.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 is a true return to form for Konami, offering an authentic football experience that FIFA 11 will find it hard to match.

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EA Sports World Cup is a Windows 7 theme with which you can easily customize the appearance of your operating system, while showing off your support for your favorite football team in the South Africa World Cup.

Being sponsored by the popular game developers, the EA Sports World Cup theme features images from their latest title 2010 FIFA World Cup – instead of real pictures, which some users might have preferred.

EA Sports World Cup includes 10 images with different football-related scenes, including the trophy that all the teams are dreaming about.

Decorate your Windows 7 computer with the EA Sports World Cup theme and enjoy the competition!

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Considering the amount of money EA must make from FIFA 10, it's amazing that the games publisher has chosen to release FIFA Online as a free game. It's not as fully fledged as the latest incarnation, and graphically it's more similar to FIFA 08. Not that we're complaining though!

FIFA Online includes a multitude of different game modes. You pick your favorite team from a large selection of leagues and clubs (all with real life player data) then you must lead that side to glory. You can play single-player leagues, online tournaments with strangers, friendlies against friends, and even choose to play in the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament.

FIFA Online has a lot of depth to it. There's a fairly detailed management mode in which you must set formations, negotiate contracts, deal with player injuries and suspensions, and more.

In it for the money

Of course, EA didn't make FIFA Online as a goodwill gesture to players. It made it to make money. Players are invited to buy tokens that are used for everything from unlocking certain game modes to helping a player to recover quicker from an injury.

Of course, the polished 3D graphics, full voice commentary and the sheer size of FIFA Online take its toll in terms of system requirements. You'll need a decent processor (upwards of 1.8GHz, ideally) and a fast internet connection if you want to avoid lags and frame rate.

It's still in beta stage, yet FIFA Online already shows signs of ushering in an exciting new generation of football games.

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FIFA and Pro Evolution have well and truly cornered the football simulation market. So much so, in fact, that the thought of choosing to play a different soccer game seems a bit absurd.

Awesome Soccer harks back to the old days of football games like Super Kick Off and Microprose Soccer. Its simple controls and top-down viewpoint recreate the charm of those instantly-playable, engrossing soccer sims of the Nineties.

You can choose from a number of different game modes in Awesome Soccer. You can play a quick game or a friendly, or choose to enter a tournament. The tournament mode includes an impressive array of competitions, including eight domestic leagues, the European Championships (based on the 2008 tournament), the World Cup (based on the 2006 line-up), and the Champions League (2009-2010 season). All of these competitions include the real teams and, in the main, real player names. There are some anomalies in the squads, but thankfully, Awesome Soccer comes with a data editor so you can change the player names and attributes yourself.

Aside from winning tournaments, Awesome Soccer also challenges you to unlock 'Golden balls', which are awarded for special achievements during the game, then displayed in your 'Showcase'. This, and the fact that there are five difficulty settings makes Awesome Soccer a game that you will struggle to get bored of.

Once you enter the match mode, you'll soon realize that Awesome Soccer is just about as simple to play as it gets. You'll just need the directional buttons (or cursor keys) to move the players, and the Fire button (or Space bar) to pass, shoot, tackle, etc. The kind of action that's performed depends on your position and whether you're attacking or defending. These controls make Awesome Soccer very straightforward to play on a PC, although you do feel very restricted in terms of what you can do, when compared with more sophisticated football sims.

The graphics in Awesome Soccer are pretty lame, so don't expect any real player likenesses or smooth animation - the effects here are strictly retro. The sound is pretty patchy too. There are some authentic crowd noises but they cut out very abruptly, making it sound a bit weird. Also, the music that plays during an action replay is so bad it's laughable.

Ok so, Awesome Soccer doesn't have the super realistic graphics and ridiculously complex gameplay of FIFA or Pro Evo, but that doesn't stop it from being a fast and fun football experience.

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Football Manager is generally regarded as the best soccer management game out there. In recent years though, FIFA Manager has made up some ground on its rival, and this latest incarnation is the most impressive to date.

FIFA Manager 10 is perhaps a better choice than Football Manager 2010 if you're a newcomer to management sims. The FIFA game holds your hand a bit more, guiding you through the nuances of all of the strategic elements and explaining how to access all of the menus. The user interface is colorful and attractive with well laid-out menus and visual aids. Features such as a news Website, magazine, and an 'Ups and Downs' that helps you track the performance of your youth side, are very well presented and give the game that polished look you associate with the FIFA game series.

You start a game in FIFA Manager 10 by creating a profile, where you not only set your personal details, but also choose a team and define your targets for the season. Once you're up and running you'll need to pay attention to all aspects of the running of the club, such as team tactics, coaching, youth team, transfers, dealing with the press, and even controlling the merchandising and running of the club shop. Such is this level of diversity, FIFA Manager 10 often feels more like a series of different strategy games joined into one.

For the first time ever, FIFA Manager 10 comes with an online mode, although this is, unfortunately, absent from this demo version.

FIFA Manager 10 consists of almost 4,000 clubs and there are 37,000 players available. yet somehow it manages to feel a lot lighter and less overwhelming than some of its opponents. Mind you, it doesn't feel as in-depth as Football Manager 2010 in terms of the options available to you.

In effect, FIFA Manager 10 wins the prize for 'style', while Football Manager 2010 triumphs in the 'substance' stakes.

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While it's visually not far removed from its predecessor, the FIFA 10 PC demo will demonstrate some "under the hood" changes that really improve the game. The biggest is the introduction of 360 degree control. Your players no longer move in just eight directions, but whatever way you want. This makes control a much more subtle, and gives you greater flexibility and the ability for much more creative play.

FIFA 10's player animation has been totally revamped - they move with real character now and dribbling looks great. Your teammates have also had an intelligence upgrade, making them act more naturally, and thus less likely to do what you want them to.

FIFA 10 management has also been upgraded, perhaps in response to the richer experience in the Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer. FIFA 10 players now come with 'ambition', which affects their decisions - if your team is full of defenders, it might be difficult to convince another to join, as not playing much is rarely what a player wants to further his career.

A cleaner and more subtle game than its predecessor, FIFA 10 is quite an improvement, and another step towards a totally realistic football experience.

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Pro Evolution Soccer is a long running soccer game that puts you right in the action of the beautiful game.

The last couple of years have been a bit disappointing for Pro Evolution Soccer and its fans. The title has been criticized for its failure to innovate, and subsequently it has lost its crown as the king of football games to the increasingly fluid and more realistic, FIFA series.

As a result, this season is perhaps the most important in the history of Pro Evolution Soccer . Naturally, we were pretty excited to see how it plays and, for the first time in years, the new version of Pro evolution Soccer doesn't manage to disappoint.

Off the ball

One thing that was widely panned in Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 was the menu system. The set-up menus looked like been built in half an hour by a four-year-old. Navigating the in-game tactics and formation menus on the other hand, was like trying to crack the entry code on the front door of the Pentagon. Thankfully, things have been improved greatly in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Although the garish pink and black color scheme remains, all the menus are better organized and more 'professional' than the previous version.

The tactics and formation system has been treated to a complete overall, and it's a thousand times better than the previous Pro Evolution Soccer fiddly series of menus. Team tactics are controlled using slide bars, to precisely set elements such as pressing, defensive line, counter attacking etc. Preview windows explain exactly what will happen to your line-up as you make changes to these tactics.

Player 'cards' are another feature that's been talked up in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Each player has a series of cards when you view his stats that show you instantly the areas he is good in (e.g. free kicks, goal poaching, heading, etc.) This system is far easier on the eye than having to focus on huge lists of stats, like you had to in the previous Pro Evolution Soccer.

On the ball

Of course, as with real football, the most important stuff happens on the pitch. And here, thanks to a completely revamped game engine, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than ever before. In fact, it’s almost too realistic.

The player likenesses are better than ever before, naturally. Faces are rounder, limbs are less jagged, and the animations are fluidly lifelike. Not only this, but individual players techniques and physical attributes are accounted for in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Take a shot as Henry and it will be an Henry-style strike; Make Rooney run and he’ll run like Rooney; Fall to the ground as Drogba and he’ll go down like Drogba (however, we didn't find a way to make Drogba swear at the camera or attempt to intimidate the referee - features we hope to see in the final version).

The 'feel' of Pro Evolution Soccer is still as absorbing and you’ll be able to pick it up and play it in much the same way as you have with the last 10 or-so versions. However, there have been plenty of tweaks to the gameplay to make it more realistic. The first is that it feels a little more sluggish. The ball feels much heavier than before, and it doesn’t quite zip off the surface like it used to. What’s more, turning and dribbling like you’ve got treacle on your boots.

Collision detection has been smartened up in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, and you can’t just expect the ball to stick to your foot once it’s been delivered. Mis-control it and it can go flying off your toe into row-Z, or worse still bounce of your toe into row-Z, or worse still bounce of your shin and into the path of an oncoming striker.

No doubt the new gameplay features will infuriate you at first and you’ll feel like it’s ruined the game for you. Remember though, that it always takes a while to settle into a new Pro Evolution Soccer, and once you’ve got used to it, you’ll be praising the ingenuity of the developers for creating such a realistic and challenging simulation of the beautiful game.

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I'm not particularly fond of football but I must admit I had some fun while testing Football Challenge, a simple 3D online football simulator that you can play for free.

Be aware that this is no FIFA or PES. In fact football sim junkies may feel a bit disappointed at the game's simplicity in graphics and controls. Here you won't get the official player names or uniforms – in fact you can customize the team's shirt any way you want. What's more, there are no special moves or button combinations: the arrow keys and two action buttons (kick and pass) is all you need to play. On the other hand, this easy gameplay is what makes the game attractive even for people like me who don't know what an offside is.

Football Challenge includes both offline and online gaming modes. You can play against the computer and also enroll in online tournaments just by filling in a simple form and creating your team right away. The game will automatically find a match partner for you to start playing. Obviously, the more games you win, the higher you'll reach in the player ranking.

Football Challenge is a simple football simulator with support for online games, great for some easy fun but definitely not aimed at hardcore football fans.

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Football Manager, or Championship Manager as it started life, has been the cause of many a flunked exam, failed relationship, and job loss, such is its addictiveness.

The annual update to the life-stealing game is here in the shape of Football manager 2009. And as usual, its developers Sports Interactive have thrown even more refinements at it, making it just about as close to the real thing as is humanly bearable.

Of course, all of the game data in Football Manager 2009 has been updated to include the latest players transfers and league information. In fact, the database is so ridiculously large that you'll probably find the guys from your local park team in there, all complete with profiles, pictures, history, etc. Luckily, the interface is intuitive enough to cope with the sheer range of data, options and functions, using an Outlook-style approach to organize the various different menus.

Probably the most significant addition to Football Manager 2009 is the new 3D game engine. This means that rather than watching games play out with little discs representing the players, you can now view the action in a more realistic fashion. Granted, the graphics are not exactly Pro Evolution or FIFA standard, but it still gives you much more of a flavor of what's happening in the matches and helps you to analyze individual player performances more easily. There are a range of different views and angles to choose from, including the good old floating discs.

Your assistant manager in Football Manager 2009 is much more useful than he was in previous versions. He's now able to give you feedback during matches about the way the tactics are going, as well as sorting out training schedules and giving team talks. You'll probably welcome all this help, since this is the most involved Football Manager game in history.

These days, real life football managers are forced into much more interaction with the media, and the new press features in the game reflect this. Every day, you get reports of transfer rumors involving your players, or players that you're allegedly interested in. Though sometimes annoying, this can be useful for discovering players based on names being bandied around by the papers. In Football Manager 2009 you're also expected to take part in press conferences, carefully choosing your answers to a stream of questions posed by journalists (who, incidentally, are from real-life local newspapers and media outlets).

All of this means that Football Manager 2009 is the most involved soccer management sim in history and playing it genuinely does feel like a full-time job. In a way this takes away from the addictiveness of the early versions of Champ Manager, where it was much easier just to switch on your PC and play out a whole season in an afternoon. These days, you could feasible spend a whole real-life day playing just one in-game day.

That said, Football Manager 2009 does offer an unrivalled gaming experience, and the changes to this version make it well worth upgrading to if you have 2008.

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One of the traditions now associated with autumn is the release of two big football titles: FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. As any fan of gaming will know, these two games go head to head each year, with Pro Evolution Soccer usually coming out on top. The latest edition will be a huge seller on the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 consoles but how does it perform on the PC, a format notoriously unsuited to sports games?

I'm not going to lie to you: the Pro Evolution Soccer demo for PC isn't exactly revolutionary when it comes to the old problem of porting console titles to Windows. All the old problems are there but the horrendously clunky controls (caused by lack of analog sticks) are the biggest barrier to enjoying what would, on the correct platform, be an enjoyable and well-designed game.

Another weak point in the Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 demo is the lack of any game options whatsoever. With no way of adjusting graphics, sound or controls, the demo has a very rigid feel to it. Sound controls in particular would be a welcome addition, if only they allowed you to turn off the awful music Konami has selected for the Pro Evolution Soccer menu and intro pages, and the tinny, poorly rendered chants during the game.

After selecting Exhibition mode (the only option apart from Exit), you're offered a choice of four clubs (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United) or two licensed national sides (France and Italy) to pit against each other. There follows the usual tactical options screen, a brief summary of the (insanely crappy) controls, and you're straight into Pro Evolution Soccer action.

The first thing we noticed about Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is that the graphics have been improved somewhat since last year's edition - player models are smoother and more natural than previously, even if getting the players to go where you want is just as hard as ever. Other improvements include the general AI of computer opponents and the physics of the game, though we're only really talking about minor tweaks here.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is, in the end, a slight improvement on last year's slightly disappointing release. On the PS3 and Xbox, it looks likely to lose this year's contest as FIFA 09 has improved so much. On PC, and especially without a gamepad, its controls are so clunky and inaccurate that it's as much of a waste of time as Civilization is on a console.

In all: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is worth a try but not highly recommended on PC.

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The answer, in short is: a little. The graphics in FIFA 09 have been refined, with more photo-realistic captures of the superstars of soccer, and some great new animations both on and off the ball. The presentation of the game is as exquisite as ever, with new match intro sequences featuring the players warming up in the tunnel, crowd chants specific to each club, not to mention the cool new 'widgets' system on the menu pages, where various online and offline stats are displayed at all times. Unfortunately, it was impossible to test the commentary in FIFA 09, as it's not included in this demo version.

In terms of its gameplay, FIFA 09 offers a smooth ride, although there are few changes to the way the game handles other than a few new tricks and the addition of more realistic collisions. I could've done without these clashes, as sometimes it takes your player a long time to get up after a heavy hit. In fact, one of the new gameplay enhancements in FIFA 09 is the physical presence of some players, which means large defenders are more likely to bundle you off the ball, requiring more cunning to get past them.

While this demo of FIFA 09 is limited to four-minute demo matches between a choice of six clubs, the full release looks set to really raise the bar in terms of its online modes. I'm particularly excited by the new Adidas Live Season mode in FIFA 09, where player information is updated dynamically depending on performances in real life.

FIFA 09 is undoubtedly a great soccer simulator, although unless you're particularly interested in the online aspect of the game, you may not see a great deal of benefit in upgrading from FIFA 08 (other than, of course, the updated transfers).

Whether it'll prove better than Pro Evolution 2009 is a matter of extensive debate, but FIFA 09 is definitely the best version in the EA series to date.

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UEFA Euro 2008 plays virtually the same as FIFA 08 aside from a few tweaks. For instance, there's a new 'flick' mode for free kicks (and penalties), where you control the power and swerve of the shot using your right-analog stick. It's certainly an improvement, but still too fiddly and difficult to master.

Other additions to UEFA Euro 2008 over FIFA 08 include in-game player ratings which update in real-time depending how each individual is performing, and improved collisions, trapping and goalkeeper AI. You even get to see the managers' reactions to goals, free kicks and near-misses.

Aside from the gameplay changes in UEFA Euro 2008, there are a couple of new game modes. Captain Your Country sees you take the role of your team's skipper and influence the other players while you're out on the pitch, and there's a new online mode called Battle of the Nations.

Of course, all the official stadiums, real players, kits, balls, haircuts, etc. are there, and UEFA Euro 2008 features 52 European teams. Of course, there were only 16 teams at the 2008 Euro Championships, but by increasing the number EA has helped to add more depth and longevity to this title.

UEFA 2008 is a great international soccer sim. However, if you already have FIFA 08 it's probably not worth getting

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There are two kinds of football gamers, those that want an authentic footballing experience, and people who play FIFA. Pro Evolution Soccer won the hearts of the former with their first release, which managed to make you feel like you were playing a game of football that you could have been watching on television. They got so much right in that first game that subsequent releases have been bemoaned for their lack of 'big' developments. But we have had faster gameplay, more subtle ball control and some great set-piece changes. Now in 2008 Pro Evolution Soccer has 'Teamvision'.

'Teamvision' is the big news of the latest edition of Pro Evolution Soccer and involves the computer's players owning a kind of 'artificial intelligence' that allows them to adapt and react to your gameplay. So much so that you now need to play in true Kenny Dalglish-style as a kind of player-manager with one eye on winning the match and one eye on making sure your tactics outwit your opponent's. Defenders and goalkeepers are more responsive to danger and attacking players make more intelligent runs off the ball, which is now a special blue Pro Evolution Soccer leather number four if I'm not mistaken - it does seem rather small. Plus there are some nice manager and dug-out shots during the games and goalscorers celebrate with the subs. You also get extensive editing options if false names still annoy you.

The retail version of Pro Evolution Soccer came out in November 2008. You can beat all your mates and rest happy for another year.

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Everyone knows there are two types of gamer - those that love that Pro Evolution Soccer, and those that prefer FIFA.

Until recently, I'd have told you that those in the latter camp are a bunch of idiots who don't know anything about either computer games or football. Since the last couple of releases of the EA game though, I've shocked myself by becoming increasingly impressed with FIFA (largely because it's becoming more like Pro Evo, I would argue). FIFA 08 is by far the best release to date and it seems that the game has finally come of age.

FIFA 08's gameplay is more fluid than ever and thanks to some tweaks to the shooting mechanism, defending pressure, player attributes and even the influence of air pressure, it's now a very realistic simulation of the beautiful game. The graphics are smooth, detailed and well animated and the commentary and crowd effects make it seem just like you're watching it on telly. Always having the benefit of licensing on its side, FIFA 08 has a staggering 620 teams from 30 leagues, and a total of more than 1,500 real players at your disposal.

The management mode from the previous version stays, and FIFA 08 has introduced a new feature that I've been wanting from a football game for a long time. The so-called "Be A Pro: Co-op Season" mode sees you create your own player profile, then play just as that player for the season in a team with your pals, or with others online. It's an interesting experience that gives you the opportunity to prove how good you really are at the game and develop your skills as an individual player.

With the usual slick presentation and infinitely customizable options, Pro Evo 2008 is really gonna have to go some in order to top FIFA 08.

Download FIFA 08 in Softonic

SportsKeeping is an easy-to-use application that allows you to obtain highly detailed information about several European football leagues, as well as some important European competitions such as the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, the FIFA Competition and even the Intertoto Cup.

The program offers information about the league classification for each country, a synoptic sheet with all the available data, a list of all the games alredy played and the games yet to come and extra information about football team.

SportsKeeping is updated very frequently so it always displays the most recent information.

Download SportsKeeping 1.9.0 in Softonic