Interview from Producer Paul Hossack on Be a Pro Co-Op mode
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FIFA 08 is a much tougher FIFA game. In the hours we spent with the PS2 version (which is wholly separate from the 360 and PS3 versions) we managed to put only a handful of goals into the net, and fouled more players than Joey Barton on the training field.
There's also a radical new Be a Pro Co-Op mode, which has you and up to three others controlling individual players on the pitch. As you can imagine, this significantly changes the way you play.
During a half-time orange we sat down with PS2 and PC producer Paul Hossack, who explained what EA's up to with the last-gen version of FIFA 08.
What's been your focus for FIFA 2008 on the last gen of consoles?
Hossack: There are two main areas we've put a lot of effort into this year. The first is the gameplay and the second is the new game mode called 'Be a Pro Co-Op'.
Let me start off with gameplay, because it's the thing we've put most of our effort in. There are three areas of gameplay that we've focused on. One is defensive intelligence, two is deeper controls and three is personality.
Defensive intelligence boils down to two things. One is positioning; when you're playing football positioning is more than half of the work of actually playing proper defence. We've done a lot of work this year to make sure that all of the players on your side are positioned properly.
The big thing we did to get us there was to make sure that every single player analysed all of the threats that were around them. So even if your opponent is making a run down the far side of the pitch, the midfielder will mark him and track him all the way back until he can hand off to the defence.
This is something you'll notice; that your defence seems much tighter and they'll be making the right decisions almost all of the time, which makes a really nice side effect in something we wanted to do this year which was make the game a bit tougher to play. It's a bit harder to score now because you have to work a bit harder to get those opportunities.
The flip-side in the defensive intelligence is what you have control over. With player switching, usually you're pressing the player switch button and you're switching between the two players that are closest to the ball, but maybe it's not the defender that you want to control. This year we've added something that addresses that, which is right stick player switching.
If you have two midfielders just behind your opponent who can't really catch up, instead of just switching back and fourth between the two of them, you can just switch the right stick in the direction of a defender who's on the proper side of the attacker and you'll be controlling him right away.
The co-op feels completely different from how we expect a football game to play. How hard was that mode to put together?
Hossack: It was actually interesting how it came up, because at the start of the year we started prototyping things and said 'what happens if we can only control the midfield? What does it feel like to control only one player?' As soon as we did a couple of prototypes I realised it's really fun when to control one guy, but especially when there's another gamer controlling someone else on the pitch.
That was the genesis of the Be a Pro Co-Op mode. It's fun to play together, you and I in the same club, but you playing as the left mid-fielder and me as the right; that's a lot of fun.
It evolved over the whole year as we realised all the things we needed to include in it to make sure that it's a fun mode, because it is a very different way of playing the game. It's almost like the difference between playing football and watching football; in traditional football videogames it's akin to watching football, you care about your whole side and everyone on the team.
But when you're playing football, you're out on the pitch playing right midfield thinking about where you should position yourself, what types of passes you should make etc, and that's what it's like playing the Be a Pro co-op season.
Who do you think the co-op mode is going to appeal to? Will it draw a new audience or fit in with the current FIFA fans?
Hossack: I think it's actually going to appeal to both and we know that people play FIFA a lot together. So you're at home playing on the couch, but normally a lot of that gameplay is head to head. This is going to give us a different approach because now you get to pick a club and together you're trying to win.
There's also little twists we've put in there; every match you go into you're going to get a personal challenge and so am I. Your challenge might be to get three shots on goal, mine might be to keep my passing percentage over 50 percent. But then we also get a team challenge like 'win by two goals'.
So there's a bit of a competitive/co-operative dynamic where I want to make sure I get my challenge done, but I also want to work with you to make sure we get our challenge done.
What do you see the co-op mode turning into in the future?
Hossack: One thing we aspire to get to is an 11 vs. 11 online scenario. That's not something we're delivering this year, but what you have in Be a Pro co-op season is a really good first step, because to get to 11 vs. 11 we have to make sure that people start off on the right foot and get used to playing together as one player.
I think we've done a really good job this year of educating people in that, but also giving them a mode that's really fun to play in by itself. Where that leads to and how soon we get to 11 vs. 11, we'll wee where we end up.
So four-player co-op is only the beginning?
Hossack: Only the beginning.
How often do you convene with the next-gen FIFA team?
Hossack: So the code bases are completely separate and the game teams are very separate, so I've got my 25 person team dedicated exclusively to creating the best PS2 and PC game that we can.
That being said, I play the next-gen version of the game pretty often and I know their producers play our version quite a bit. There's a lot of collaboration.
It's funny because it makes me think of the co-op season mode; it's a bit co-operative and a bit competitive. Seeing some of the cool things they're doing makes me want to make my game better, but we also cooperate; if they learn something or if we come up with a good idea, we'll share it with them or they'll share it with us and it makes both of the games better.
So which version's better then?
Hossack: You know what my answer's going to be! The current-gen game is fantastic, definitely the best. But you might get a different answer from the guys running the next-gen unit.
You've worked on seven iterations of FIFA now. How different is it working on the game now, with increased competition from Pro Evo and others?
Hossack: First off, I think it's great. I think it's great for us and it's great for the gamer. We push each other, so we do some great things and Konami is doing some good things and it pushed both of our products to become better products which is obviously what the gamers want. It has changed a bit in that respect and we've made some amazing strides in the last couple of years to deliver some really good games.
Do you play Pro Evo to see what Konami's up to?
Hossack: Obviously we do, we have to. Anyone who's making any type of product should be looking at their competitor's product to see what works and what doesn't work.
Obviously we take a look at their game to see what they're doing and maybe get some ideas, but we have to think more about what the gamer wants. That's always what I'm asking. I try to put myself on the gamer's couch and in their shoes and think 'what am I going to like when I buy this product?' I think that really helps us focusing on putting out a better game each year.
Do you think it's fair to say, especially with FIFA 08's Be a Pro co-op mode, that EA and Konami have each taken a different approach this year?
Hossack: I'm not familiar with what Konami's going to be doing this year on their current-gen version, but this is obviously something that I came up with the team and we saw a need to provide a fun way of playing co-operatively with your friends.
What came out of it was a really engaging mode that makes you think a bit differently about how you play a football game. I'm really happy with that.
How often does the FIFA team play real footy?
Hossack: I grew up playing football. It's king of funny, because EA Vancouver - where a lot of the FIFA games are made - almost feels like a bit of a UN of game development. I'm one of the only Canadians actually designing any of our FIFA products; there's Germans, Austrians, lots of Brits, Japanese - guys from all over the world have come to Vancouver to make these products.
We also play a lot of football; we have a three-quarter size pitch at our studio where we play eight-on-eight matches. There are two leagues, a rec league and a premiership league. I play in the premier league and we have matches twice a week, there are games at 12 and one every day - and the quality's really good.
On my team I have two guys that played at the international level; a U17 keeper for Canada and a U21 striker for Jamaica... and we're still not winning (laughs). There's some heavy competition.
Are you looking forward to having Peter Moore as a boss?
Hossack: Obviously he's the new head of the EA Sports label and I think it's fantastic, he's had some amazing successes in his career at a number of companies. He gets football; he used to play and coach so I think it's going to be a positive thing for EA sports and for the FIFA franchise.
Where do you see the franchise going from here?
Hossack: For one, PS2 isn't going away anytime soon - that's for sure. We're spending a lot of time thinking about what the future holds.
So it's fair to say that FIFA 08 lays a few steps for where the franchise is headed in the future?
Hossack: Yes. It gives a couple of clues for what's coming up next.
Aug 1 2007, 11:38 AM, updated 18y ago
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