Well it’s that time of year again where all of the football fans get ready for another high class tournament, however this year most of us are a bit stuck as none of our teams made it past the qualifying stages. You could all go to the pub and watch the games there, crying into your pint, dreaming of what could of been, or you can stay at home and make sure your team wins a few and even bring back some silverware.
UEFA EURO 2008 is an updated version of the FIFA 2008, usually games such as this that are linked to major tournaments do seem to fail, mainly due to them feeling like more of an expansion than a new game. Thankfully though Euro 2008 has changed that trend and offers plenty of new choices for offline and online play as well as more fluid and faster moving gameplay.
As always the offline Single player mode offers plenty of choice should you be playing solo, Kick-Off has one off exhibition matches, Be a Pro allows you to take on your opponents from the players perspective and you are also able to take part in penalty shoot-outs (just don’t choose England as you may miss a few). UEFA EURO 2008 allows you to choose your team, even one that didn’t qualify and play from the qualifiers all the way through to the finals themselves. The biggest and most exciting addition to the game though has to be Captain Your Country, here you are able to choose and play as a player from the B side and prove your skill on the pitch, eventually captaining your team in big games.
The road to qualification is riddled with dangers, lower opposition will deliberately play from a draw while more established nations will pound your goal from beginning to end. Throughout each game you are always kept up to date with the latest goings on elsewhere, which does make for some tension when you find yourself needing that last minute goal. It’s great stuff and feels quite realistic, which can only be a good point.
Online is where most of the work has been put into the game, a cool new addition is the Battle of the Nations, EA servers upload your gaming stats daily and add points in a league. Here they are able to crown Champion Gamers and also the Nation of Euro 2008. So even if your team did not get to the Finals in real life, they can still win some tournaments. You score will join all other gamers who have selected the same country as you, playing low ranked teams and defeating high ranked teams will earn you more points. Even if you play as Sweden, as long as you choose your home nation all of the points will go to you own nation. There is also a Euro online knockout cup where you join a 16 team cup battle.
Graphically the game isn’t really a big step up from FIFA 2008, while the on screen action looks fantastic and runs smoothly, some of the animations do look quite strange when examined a bit closer.
The commentary is great, constant. Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend constantly through the game, this plus the great crowd participation and look of the stadiums really give this game some atmosphere. The cut shots of celebrations and managers shouting form the sidelines make it feel like you are watching a live game on TV rather than playing yourself.
UEFA Euro 2008 is a great game and offers a insight into just how good FIFA 2009 could be. If the game has any problems it is that it is too expensive for what it is, after all it lacks the club teams and the other extras which make FIFA such a great package for value. If you want to take your team all the way to UEFA Euro 2008 then this could be for you, however if you all ready own FIFA 2008 then we suggest practicing on that until the next version comes along.
