UEFA EURO 2008

The UEFA Euro 2008 is over and Spain has taken the cup to their homeland and the Germans are probably still crying over losing it in the final. This year’s European nation’s tournament was among the best ever held in its history. The teams demonstrated their aggressive attacking tactics and this mentality made these games ultra attractive for the viewers. The same applies for the latest football game from EA Sports which made the fans of the game proud.

Euro 08 is best described as FIFA 8.5. It is based on the best Football iteration of the next generation consoles. FIFA 08 showed us that EA is catching up with the Pro Evolution franchise as fast as possible and it was the first big warning for Konami that they cannot claim to have the best football simulation game anymore. The various problems of the PES 2008 along with the poor and laggy online mode made the FIFA 08 game to stand tall in the long fought war of these two football kings.

Euro 08 is a game with so many improvements over the FIFA 08 and considering the good game the FIFA was, these improvements are numerous enough to be seen and noticed. Aside from overall graphical improvements, more real life look-alike player models, great stadiums replication from Austria and Switzerland and spectacular weather effects that influence the games, we have new and shiny additions that will probably make their ways to the next FIFA games.

The standard part of the game is the Road to Euro 2008, which will put you in your chosen team starting from the qualifying stages to the finals, so those England squad fans have the ability to relive the matches and achieve a pass for their team to the finals this time. One of the best parts of the previous FIFA was the "Be a Pro" mode which had a very interesting new approach to the usual football gaming. Here you will have a new mode based on the success of that mode called "Captain your country". In Captain your country you will start as a regular player or a custom made player and you have to climb the ladder from the reserve squad to the first team and play good enough to gain the captaincy of your selected team. In this mode you must compete with three other CPU or user controlled players. Captain your country will give you enough fuel for getting back to the game again and will probably extends the game’s lifetime.

The gameplay, ball and player movements have been enhanced a lot. Now the players are more responsive to the orders you give them but this is still the place requiring EA to work harder to get to the point of pure enjoyment and fluidity of controlling the players in the PES games. Another good addition to the game is playing in best scenarios of the previous Euro games. These objective based items will put you right in the action of many of the great and memorable moments in the history of these tournaments. For example you have to score certain amount of goals with a certain player to win the scenario. Talking about scoring, you will say goodbye to repetitive celebrating animations of other football games. Here you can control your player after scoring a goal and you can perform various celebrations depending on which combination of buttons you push on your controller.

The sound effects and the atmosphere of the stadiums are greater than ever. Managers come to the line to give tactical orders and they are designed as their real life counter parts. Various little additions like the heart beatings of the last penalty taker are available everywhere. The commentators have done a good job putting you in the mood of a football match and they will quote on facts from the teams between their lines.

But the real gem of this game is the online play. There are various online modes available, from the standard ranked and unranked matches to the new cup and league modes. In the battle for nations cup, you will play in a custom elimination cup and the weaker your team you will get more points. The league mode is a custom made league which you can play with anyone interested to join your league or your friends only; if you put a password on the league thus limiting anyone wanting to join other than those who you have provided the password for. The games are lag-free and very enjoyable.

It is really hard to comment on a weak spot, because this game has few and with the amounts of improvements done in every aspect of the game from presentation to the controlling you will close your eyes on the little shortcomings you find. But the only missing piece from the previous game is the live scores. I noticed this because my playing time was in the same time as some of the less interesting games of the Euro 2008, the temptation to know every score made me pause the game and check my sports channel every once in a while. Displaying live scores was the few weak points I found and it is not that big of a deal (If you do not consider the lack of club or other international teams which is not arguable since this is a Euro game).

Overall, Euro 2008 is the best football game available on the consoles these days and this comes from an old time PES fan. The great single and online play makes it the first choice for every football lover. I recommend getting it even if you have spent your money on the FIFA 08; because we still have some months between us and the FIFA 09. While Konami is sleeping in the success of their previous PES titles, EA has truly defined the football gaming in the current generation.