UEFA Euro 2008

As the shame of England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 still tugs at the entrails of our eviscerated pride, EA readies itself to roll out the latest iteration of FIFA in the form of UEFA Euro 2008.

Now, before you start spitting in disgust at having to fork out another thirty-odd quid for an EA football game having only recently forked out another thirty-odd quid on FIFA 08, hang tight, as not only is Euro 2008 your chance to get some payback and erase the memories of the McClaren era, but it's actually shaping up to be a fair improvement.

How do we know? Because we recently pootled down to EA's Guildford headquarters to spend half a day with the Xbox 360 version of the game, and speak with producer Simon Humber about what we can expect to see when it ships on 18th April.

"We've made the game more responsive and a little quicker," explains Humber, exhibiting those qualities himself. "It's 6 percent faster than FIFA 08. Player acceleration is also faster." As well as the slight speed increase, and more responsive and fluid player acceleration, it's also possible to jostle and stretch for the ball (as well as trap it and turn with it) with greater levels of control.
'UEFA Euro 2008' Screenshot 1

Once you score you'll maintain control of your player and be able to select a goal celebration.

While FIFA 08 was undoubtedly the best game in the series for a while, it wasn't without its faults, with many games between equally matched opponents regularly degenerating into dogged wars of attrition. That doesn't look to be as much of a problem here. While retaining the tactical and realistic spine of its predecessor, Euro 2008 also seems to have lightened up a little, and it now appears to make it easier to launch attacks and enjoy end-to-end thrillers rather than always searching for that one killer pass. Crosses feel crisper, first touches less clumsy and player animations more realistic. What's more, when you score you retain control of your player, allowing you to execute one of dozens of goal celebrations (dependent on which player you're controlling) including knee slides, Shearer salutes and acrobatics.

Euro 2008's impressive list of new features and modes suggest it could easily surpass the lacklustre mid-year offerings of recent tournaments. Take qualifying, for example. Rather than playing every qualifier in pristine stadiums inhabited by boisterous but generally well-behaved fans, you'll now find yourself travelling across Europe and experiencing a variety of pitch types and intimidating crowds. "We wanted to create a feeling that you have to play some really nasty matches when you're playing away from home, matches that can cause upsets, like when Kazakhstan beat Serbia or Northern Ireland beat Spain," explains Humber. "We've also added more negative tactics for the weaker teams to use."

Stadiums and pitches will vary hugely in quality.

Keen to find out for ourselves, we selected England and took on minnows Andorra on their home turf. The pitch was more akin to a mud-wrestling ring (we've seen a few in our time, obviously), with the word 'quagmire' instantly springing to mind. Puddles of water sat on the pitch causing the ball to suddenly stop instead of pinging off the surface. Rain pummelled our players as the opposition set up a ten-man barrier in front of its goal and hoofed the ball up-field in an attempt to catch us on the counter. And for every second we were in possession the crowd whistled and jeered with increasing intensity.

One of the best and, conversely, most frustrating aspects of FIFA 08 was its debuting Be A Pro mode. Finally, we had the chance to play as one player in our favoured position. In this sense, the mode was undoubtedly a triumph. But where was the career mode? Thankfully, UEFA Euro 2008 looks set to rectify that omission.

Captain Your Country is a mode in which you and up to three other players (either human or AI-controlled) choose a player from your favourite European (international) team and embark on a twenty-five match campaign, during which you must outperform your rivals and earn the right to become captain. "The idea is that you each have a real or created player and you all start off as B internationals for the same team," explains Humber. "Through your performances you need to persuade your manager to keep picking you and ultimately make you captain. There's a real-time rating system that rates your performance from how well you play your role to how many goals you create and score."


Euro 2008's other major selling point is a feature called Battle of the Nations, which will pit the skills of players from across Europe against each other in order to determine which country has the most adept players (or the ones with the most amount of free time). Here's how it works. For every match you play (on or offline) you'll be awarded points. Play as a top team against lowly opposition and you'll only be modestly rewarded. However, whip one of the superpowers as a lowlier team and you'll be lavished with points.

It's certainly promising to see that this principle will also apply to online tournaments and games, as it'll hopefully help negate FIFA 08's Barcelona syndrome and give less experienced players a fighting chance against hardcore opponents. At the end of each day, a points average will be compiled online for players from every country and the nation with the highest average will be victorious. "Come June 30th we'll declare the champion nation and gamer and if you're in the top 250 players, you'll get a special trophy that goes in your trophy screen," promises Humber.

The speed of the action has been slightly increased for a more fluid gaming experience.

Another new addition is the Tournaments Make Stars feature. At the start of your qualifying campaign your star players will be rated with a gold, silver or bronze star. However, throughout the campaign, some of your best players may perform poorly, while other members of your squad may surpass themselves, causing their ratings to fluctuate. Granted, it may not be groundbreaking, but it's certainly a nice touch. Rounding off the package are the Story of Qualifying mode (in which you must attempt to recreate heroic comebacks from the actual qualifying campaign) and an Online Knockout Cup.

UEFA Euro 2008 certainly has the potential to build successfully on the qualities of FIFA 08, and Humber is confident that England's failure to qualify won't affect UK sales. We're not, but we'll leave you to debate that one. Either way, we may find that EA's mid-year UEFA-branded offering isn't just a stopgap between FIFAs. We'll let you know for sure when we've put the review code through its pace.



www.eurogamer.net

Ωραίο παιχνιδάκι.Αναμένεται σύντομα στο Green House of Entertainment

ναι όσοι πιστοί προσέλθετε

θα είναι πόρωση με την Εθνική Ελλάδος

εγώ πάντος θα το σηκώσω με την εθνική Κύπρου

UEFA EURO 2008 isn’t just an average soccer title to play while you wait for FIFA 09. It’s an accomplished game boasting some exemplary features. The game engine is better than FIFA 08 and the match experience is more authentic,whereas the visual improvements, including graphics, cut-scenes and animations make it the best looking soccer game to date. The new game mode, ‘Captain Your Country’ is imaginative and exceptionally good fun to play,and while ‘Battle of the Nations’ could be a hit or miss amongst gamers, depending on how players decide to tackle it, you’ve got to give EA props for trying to innovate within the genre and creating what I believe to be the best football game on the market.

Pros
Presentation, visuals and audio
Captain your Country mode
You can have your name on the shirt and have the commentator mention you!
Best football engine yet
Captures the atmosphere of the big match

Cons
Corners are more difficult to score from
Interactive celebrations will probably annoy you, if you’re on the opposing team


UEFA EURO 2008 isn’t just EA’s best football game, it’s the best football game ever

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=12676

Originally Posted by Jamie LUFC
Chaps,

I played the full version yesterday, the rumour about stock being delviered on the 11th to game retailers was correct.

Level Played: Professional
Time: 6 Mins
England v Croatia
Wembley Stadium
Sunny
Everything Manual bar the shooting, which I placed on Semi.

Ok let me start with the speed issue. The final release has noticebley lost half a yard of pace, which for me was perfection. It's still faster than FIFA 08 but for people who love to build up a decent attack, the loss of a little bit of speed can be fully appreciated. You can play from the back an pass the ball around the deck to create decent build up play. Another cool thing I noticed, after going 1-0 up thanks to a screamer from Wayne Rooney, England's confidence and momentum was sky high. My players seemed to play with a higher tempo and really exposed Croatia, who played like a team with their heads down, making silly errors and losing their shape (Its really hard to explain but it was so life like).

The responsiveness is still as good as the demo. I didn't really notice a difference even with a slight change in the speed, this made for some great build play especially when exchanging one touch passing with your players.

People worrying about the PESness like running through the defence at speed and scoring, get that out of your head. I tried to run through the defence several times and their defence tackled me with ease. Im guessing the difficulty setting iradicates the theory of PESlike goals. You defientley have to "play football" to score goals, but when you do score it makes the whole experience of playing Euro 2008 so much better.

Keepers; as much as they have improved, there are still some major floors with them. Croatia equalised with a fantasic header at the far post by Eduardo, but the thing that annoys me is that keepers still stick to their line. On thos occasion i tried pressing Y only for the keeper to run away from the crossed ball which left Eduardo with an empty goal to head the ball home. They also have a tendancy to punch the ball away when it would be so much easier to catch the ball, which left me screaming at the tv screen. However EA have defientley improved the way in which the keeper comes out with the opposite attacker clean through on goal, you can definetley feel the keeper making the net smaller as he tries and puts the player off from shooting clean at goal, i thought this was a pretty cool addition and one that could in handy when playing a superstar on the online mode. A simple tap in every time you are clean through is definetley a thing of the past!

Defensivley the game is pretty much what you come to expect from FIFA 08 although the full backs do make intelligent burts forward which is a joy of fresh air if you like to spread the play. It really does offer a new way to create the perfect attack. I also like the fact that if you full back has committed to far up the field the left/right hand sided midfielder will drop in to cover there position, now that was wicked! The centre halves still dont commit past the half way line even when attacking a corner, which is pretty drab, but it doesnt really affect the overall gameplay if im being honest.

**ALERT** Something that EA have fixed is the carding system. I wanted to see whether the ref would card a player after playing advantage and I can confirm, my player was given a yellow card when the ball went dead. I nearly came in my pants!!!

Although I still dont think the red card system has been updated which is pretty rubbish, the last man can still hack someone down and get a yellow card and there seems to be no sign of the keepers getting carded which does let the carding system down to some extent, but I can forgive this for now as long as this inclusion features in FIFA 09.

The game finished 2-1 to Croatia. They scored an absolute fantastic goal when some nice build up play lead them to create some space to plant an inch perfect pass in behind my defence for their attacker to force my keeper out wide and slot the ball home, it has got to be one of the best goals I have witnessed the computer AI score ever!

Final Thoughts:

I was only allowed to play one match, due to the game not even supposed to be out of its packaging, but from the one game I have played i can safley say that this game is a slight improvement on the demo and a definete step in the right direction for the franchise of FIFA next generation gaming. It has ironed out so many niggling issues from FIFA 08 that you can appreciate paying full price for 50 odd teams and a couple of stadiums.

I can honestly say that despite the limited game modes, its the best football game I have ever had the pleasure to play.

ROLL ON FRIDAY!

ΤΟ UEFA EURO 2008 ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΔΙΑΘΕΣΙΜΟ ΑΠΟ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΗ

Ταυτόχρονα Γίνεται Διαθέσιμο το www.easportsfootball.com Που Δίνει τη Δυνατότητα στους Χρήστες να Εξερευνούν, να Ελέγχουν, να Ανεβάζουν και να Συζητούν Για τα Ποδοσφαιρικά Παιχνίδια της EA SPORTS


Η Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) ενεργοποίησε το www.easportsfootball.com σήμερα την ίδια στιγμή που το UEFA EURO 2008™, το μοναδικό επίσημο videogame της διοργάνωσης, είναι διαθέσιμο στα καταστήματα σε όλη την Ευρώπη.

Το UEFA EURO 2008 είναι μια πιο προσιτή, πιο γρήγορη και με μεγαλύτερη ανταπόκριση έκδοση της κυρίαρχης ποδοσφαιρικής μηχανής της EA SPORTS™ – με όλες τις ομάδες και τα επίσημα στάδια που θα είναι μέρος του UEFA EURO 2008™. Επιλέξτε μια από τις 52 εθνικές ομάδες της Ευρώπης και οδηγήστε τη στη δόξα από τον προκριματικό γύρω σε μια εικονική αναπαραγωγή της διοργάνωσης. Ένα νέο game mode με το όνομα Captain Your Country θα επιτρέπει στους παίκτες να μπούν μέσα στο γήπεδο και να κερδίσουν την αρχηγία της ομάδας με σκοπό να κατευθήνουν την χώρα τους στη δόξα. Οι παίκτες θα μπορούν να πανηγηρίζουν τις επιτυχίες τους στο γήπεδο μέσω ενός συστήματος όπου ελέγχουν οι ίδιοι και που θα κάνει την ατμόσφαιρα των αγώνων πιο φαντασμαγορική.

Τώρα που το UEFA EURO 2008 είναι διαθέσιμο στα καταστήματα όλης της Ευρώπη, οι παίκτες μπορούν να συνδεθούν στο www.easportsfootball.com για να παρακολουθήσουν τα αποτελέσματά τους έναντι των αντιπάλων τους από όλο τον κόσμο στο online game mode του UEFA EURO 2008 στο Battle of the Nations. Το Battle of the Nations είναι ένας καθημερινός ανταγωνισμός όπου ο καθένας αντιπροσωπεύει τη χώρα του on-line ενάντια στα αντίπαλα έθνη σε μια προσπάθεια αναζήτησης της παγκόσμιας υπεροχής. Το καινοτόμο βαθμολογικό σύστημα επιτρέπει ενώ είστε συνδεδεμένοι στους servers της EA, η κάθε απόδοσή σας στο UEFA EURO 2008 να βαθμολογείται, να καταγράφεται και να φορτώνεται και την ίδια στιγμή να ανανεώνονται οι βαθμολογίες στον πίνακα των παιχτών και των εθνών. Μπορείτε να παίξετε ως οποιαδήποτε ομάδα ενάντια σε οποιοδήποτε αντίπαλο με μεγαλύτερα εμπόδια και να κερδίσετε ακόμα περισσότερους βαθμούς για σας και το έθνος σας.


Το νέο ποδοσφαιρικό website της EA SPORTS www.easportsfootball.com έχει βάλει στόχο να γίνει ο πρωταρχικός προορισμός για τους ποδοσφαιρόφιλους οπαδούς της EA SPORTS όπου μπορούν να αλληλεπιδράσουν με άλλους παίκτες και να γίνουν μέρος της κορυφαίας κοινότητας ποδοσφαίρου. Οι παίκτες θα είναι σε θέση να παρακολουθούν τις στατιστικές, να εξερευνούν τα χαρακτηριστικά σε όλα τα ποδοσφαιρικά παιχνίδια της EA SPORTS, να ανεβάσουν βίντεο, να προσχωρήσουν σε ομάδες, και να συμμετέχουν στα πρωταθλήματα και σε online leagues με οπαδούς ποδοσφαίρου από όλο τον κόσμο για όλα τα παιχνίδια ποδοσφαίρου της EA SPORTS. Αναπτυγμένο σε πέντε διαφορετικές γλώσσες αυτό το ποδοσφαιρικό website-προορισμός θα ενημερώνεται με το νέο περιεχόμενο, τα βίντεο και τα features τακτικά έτσι ώστε οι οπαδοί να ενθαρρύνονται να επισκέφτονται συχνά το site για να κρατηθούν ενήμεροι για το αγαπημένο τους videogame ποδοσφαίρου της EA SPORTS.

Το UEFA EURO 2008 κατασκευάζεται στην EA Canada στο Burnaby, B.C. Βρίσκεται στα καταστήματα σε όλη την Ευρώπη από σήμερα στο Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system, το PLAYSTATION®3 και PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, το PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, σε PC και σε κινητά τηλέφωνα. Το UEFA EURO 2008 έχει εκτιμηθε’ί με 3+ από την PEGI.