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EURO 2008
EURO 2008 arrives on the XBox 360 that
allows gamers to play one of 50 different European national teams to
glory as they kick their way to victory in order to win the UEFA Euro
2008 Cup. Austria-Switzerland are the international hosts of 2008 which
the developers accurately recreate in this amazing European soccer
experience.
Although in its essence, Euro
2008 is your classic European FIFA soccer game, this current incarnation
introduces a new mode called Captain Your Country which allows the gamer
to customize their team. Best of all, this title supports an interesting
online mode in Battle of the Nations where you earn points for both
yourself and your country and some of the world's virtual bests.
With the Captain Your
Country mode, you create your own "avatar" to assist your B team to victory,
however you must complete a variety of challenges before you become
captain and the weaker the team, the easier it is to become captain,
however it makes it more difficult to land in the finals. Now you are
finally able to take a footballer and work through the ranks of an
international squad from roots B squad level to the ultimate goal of A
team captaincy. This balance does create an interesting aspect to the
title as you compete against other players for the role.
The
gameplay of EURO 2008 is almost identical to FIFA 08, however the
title seems a little faster and a touch more "arcade" than simulation,
only slightly though. The AI has been improved and depending on the
team's level, they can be quite difficult to beat but this is all part
of the challenge. At the end of the day, I believe it is a better
experience.
The control system of
Euro 2008 has been mapped perfectly on the XBox 360 controller and the
developers make good use of the "rumble" feature such as a kickoff
between two players, for example, you can hear the players heartbeat. Novice
gamers will be able to pick up the control and "play" the game, however
after a few hours or for those struggling, a few days, even the most
inept player will have no difficulty at the end.
Those more experienced
players will be pleased with the control system and will be able to pull
off a variety of realistic soccer maneuvers in no time. Although I pride
myself as a gamer, my friend absolutely whipped me in Euro 2008 who has been out
of the console gaming scene for quite some time.
Graphically, Euro 2008 is almost identical to the previous Fifa game and given
the premise and gameplay of Euro 2008, it is very hard to graphically improve
this game. Although the various camera angles and close up of the
players are quite detailed, gamers will still play the traditional top
down view which gives them a detailed view of the field. With that said,
the stadiums are extremely realistic, especially the crowd. The lighting and weather effects are realistic as are the
texture details on the players themselves with some great emotions
displayed by the players.
The commentary of Euro
2008 is
varied and not too repetitive, although there are a few amusing moments
when they do get it wrong. The commentary by Andy Townshend and Clive
Tyldesley is quite lively at times and almost makes you feel like you
are watching the game on TV. The crowd sound effects are realistic as
are all the thuds, kicks and sounds of soccer which nicely compliment
the gameplay.
In conclusion, Euro 2008
offers a few new tweaks to the console soccer gaming genre that features
realistic graphics and sounds. It is very difficult to improve on
something that is almost perfect. If you are after the latest
statistics of UEFA or need a solid soccer game, than Euro 2008 may be
the game for you. |
