By Stevie Smith Apr 30, 2008, 12:56 GMT
With the summer 2008 kick-off of the UEFA European Cup fast approaching, it’s no surprise to see third-party publishing giant Electronic Arts rolling out its officially licensed videogame accompaniment to whet the collective appetites of football fans everywhere. But does UEFA Euro 2008 arrive as a worthy genre competitor or merely a shoehorned afterthought designed to shake free more consumer cash?
Thankfully, EA’s latest slice of footballing action emerges as a borderline fabulous series entrant that builds on the solid foundations already laid during FIFA 2008 and expands on the fleeting promise of its predecessor’s ambitious ‘Be A Pro’ mode. For those not familiar with Be A Pro, its arrival in FIFA 08 saw the player tasked with controlling only one pitch-bound footballer in a solo role while the A.I. controlled both team mates and the opposition.
Rather than coming across as an isolated experience, Be A Pro successfully evolved the traditional football gameplay mechanic by pushing players to maintain their assigned position in order to best serve the team and gain a good performance rating. Face button and analogue stick interaction remained the same when with the ball, but enhanced the experience when without it by allowing the player to use certain buttons to call for a pass or an attacking through ball, or to urge A.I. team mates to shoot when in good positions or close down opposition strikers.
Ultimately, while the traditional depth, presentation, longevity, and simulation accuracy of FIFA 08 carried it to critical acclaim as a thoroughly top-quality football release (that notably continued EA’s drive to knock Konami’s Pro Evolution series from its genre throne) the Be A Pro element of the game was its dazzling glimpse at what was to come for the series. The only criticism thrown EA’s way for FIFA 08 was that Be A Pro mode was limited to a restrictive single-game format and was hamstrung somewhat by an awkward end-to-end dynamic camera that zoomed in behind the player when sprinting.
Unsurprisingly, UEFA Euro 2008 offers all the slick graphics, excellent sound, great commentary, well-observed detail, skill moves, genuine challenge and polished gameplay finesse that lifted FIFA 08 closer to sporting perfection. However, it delivers a volleyed thirty-yard screamer into the net and beyond the sprawling Konami thanks to a fully-featured Be A Pro component that arrives via the game’s outstanding ‘Captain Your Country’ mode.
Best described as a mini career mode, Captain Your Country employs the solo aspect of Be A Pro and challenges the player to perform well on the pitch through their chosen position (defence, midfield, attack) in order to gain, and then hold on to, the coveted captain’s armband while working toward victory in the Euro 2008 tournament proper. Spread across ‘A’ and ‘B’ team international friendly matches, a full line-up of league-based qualification matches, and the entire main Euro 2008 competition itself, the player must compete against three A.I. or human-controlled team mates for overall captaincy, which is far more than just a cursory title. Specifically, when appointed to team captain by the manager (which only happens when personal match ranking exceeds that of fellow captaincy hopefuls), the player is then allowed to assert their leadership influence over the team prior to kick-off. This means the player can alter the starting line-up (captaincy candidates cannot be removed), the squad members sat on the substitutes bench, and even change formation tactics and match strategies both before and on-the-fly during the game.
While Euro 2008 offers up similar tournament modes to be played with the more established and conventional full-team control that videogame football fans will be accustomed to, the combination of Be A Pro and Captain Your Country all-but nullifies the game’s remaining content. Playing any other way seems somehow stilted and detached, while performance-based Be A Pro integration draws the player in like no other football videogame. Plus, the awkward end-to-end camera (which is still in attendance) has become an optional choice alongside popular options like ‘Broadcast,’ ‘Tele,’ and ‘Dynamic,’ all of which grant a better pitch view and only serve to ramp up the tangible sense of personal involvement and contribution.
Outside of Captain Your Country mode, Euro 2008’s immersive Be A Pro gameplay can also be enjoyed in single standalone international match-ups and also when it pops up periodically through the game’s scenario-based ‘Story of Qualifying’ mode. Story of Qualifying dumps the player into a variety of actual matches plucked from the UEFA Euro 2008 qualification rounds and then challenges them to fulfil particular moments that took place during those matches. For example, the player may suddenly find themselves facing a penalty kick, looking to complete a comeback in the 80th minute, or tasked with performing some other pivotal or influential moment of history.
Other welcome additions to EA’s overall game presentation arrive through enhanced model detailing, which includes emotionally charged automatic and manually controlled goal celebrations, and also the inclusion of gesticulating managers situated on the sidelines. Accuracy in this department is made evident when finding an eerily lifelike representation of ex-England manager Steve McLaren holding the reins throughout the tournament qualification matches (sans the infamous umbrella). These games unfold from 2006 onwards as depicted by UEFA’s actual calendar, and even find McLaren leading England into the tournament proper, something the real England spectacularly failed to achieve.
When starting UEFA Euro 2008 for the first time, the player will be asked to start a country-specific profile, which, while not especially important during offline gameplay, becomes more integral when shifting online. More pointedly, the game’s Xbox Live ‘Battle of the Nations’ mode sees performance points collected on a player’s chosen country profile passed over to that particular country’s online profile and strengthening the overall positioning of the players connected with that nation. Battle of the Nations essentially separates out the best players in any given region with most players likely to select their own nation for leading their profiles. Performance points are influenced in an interesting way however, which helps balance great players reap more for their profiles by using weaker nations during gameplay. For example, regardless of which profile nation a player chooses, they will build more performance points to increase the reputation of all players from that nation should they play successfully through a tournament with a substantially weaker international team. The lower the team’s ranking, the better the player has to be to ensure success, which means the rewards for earning that progress are considerably greater.
Arriving as yet another substantial step forward for Electronic Arts, UEFA Euro 2008 is the game that officially drags Pro Evolution to its muddy knees and declares that evolutionary bragging rights now firmly belong with FIFA’s silky game engine -- and specifically the advances of Be A Pro. If EA duly takes onboard the positive critical reaction afforded it by Be A Pro, and follows Captain Your Country with a full solo-role managerial career mode in FIFA 09, then it’s hard to see even the most die-hard Pro Evo fans remaining faithful to a franchise that has categorically failed to deliver upon its own (once proud) ethos for the past three years.
Verdict: 90%
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