UEFA Euro 2008 Comments by Kristan Reed
Overqualified.
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rossfmitchell
16/04/08 @ 22:54
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The dutch team rarely give license for some reason, they don't have the squad in football manager, its all fake greyed out players. So is the dutch team fake names or just completeley missed out? Surely (editable) fake names would be prefferable to non existant?
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As expected, I got this game (Xbox 360 version) through the post yesterday so I was playing it last night. It is very good, I especially love the Captain Your Country mode which has me taking my created character (supposed to be me - the game even had my surname!!! :D ) through from the Friendlies in 2006 playing for England (obviously - I'm English!). Playing as one player and being able to call for passes, etc., it's surprisingly fun and the game plays superbly and the atmosphere is absolutely spot on. Shame some of the player likenesses are dreadful though...
Anyway, I was a bit disappointed to discover that all of bugs and glitches from the demo are present and correct in the final game. There's slowdown during replays and cinematics with players often magically appearing on the pitch when the game changes angle... one cutscene showed the bench and the manager appearing 1.5 seconds later then the pitch going dark like someone had turned the lights off!!! The players also flicker when the ball is kicked out of play near the goal. Players even run through the corner posts during celebrations. Shows all the hallmarks of being rushed to me although to be fair the game itself plays fine. I'm surprised the EG review didn't mention any of these though but there again I remember their appalling review of PES2008 on the PS3 which conveniently neglected to mention any of the issues that game had... :/ |
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Mine arrived yesterday morning, got a few hours in on Captain Your Country. It's very hard, even on semi-pro, because your player starts off on a 50 rating or something. After about 12 games I'm still only up to 58. And the difficulty seems to go up faster than my player's ability. I'm playing up front for England, in my first game I put a hat-trick past the Faroe Islands, and in the second friendly I got two against France, but now in the qualifiers I can't score against Azerbaijan.
I like the idea of the weaker teams going to Wembley and sticking 10 men behind the ball and playing for the draw, but it's not balanced enough, and creates the ludicrous scenario of making it easier to stick 5 past Spain than 1 past Andorra. And my player's stats aren't yet up to giving me much hope of scoring from distance (I put in one glorious 30 yard chip against France yesterday, but other than that I'm yet to score from outside the box despite many attempts), and getting a decent close range effort in against any team that plays with 8 men in the 6-yard area, regardless of how good they are, is very difficult. Also, Andy Townsend is a clueless cock and should be shot. But other than that, it's brilliant! (but I miss the arena) |
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P.S. EG - The game has 2,000+ surnames not the 200 claimed in the review. There must have been well over 100 in the H section alone as that contained my surname. ;)
Yes but they're actual names. It gives you the 2,000 or so names of players that are actually in the game, and then provides around 200 common names that none of the real players have. The nearest to me is Zumyici or something. |
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I can't believe people are STILL claiming FIFA is crap when it's PES these days that gets all the critical abuse from the fans, press and media!!! Quite right too as it hasn't really improved noticebly since PES3 on the PS2 IMO and the next gen versions look very lacklustre compared with EA's ever evolving series which HAS improved in leaps and bounds over the past two years. Have these people even bothered playing it, I wonder, or are they just basing their opinions on what they *think* it's like... :?
P.S. I do actually enjoy playing PES2008 on the 360 - it's arcadey and fun - but it's postiviely dated and lacking in features and teams compared with EA's FIFA series. |
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I can't believe people are STILL claiming FIFA is crap when it's PES these days that gets all the critical abuse from the fans, press and media!!!
I don't know how they do it, but somehow PES has managed to completely brainwash people to see something that just isn't there. Here are a few quotes from reviews of PES 08 taken from Metacritic: PES 2008 remains far more than a yearly update; it's the first true next gen iteration of Xbox World's most played game. (Xbox World 360) All in all, PES 2008 adds significant depth and realism to the in-game experience. (TVG) A great game that has the feel and look of the old PES titles with the visuals of a true next-gen game. (Planet Xbox 360) Quite simply a footy fans' dream come true. (GamesMaster) For the on-field experience, PES is an astounding recreation of the beautiful game (Official PlayStation Magazine) Are the press sent a different game than that offered at retail? The visuals of a true next-gen game? An astounding recreation? The first true next-gen iteration? I was a die-hard PESer since FIFA went crap (after World Cup 98, so from ISS Pro 2), and started playing FIFA when I went 360 as it was all that was available for the 2005/6 period. I was so excited when PES6 came out, but I ordered FIFA 07 as well as FIFA had been growing on me, both came the same day, both received extended plays, and PES was sold within a fortnight. It isn't better, it isn't more realistic, it's nothing like football and it's just become a parody of itself in terms of presentation. PES fanboys are the worst fanboys around because they claim to want a football game that plays like football, and so buy the game that is about as much like football as Ridge Racer is like driving a car. /rant |
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I have played both PES and FIFA 08. FIFA 08 is not as good as PES for game play and this demo is no different. It still feels, "on rails" to me and not very responsive. I don’t see PES as Arcade football either, I guess it depends what setting you play on though!! I think FIFA has a more arcade feel than PES.
Still each to their own, but for me FIFA is still crap, and they are cashing in on the 3rd release of a game this year. |
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Still each to their own, but for me FIFA is still crap, and they are cashing in on the 3rd release of a game this year.
But PES is far more on rails, turn all the assists off in FIFA and absolutely nothing is controlled by the computer, the ball goes to the exact location and at the exact speed you say, and everything is much slower and more intelligent. You don't even get proper control of your crosses in PES. And I'm inclined to think that releasing a substantially improved and better game every six months is less of a cash-in than releasing a 100% identical game but with a different logo every 12 months. |
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Ah, good old Actua Soccer. Also Olympic Soccer (which then become World League Soccer, and then became the Dreamcast versions of Sega Worldwide Soccer) where the aftertouch was such that with much practice you could bend the ball through 180 degrees and score quite insane goals. A bit like that one Nakamura scored last night.
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Its a sad fact the most magazines and websites are scared to give PES 2008 the reviews it deserves. It seems they are scared to that Konami will not send them the exclusive preview copies in the future etc etc. I have been buying every Winning Eleven game since WE6:FE on the GC and over the years nothing is changing. People like to blast EA for releasing a game every six months. Guys Konami have been doing the same in Japan. I have bought every one of them, the World Soccer and J-League games!
After playing PES 2008 and then FIFA 08 i saw that it was EA who are actually trying to simulate real football and try new ideas. PES 2008 is arcade heaven, multi-player games are a joke and end up with silly 3-2, 4-3, 4-4 scores way too often because there are times when defenders just go missing and you have no control over it. Seabass in an interview last year blamed the player and not his programming saying the CPU does not do these errors. Honestly they guy is losing it. Euro 2008 is a great game and the best footy title around no doubt. The people who hate FIFA/Euro 2008 are normally PES fanboys who don't like the fact that in EA's game this year you have to actually pass the ball. You cant give the ball to Messi and just dance through defenders. My friends say it all the time "this doesnt feel like Pro". Honestly they are so brainwashed they can't play any other footy game. The A.I. in EURO 2008 is miles ahead of PES 2008. The Animations in UEFA 2008 are the best ever! just actually play the game people and see for yourself. The way EA are doing things FIFA 09 is gonna be a beast..
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 17/04/08 @ 15:14
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frycrayola
17/04/08 @ 14:21
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dom6918: "UEFA and FIFA are two completely different companies.. you asking for UEFA data and FIFA data in one is the same as asking for Formula 1 and Toca data in the same game..its not going to happen..two separate organisations.. "
You do know that all 53 UEFA members are members of FIFA, right? And that they don't play completely separate teams in tournaments organised by the two organisations, yes? EA have all the player data for the UEFA members (notwithstanding any fussy goits like the Dutch, if they happen to use fake players). There is no reason why this data has to be absent from the FIFA games - no reason why we're lumped with only 50-60 national sides in the main release.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/04/08 @ 15:27
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@BarcaAzul - FIFA 08 and Euro 2008 play at a much more realistic pace than the much faster PES 2008 IMO and that's the reason I think the latter is arcadey. It seems to me that whereas EA have been striving for realism with FIFA over the past few years (bar the glaring omission of an ingame referee and linesmen!!!), Konami have kept PES mostly the same so it now feels less realistic and, dare I say it, more dated. That's just my opinion though but I'll continue to play both games as long as they interest me.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/04/08 @ 15:39
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frycrayola
17/04/08 @ 15:34
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kobashi: "didn't EA say in the past that when they acquired the UEFA license that conditions were that they have to release a separate Champions League/UEFA Euro game? "
There's a misunderstanding here. I'm not saying that FIFA should have the European Championships integrated into it (well, actually, I WILL say that but I understand the licensing restrictions mean it won't happen). What I'm saying is that they've got all this player data, all the team data, all the kits and likenesses (as far as they bother at any rate, they always make a halfhearted effort with lesser sides) and there's no reason why any of that is bound to a continental organisation's license. If Iceland are in Euro 2008, they should be in FIFA 09 - they are FIFA members too. There's really not much extra effort required here. A few attributes need updated, a few players added perhaps at others' expense. The only thing I can think of is that including each of the teams in the regular FIFA game incurs a team-specific license cost (whether the side are official or not - several have real players, but generic kits and no association crest). If this is the case, one must ask exactly what the FIFA license is granting EA on non-World Cup years... |
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Jheronimus
18/04/08 @ 13:41
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The only reason the Dutch team was involved in WC2006, was because the FIFA forced them to give their license... An agreement between FIFA and EA made that possible.
The Dutch aren't in this edition because the UEFA doesn't have such an agreement. And the Dutch rights are owned by Team Holland, which is ruled by a complete SOB who wants far to much money for the rights... Sodding shame. I bought FIFA08 instead of this one as my new footie game... At least I get to play PSV now :), although I would like to see the Dutch Jupiler League in the game and bring Telstar to glory! |
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There is a fantastic video review of this over at a new football gaming forum called FIFA Web.
http://fifaweb.freeforums.org/ |
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Picked this up yesterday and then proceeded to play Captain Your Country with a couple of housemates for the next 7 hours. The gameplay tweaks and extra modes make it so much better than Fifa 08 and PES08. Can't wait for Fifa 09 now to see how they advance the Be a Pro mode in that. Here's hoping for a full career like NFL Superstar in Madden.
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