I'm not the biggest fan of sports games (other than Tennis), and rarely play them, although from time to time I've had to embark on playing the odd sports game. I'm also not the biggest football fan either, I don't even support any local team in the UK like many people of my age do. That's not to say, I know nothing of the sport, because I have enjoyed some of the major tourneys over the years, like the World Cup and Euro Cup. So here we are with the UK teams excluded from the Euro 2008 competition due to some poor performances in the qualifying stages, and a game based around this year's competition. My first thoughts were, is this game going to have any appeal compared to the usual FIFA games, in this country? Well of course, UEFA EURO 2008 is football, so it's always going to appeal to the footie fans amongst us. What's worth nothing from the offset is that the game offers a fantasy scenario where you can choose teams that haven't made it to the finals in reality but can do in game - a good move from EA as this means gamers from all over Europe can still enjoy what's on offer here.

Gameplay:

Upon starting, you are treated to an introduction to an ongoing feature that runs in the background if you are connected to Xbox Live. This is a battle for online supremacy against other European countries as part of a massive competition to see who is the best. Every game, you are awarded points which go towards your country's total (you can view a leader board to see how well your particular country is performing). It's a neat feature, but for the most part can largely be ignored as you get stuck in to the various modes on offer. UEFA EURO 2008 offers several modes of play ranging from Kick Off - which offers a standard vs game or penalty shootout. But also a more interesting Be a Pro mode which sees you choosing one player to control in your team of choice, and only being able to control this player's movements in game. Again, it's an interesting idea, but relies heavily on the CPU AI to perform. The other modes on offer are the full blown UEFA EURO 2008 mode, which sees you choose a team from an impressive roster of European teams and make you way through the qualification stages, friendly matches and through to the finals. Like I said, it's all very fantasy because any team can ultimately win the Euro Cup including some unlikely teams such as Ukraine and San Marino. You can change the options to suit your needs with several levels of difficulty to choose, as well as half length and whether you want to play the full tournament or head straight to the finals (although you'll have to unlock this option). So that's 14 qualifying matches to play through which can take quite some time. If you are doing very well early on and have enough points in your group, then you can take the chance and forfeit matches to speed things up a little, although this counts as an automatic 3-0 loss against your team. Another interesting mode is the Story of Qualifying where you can participate in various nail biting scenarios based on real games in the history of the tournament. These range from easy to very challenging and offer scenarios such as scoring 3 goals in a limited time to win the match to not conceding any goals against formidable opponents. The final mode aside from the online and multiplayer is the Captain your Country mode, which is an ingenious addition to the football game. Here you can create your very own football player using a comprehensive character creation process, and then build up skills during matches. It's similar to the Be a Pro mode in that you can only control one player, but the difference here is that you're in competition with 3 other team mates (Human or CPU AI) for captaincy of your team, as you lead them to the EURO 2008 finals. If you're not keen on spending the time to develop your own character then you can opt to edit or use an existing player from the huge roster of available real life stars. This mode has an almost RPG like quality as you level up skills between matches, and is certainly a different way of playing. Modes aside, the actual game mechanics are very fluid and if you're familiar with any of the FIFA games then you'll feel right at home from the offset. EA has said that the game engine is new and improved from FIFA games, and offers a more fast paced gaming experience. The control you have over your team is good, although you'll find that the AI of your team can be a little stupid in defence, often not getting into good positions when needed , and rarely making long pass interceptions - something the opposing AI seems very good at doing. In fact my only real gripe here is with the opposing team AI, which can offer some highly frustrating moments where it's obvious there's some cheating going on. You'll find that although each team is rated out of 5 stars, a team like England (four and a half stars) versus a team like San Marino (half a star) will find it virtually impossible to score goals against the most solid of defenses you'll ever see. Yet when the roles are switched, you'll have no problems scoring goals against England. It's all rather unbalanced and requires you to spend some time in the management screens, choosing the right formations and tactics. You can get really deep here with all the options, but if you're looking just to get stuck into the matches then you'll make things that little bit harder for yourself. I got very passionate, playing the game, often screaming at the TV in anger and jubilation when a goal was scored. I was getting daily headaches as a result, so had to calm it down. You do get very involved as the opposing teams can offer a decent challenge on Semi-Pro difficulty and above. I found that Amateur setting was perhaps a little too easy and un-challenging, but still fun being able to win 10-0 against Germany!

Graphics:

The graphics are extremely good and convey the flavor of International football to a tee. The menus are easily navigated and the pre-match build up is like watching a real match on TV. The real star has to be the animations which have been improved since FIFA 08. Players have more weight to them resulting in them moving in a far more realistic fashion. During play you'll often get close up shots of the players and although the characters are extremely detailed, the likenesses aren't overly great on some players. That's not to say you won't recognize them, but you'll see that some are better rendered than others. The game runs very smoothly and the camera options always offer you the best view of the action. There's also a small 2D map which is useful when playing Captain your Country or Be a Pro and your player is off screen.The stadiums are recreated very nicely and with things like changeable weather and dusk till dawn times of day, make for plenty of variation. My only gripe is that sometimes the stadium would load badly and I'd be left with a black pitch and funny shapes across the screen, although this could well be my aging console rather than a game fault.

Sound:

The sound is amazing and features some great commentary that actually fits the action most of the time. It seems a lot of time was spent recording individual player names, thus presenting a more realistic commentary overall. There are some repeated phrases and some weird moments from time to time, but like the graphics, the recreation of real life football is spot on. The ambient sounds, such as the fans chanting is amazing, and with the sound turned up high you can almost feel like you are in the stadium itself. Kudos has to be given to the sound guys for recreating the feel of football matches. The game has the usual EA TRAX options for the menu music, but for my tastes the music volume slide was set to zero as soon as I put the game disk in. Luckily there's no music during the actual game, although using custom soundtracks you could do if you really wanted to.

Longevity:

UEFA EURO 2008 offers a very comprehensive single player game, where you could spend hours playing as different teams, or making new characters in Captain your Country mode. The Be a Pro mode also adds to the longevity of what is a game that will most certainly last you until the next FIFA game at least or even World Cup game. Aside from the single player, you've got multiplayer with friends on the sofa for that up close and personal competitive matches, and if you've got a regular playing partner, then the Captain your Country mode offers an additional layer of longevity. The online multiplayer is also a grand addition to the game and means that if you are looking for other opponents then there's always people readily available. A nice feature is being able to create a room and leave it and then carry on doing other stuff in game until a player joins, meaning you don't have to sit staring at the search screen.

Overall:

Brain hemorrhages and hernias aside, I started off really hating this game as I just couldn't get to grips with the incredibly tough AI on default settings. However, toning it down a little made for a far more enjoyable experience, where I was able to learn the nuances of the game a little better and thus prepared me for the tougher challenges that were ahead. I strongly recommend new players do this as there is no in game tutorial. UEFA EURO 2008 has impressed me a lot and showed me that sports games on consoles can be, and are very fun indeed. The level of atmosphere is second to none and if there's no football on TV then this is surely the next best thing, bar going outside and kicking a ball around the park. I have to recommend this game to all and sundry as it's the most tamest of games when compared to all the violence seen in other games. It has it all, and even though England aren't in this year's tournament, at least gamers can change history in the comfort of their own homes. For those of you with FIFA 08, this is well worth a look simply because of the refreshing new modes and roster of teams/players available.