UEFA Euro 2008

[DagsJT]

You know, the more I play this demo, the less I like it.

Everything just seems that little bit 'off' compared to FIFA 08. Responses are better, but speed is much, much worse. The presentation values seem worse as well.

And my god, the new cameras for set pieces are just terrible, trully the worse new thing to come out of the game, except maybe the managers cutscenes, they just do my head in.

The more I play it, the more I prefer it to 08. The speed increase is fine with me, in fact I prefer it. The responsiveness is awesome

Presentation is MUCH better, the player models are brilliant, SOOOO much better.

The camera for the free kicks is fucked up. The distance is shows is completely wrong and makes it look like the pitch is all squashed up. Bad move, bad camera.

The manager shots are starting to piss me off I must admit. Well, not piss me off but they do start to grate after a while.

There's no way I could play this and then play the snail-fest reactions of 08.

 

[Oli]

Because the passing is so good in EURO I find it hard to enjoy FIFA now. I enjoy the slightly faster pace and animations.

 

[Tim7]

I agree with Stef, and I think Euro is slightly too fast...

 

[DagsJT]

So after the initial reactions are wearing off, people are starting to go off this and prefer 08 already?

 

[Tim7]

I always thought it was slightly too fast. FIFA just has the perfect balance of build up play and attacking play. All they needed to do was keep FIFA and just improve the reaction times.

 

[riboflavin]

No I prefer the demo, I dont feel as utterly frustrated as I do with Fifa 08. In Fifa 08 the response times are so bad, the trapping of the ball is terrible, and it can be difficult to say the least to change players when you play manual. Those things to me change the game completly and remove the skill element and turn some games into luck. And I feel with Euro those elements seem removed, and the game will be more pure skill, as in the good days of PES and that excites me, to know that I will win and lose games on skill, rather than luck.

 

[sweetkilla]

No I prefer the demo, I dont feel as utterly frustrated as I do with Fifa 08. In Fifa 08 the response times are so bad, the trapping of the ball is terrible, and it can be difficult to say the least to change players when you play manual. Those things to me change the game completly and remove the skill element and turn some games into luck. And I feel with Euro those elements seem removed, and the game will be more pure skill, as in the good days of PES and that excites me, to know that I will win and lose games on skill, rather than luck.

yeah exactly! god knows how many games I have lost down to luck exactly why I loved PES 5 and PES 6 if you were the better player you would nearly always win

 

[Jore2]

No I prefer the demo, I dont feel as utterly frustrated as I do with Fifa 08. In Fifa 08 the response times are so bad, the trapping of the ball is terrible, and it can be difficult to say the least to change players when you play manual. Those things to me change the game completly and remove the skill element and turn some games into luck. And I feel with Euro those elements seem removed, and the game will be more pure skill, as in the good days of PES and that excites me, to know that I will win and lose games on skill, rather than luck.

Well it might be nice online or with mate. In demo defending is tho hard and your own team can't even close down without using close down button. And of course they aren't really taking passing/running lines off either. So yes, it might be about skills, skills to score, but not to play overall, like passing and creating plays, but just sprinting trough whole field and then about trying to score when being alone against GK.

yeah exactly! god knows how many games I have lost down to luck exactly why I loved PES 5 and PES 6 if you were the better player you would nearly always win

Btw. that's reality as well. Just watch any football league and you see that there is quite many games per every round that so called "weaker" team will win or draw. They can have lucky bounces, etc. For me this "I'm so good, but I've just losing because of luck" just seems bad losing.

 

[sweetkilla]

Well it might be nice online or with mate. In demo defending is tho hard and your own team can't even close down without using close down button. And of course they aren't really taking passing/running lines off either. So yes, it might be about skills, skills to score, but not to play overall, like passing and creating plays, but just sprinting trough whole field and then about trying to score when being alone against GK.

if its not about passing and creating plays why does the computer do it to you...

you can have it both ways whore a player or try and create plays and quick passing I do both depending on my mood/situations that occur during the game

 

[sweetkilla]

Well it might be nice online or with mate. In demo defending is tho hard and your own team can't even close down without using close down button. And of course they aren't really taking passing/running lines off either. So yes, it might be about skills, skills to score, but not to play overall, like passing and creating plays, but just sprinting trough whole field and then about trying to score when being alone against GK.



Btw. that's reality as well. Just watch any football league and you see that there is quite many games per every round that so called "weaker" team will win or draw. They can have lucky bounces, etc. For me this "I'm so good, but I've just losing because of luck" just seems bad losing.

yeah I know that and people will always say this but in a video game I don't want to lose 7/10 games to luck or win them because its a video game I want it to be the most skillful player winning 7/10 times just my thoughts..

and I think Euro 2008 has cut out those stupid 50/50's that always end up going 1 way etc

 

[Jore2]

if its not about passing and creating plays why does the computer do it to you...

Since they are scripted to pass and since I can't close them down and my teammates aren't taking passing lines off. They can run trough your field as well sometimes tho.

The point is, in reality you can't run trough whole field all the time without much of opponents trying to take ball away. In Euro 2008 you can(at least in demo with this skilllevel).

In reality you don't have time to stand around or run around 20metres from goal without single opponent coming to close you down. In Euro 2008 you can(at least in demo and with this skilllevel).

In reality you have opponent closing you down allmost every time in the middle of the field when you recieve pass. In Euro 2008 you don't have.

In reality you have to pass from other flank to other to get position to get room. In Euro 2008 there isn't any reason since there is so much space you can just run around how ever you want to.

Yeah, it's prolly funnier game for casual gamer or for those who want just goals and attacking. But for middfield mind and players who like it being more about passing, moving right positions and playing not just end-to-end, but right-to-left as well. It's huge disappointment. At least with this skilllevel and in this demo.

 

[sweetkilla]

Since they are scripted to pass and since I can't close them down and my teammates aren't taking passing lines off. They can run trough your field as well sometimes tho.

The point is, in reality you can't run trough whole field all the time without much of opponents trying to take ball away. In Euro 2008 you can(at least in demo with this skilllevel).

In reality you don't have time to stand around or run around 20metres from goal without single opponent coming to close you down. In Euro 2008 you can(at least in demo and with this skilllevel).

In reality you have opponent closing you down allmost every time in the middle of the field when you recieve pass. In Euro 2008 you don't have.

In reality you have to pass from other flank to other to get position to get room. In Euro 2008 there isn't any reason since there is so much space you can just run around how ever you want to.

Yeah, it's prolly funnier game for casual gamer or for those who want just goals and attacking. But for middfield mind and players who like it being more about passing, moving right positions and playing not just end-to-end, but right-to-left as well. It's huge disappointment. At least with this skilllevel and in this demo.

fair enough can't argue with your opinions even If I disagree with them I just think its a faster paced fifa 08 with response times,turning and goal keepers improved so to me fifa 08 on steroids and I love it

just like I did 08 when it came out

 

[Jore2]

And it's good for ppl who like it. I just wish them nice gaming time with the game. I'm not trying to convince ppl being wrong or trying to persuade them. I like always about conversations about games and it's always fine till it's going to silly arguments(which I haven't seen yet in this topic, but plenty in other forums/topics/etc.). Meanwhile I'll be keep on playing FIFA 08 sometimes and wait for 09

 

[sweetkilla]

And it's good for ppl who like it. I just wish them nice gaming time with the game. I'm not trying to convince ppl being wrong or trying to persuade them. I like always about conversations about games and it's always fine till it's going to silly arguments(which I haven't seen yet in this topic, but plenty in other forums/topics/etc.). Meanwhile I'll be keep on playing FIFA 08 sometimes and wait for 09

yeah I will also keep playing 08 until the Euro game comes out its still a great game it just has niggles I can't put up with after 6 months...

 

[Han]

I would like to read Jack Bauers opinion about UEFA 2008 compared with FIFA 08. Normally Jack is pretty critical ( especially about PES ) but here I miss the last pages his opinion...

 

[drekkard]

Ok, now there are lots of pages praising the demo. I tried it friday, but didn't want to write something unitl I had played it thoroughly. I must admit I was really really excited by the positive comments about it. But the thing is I am quite disappointed and I can't see the great game you are all playing. First of all, I summarize all the good things about it:

- Animations: They were very good in fifa 08, but now there are more and better animations. Thumbs up!
- Responsiveness: When people talk about reaction times, I assume they talk about button responsiveness. Reaction times in this game are overdone and very unrealistic (more later) but responsiveness of the controls is very good.
- Passing/Crossing: Long passes are better than ever and an actual threat. Crosses seem to be more easy to control even in full manual settings.
- Shooting: No more "finesse" easy shots from outisde the area is the main thing here for me. More about shooting in the negatives list.
- Weather: it's in the game. We're still to see the different ways in which affect the gameplay.

Now for the negatives. I'm really disappointed about all these things:

- Gameplay: They have broken gameplay in my oppinion. You can run and dribble all around, there's no skill involved in dribbling, tricks are supereasy to do, through passing is too effective and it's not necessary at all to build up play. I've played CPU & Humans (some of my friends don't fit in "human" category) and this game will turn into a scoring fest. I score 3 or more goals evey time I want, being the cpu or humans.
The game is too unbalanced towards offensive game. Also, there is too much space between lines in the teams. You pass to your striker and he's only challenged by the full back, I don't see the density of players I liked in fifa 08 and my feeling is just that, players receive and have too much space around them in every situation.

- Physics: Ball physics are good, but body challenges are dramatically missing. There's almost no contact. You can't pressure your opponent, you simply tackle or run behind your opponent. When a big full back is about to be run by a fast player, you can't play the physical contact at all, you can't push from behind, when you press "tackle" button, your player can be 1 inch off the opponent and do nothing (dribbling is too easy even in small spaces). Maybe you don't win the ball, but AT LEAST by positioning in front of a player you should be a threat to his possession. In this demo, it's uber easy to go throught defenders unchallenged.

- Pace: Definitely too fast. Mainly because the combination of different factors: players can run too much, absolut lack of physical contact, too fast reactions and perfect-passing.

- Positioning: Players were perfect in position in fifa 08, now they're quite dumb. Playing the cpu, you simply pass around and finally find the winger free. It's SUPER easy to break defenses and find holes. There's not much skill involved. That's been one of my biggest disappointments with the game.

- Passing: Too precise. Even if the target is 30 meters away or between opponents, you simply press "pass" and it's done. It deeply affects gameplay in a bad way, because not much skill is involved. Passing from your full back to your striker is too easy. Oh, and thet'es still too much scripting in the passing routines, even in full manual.

- Shooting: Too easy to score screamers. Most shots are dangerous even if you were unbalanced, moving or so... Fiufa 08 was more punishing with this details and I liked how the ball could go really off target (even to the corner flag) if you were unbalanced or with a player with low shooting stats. The shooting in this game reminds me a lot of the one in pes6.

- Difficulty: People often talk about difficulty in general. There's 2 different things: difficulty of the gameplay and AI. The AI in this game is similar to fifsa 08 with a few tweaks. CPU now can do long passes, miss some passes, have some loose balls, etc... But the difficulty of gameplay realtes to how difficult is to do what you want in the game. In fifa, difficulty was high (also because of some control problems) but it felt rewarding. In Euro, difficulty is very very low. Even if you play against a friend, you can pass, pass and shoot as you want. I don't get all the people talking about how difficult is to score. I (and my friends) score lots of goals evey time. Sometimes we don't score, but the experience is very similar to pes6 in terms of goals scored.

- "Stars": There's something I specifically dislike, and it's the "star" players. I hate when in a game a star player is like a superhero able to score from everywhere and running through everybody. This game is a bit (too much) like that. Henry or Anelka can do what they want, almost unstoppable,if you are skilled. I hate when people says "now I can feel Henry moving like the real Henry". That's bullshit. What they want is simply a superplayer that scores a lot, snhoots screamers from 30 meters and is faster than anyone. But reality is NOT like that, star players can do this things once every 10 attempts, to say something. Even the best player in the world has more chances to fail than to succeed. So, I don't like the fact that you play Henry or Anelka and shoot from outside the area and most of the times the ball goes to target independantly oof your position, defenders, balance, etc... It's overdone in my oppinion.

Finally, mention the many graphical glitches and bugs. But it's a demo and they can improve that.

CONCLUSION: I think this is the game all pes fans were waiting pes 2008 to be. Even me. It's a fun game about football. Of course reaction times and responsiveness was a problem in fifa 08, but in Euro, I think they've overdone it and I don't like how the game requires less skill to play. You can simply pass, pass and shoot. I think it's a step back in terms of simulation and I really hope fifa 09 turns to be slower, more difficult, more based on skill, even if it's not as fun as this one.

 

[matherto]

Theres definitely far more feeling of scripted computer play than in 08.

 

[Chris Davies]

I would like to read Jack Bauers opinion about UEFA 2008 compared with FIFA 08. Normally Jack is pretty critical ( especially about PES ) but here I miss the last pages his opinion...

I've given my opinion a fair few pages ago Han. To summarise; on semi-pro you can't really comment about the opposition AI IMO, you can say "it's easier than FIFA on semi-pro" but remember the FIFA 08 demo? It was on semi-pro and it was fucking impossible. Joe Booth made a statement that the difficulty levels in the final game would be far better, and they were (bar the CPU cheating on World Class and above). Semi-pro was much easier, professional became the "new semi-pro" if you see what I mean. So it may all change before final release.

But human v human the game switches to a "realistic" difficulty setting and the stats take over. The game is then perfect defensively (you can really bundle players over with your shoulder charges, it feels exactly like it should), with my only worries being the goalkeepers being so damn good and the referees being so lenient on leg-breaking tackles, yet again. I think the reactions are great, the speed is a bit too fast but with it being an international tournament I think it should be a bit faster and an acceptable sacrifice for the sake of the reactions.

Against the computer the demo isn't amazing, you're given as much space as you want. But against another person I think it's great - disappointing but I've given up on playing the CPU now in football games, I think it's just too hard to get right.

 

[sweetkilla]

Ok, now there are lots of pages praising the demo. I tried it friday, but didn't want to write something unitl I had played it thoroughly. I must admit I was really really excited by the positive comments about it. But the thing is I am quite disappointed and I can't see the great game you are all playing. First of all, I summarize all the good things about it:

- Animations: They were very good in fifa 08, but now there are more and better animations. Thumbs up!
- Responsiveness: When people talk about reaction times, I assume they talk about button responsiveness. Reaction times in this game are overdone and very unrealistic (more later) but responsiveness of the controls is very good.
- Passing/Crossing: Long passes are better than ever and an actual threat. Crosses seem to be more easy to control even in full manual settings.
- Shooting: No more "finesse" easy shots from outisde the area is the main thing here for me. More about shooting in the negatives list.
- Weather: it's in the game. We're still to see the different ways in which affect the gameplay.

Now for the negatives. I'm really disappointed about all these things:

- Gameplay: They have broken gameplay in my oppinion. You can run and dribble all around, there's no skill involved in dribbling, tricks are supereasy to do, through passing is too effective and it's not necessary at all to build up play. I've played CPU & Humans (some of my friends don't fit in "human" category) and this game will turn into a scoring fest. I score 3 or more goals evey time I want, being the cpu or humans. The game is too unbalanced towards offensive game. Also, there is too much space between lines in the teams. You pass to your striker and he's only challenged by the full back, I don't see the density of players I liked in fifa 08 and my feeling is just that, players receive and have too much space around them in every situation.
- Physics: Ball physics are good, but body challenges are dramatically missing. There's almost no contact. You can't pressure your opponent, you simply tackle or run behind your opponent. When a big full back is about to be run by a fast player, you can't play the physical contact at all, you can't push from behind, when you press "tackle" button, your player can be 1 inch off the opponent and do nothing (dribbling is too easy even in small spaces). Maybe you don't win the ball, but AT LEAST by positioning in front of a player you should be a threat to his possession. In this demo, it's uber easy to go throught defenders unchallenged.
- Pace: Definitely too fast. Mainly because the combination of different factors: players can run too much, absolut lack of physical contact, too fast reactions and perfect-passing.
- Positioning: Players were perfect in position in fifa 08, now they're quite dumb. Playing the cpu, you simply pass around and finally find the winger free. It's SUPER easy to break defenses and find holes. There's not much skill involved. That's been one of my biggest disappointments with the game.
- Passing: Too precise. Even if the target is 30 meters away or between opponents, you simply press "pass" and it's done. It deeply affects gameplay in a bad way, because not much skill is involved. Passing from your full back to your striker is too easy. Oh, and thet'es still too much scripting in the passing routines, even in full manual.
- Shooting: Too easy to score screamers. Most shots are dangerous even if you were unbalanced, moving or so... Fiufa 08 was more punishing with this details and I liked how the ball could go really off target (even to the corner flag) if you were unbalanced or with a player with low shooting stats. The shooting in this game reminds me a lot of the one in pes6.
- Difficulty: People often talk about difficulty in general. There's 2 different things: difficulty of the gameplay and AI. The AI in this game is similar to fifsa 08 with a few tweaks. CPU now can do long passes, miss some passes, have some loose balls, etc... But the difficulty of gameplay realtes to how difficult is to do what you want in the game. In fifa, difficulty was high (also because of some control problems) but it felt rewarding. In Euro, difficulty is very very low. Even if you play against a friend, you can pass, pass and shoot as you want. I don't get all the people talking about how difficult is to score. I (and my friends) score lots of goals evey time. Sometimes we don't score, but the experience is very similar to pes6 in terms of goals scored. There's something I specifically dislike, and it's the "star" players. I hate when in a game a star player is like a superhero able to score from everywhere and running through everybody. This game is like that. Henry or Anelka can do what they want, almost unstoppable. I hate when people says 2now I can feel Henry moving like the real Henry". That's bullshit. What they want is simply a superplayer that scores a lot, snhoots screamers from 30 meters and is faster than anyone. But reality is NOT like that, star players can don this things once every 10 attempts, to say something. Even the best player in the world has more chances to fail than to succeed. So, I don't like the fact that you play Henry or Anelka and shoot from outside the area and most of the times the ball goes to target independantly oof your position, defenders, balance, etc... It's overdone in my oppinion.

Finally, mention the many graphical glitches and bugs. But it's a demo and they can improve that.

CONCLUSION: I think this is the game all pes fans were waiting pes 2008 to be. Even me. It's a fun game about football. Of course reaction times and responsiveness was a problem in fifa 08, but in Euro, I think they've overdone it and I don't like how the game requires less skill to play. You can simply pass, pass and shoot. I think it's a step back in terms of simulation and I really hope fifa 09 turns to be slower, more difficult, more based on skill, even if it's not as fun as this one.

the difference between the fifa 08 demo and euro 2008 demo is the fact fifa's was amazingly difficult so you thought the CPU was amazing now they dumbed down the demo so people actually can score goals and mess about its also had a negative effect on some people's opinions

The defensive part of the game has been missed in the demo because you can't eveen control your defensive line (greyed out)
so the demo not the full game is designed for the attacking players amongst us.

how ever most of things againsy the game are quite true im curious to what your settings were in game for shooting and passing etc (assisted ?)

 

[Lami]

 

[sweetkilla]

I've given my opinion a fair few pages ago Han. To summarise; on semi-pro you can't really comment about the opposition AI IMO, you can say "it's easier than FIFA on semi-pro" but remember the FIFA 08 demo? It was on semi-pro and it was fucking impossible. Joe Booth made a statement that the difficulty levels in the final game would be far better, and they were (bar the CPU cheating on World Class and above). Semi-pro was much easier, professional became the "new semi-pro" if you see what I mean. So it may all change before final release.

But human v human the game switches to a "realistic" difficulty setting and the stats take over. The game is then perfect defensively (you can really bundle players over with your shoulder charges, it feels exactly like it should), with my only worries being the goalkeepers being so damn good and the referees being so lenient on leg-breaking tackles, yet again. I think the reactions are great, the speed is a bit too fast but with it being an international tournament I think it should be a bit faster and an acceptable sacrifice for the sake of the reactions.

Against the computer the demo isn't amazing, you're given as much space as you want. But against another person I think it's great - disappointing but I've given up on playing the CPU now in football games, I think it's just too hard to get right.

pretty much how I feel as he can explain himself far better than I can

 

[Milanista]

I actually agree a lot with drekkard's points.

 

[DJ Doc45]

Not having a go or anything but I think you guys are making WAY too much out of a Semi Pro Demo.... I reckon on a harder level the Defense WILL exist and put up a fight. I dont agree about scoring too many belters, I havent been able to. Also besides the usual player models and Faces I think the GFX is decent!

 

[sweetkilla]

Not having a go or anything but I think you guys are making WAY too much out of a Semi Pro Demo.... I reckon on a harder level the Defense WILL exist and put up a fight. I dont agree about scoring too many belters, I havent been able to. Also besides the usual player models and Faces I think the GFX is decent!

I scored 3 screamers in one game out of 20 games the only other time I scored out the box was 2 times in those other 20 games...

if you have 10 yards in front of you its far easier to let off a long shot tht has a possibility of flying in much like fifa 08 if under pressure everything becomes harder the only thing I think he was trying to say was in fifa 08 you could seriously miss big time in euro 2008 it seems it goes 10 yards wide and tht means its easier to aim for goal...

 

[Oli]

I agree with DJ. I found FIFA ridiculously easy even on Pro mode so this on Semi-Pro is bound to be easy.

 

[DJ Doc45]

I still love this demo... I keep finding things that I like about it not hate. I think the full game will be tweaked up and on Pro or Above difficulty it will be a great game. I think if you guys dont at least give this a rent you will be missing out. Perhaps time for another video review lol

 

[WEtongelre]

Guys, play on dynamic camera and score a goal... I'm going mad! It's so frustrating! You can't even see how the bal is going in to the goal! Arghhhhhh

 

[Chris Davies]

if you have 10 yards in front of you its far easier to let off a long shot tht has a possibility of flying in much like fifa 08 if under pressure everything becomes harder the only thing I think he was trying to say was in fifa 08 you could seriously miss big time in euro 2008 it seems it goes 10 yards wide and tht means its easier to aim for goal...

To me that's more realistic though, Henry isn't going to miss by 30 yards very often is he? I can understand no player is perfect but come on, this is a demo of France v Germany, it's not going to be a slow and defensive game with the strikers mishitting all their shots!

 

[Oli]

I remember not too many people were raving about FIFA 08 from the demo but loved the full game.. just a thought that people not impressed could still enjoy the final game.

 

[DJ Doc45]

I think its more realistic too JB.