Overview

Road to the World Cup 2006, FIFA: World Cup 2006, FIFA 07 and now UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 – if my math is correct, that makes it four EA Sports Xbox 360 soccer games in the space of a year! That’s pretty damn impressive. EA Sports’ newest soccer game isn’t so much a sequel to the promising FIFA 07 but rather FIFA 07 ver. 1.5 – a few changes make it a better overall game than its predecessor but it’s still hampered by some notable gameplay issues.

Graphics 85/100

The graphics engine in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 (UEFA 07) is a slightly more refined version of that in FIFA 07. The player models are largely the same with great likenesses for a few big names and not-so-good to horrible likenesses for the average Joe. Even for the instantly identifiable players there is still something off with the body proportions and everyone seems to be just a bit too buff.

The kits, however, are fantastic with lots of detail and the appropriate sponsors present for each team/league.

It may be my imagination but there does seem to be more facial animations for things like celebrations and remonstrating with officials. These are, for the most part, quite impressive but there are some that are a little freaky. I’m still having nightmares about Zambrotta’s ‘vagina mouth’ facial movements…..

Animations are, you guessed it, very similar to those in FIFA 07 but the biggest difference is that those asinine shoving animations are gone which is a huge relief. Also gone are those stupid instances when players would shove each other at the same time and just ‘stand there’. Unfortunately, there still isn’t any depiction of strong, powerful running on the ball. Players either move like big-lumbering defenders or nimble, fleet-footed wingers - there’s no middle ground. There are also no skill moves present.

UEFA 07 features the same roster of 23 stadiums in FIFA 07, however, these seem to have significantly more detail and are absolutely stunning. The structural detail has been improved, as has the pitch-side detail (though you still don’t see things like subs warming up or benches). Pitch-textures and lighting effects are gorgeous though I’d like to see a little more variation as you can only play matches during the day or at night. There are also still no weather effects which is puzzling.

Finally, the TV-style presentation in UEFA 07 has been improved over FIFA 07. There are automatic multiple-angle replays to each goal, slightly more thorough intro sequences, and better end-of-half highlites. The instant replays do a fantastic job of showing off the phenomenal resolution and detail in the visuals. One particular angle has you right behind a player’s foot and you can see individual blades of grass as the ball skips along the ground!! During the Champions League matches it’s also nice to see graphical overlays showing real-time scores from other matches. The actual cut-scene when you win the Champions League, however, is a little disappointing.

Sound 65/100

Out with Andy Gray and Martin Tyler, in with Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend. The result? The same shockingly garbage commentary that plagued FIFA 07! In FIFA 07 the biggest problem with the commentary was that it lagged far behind the play. In UEFA 07 the problem is not lag, but rather how many of the comments are just plain stupid and incorrect.

Note to EA Sports; individual catch-phrases and comments are not insightful in and of themselves. They’re only insightful if they apply to the play at hand.

Some brilliant examples in UEFA 07;

        UEFA Commentary Says: “Well, that’s a routine save. You’d expect him to stop those.”

        UEFA Commentary Says: “It’s good to see defenders helping out their keeper.”

        UEFA Commentary Says: “Well, I don’t think that’s a foul, let alone a yellow card.”

I could go on and on. It’s not that just a few of the comments are incorrect, the majority of them are. In fact, if EA Sports had of just recorded the same comments but with Tyldesley and Townsend speaking sarcastically, this game would have the funniest commentary ever. Unfortunately, they’re stone-cold serious. The only saving grace for the commentary are the Scenario-specific comments for many of the Challenges/Scenarios – I’ll talk about this more later.

The musical selection is also disappointing as it’s fairly sparse with only a few licensed tracks and nothing spectacular.

The audio is saved, however, by the plethora of new club chants added. In my very first match with Liverpool I heard at least four team-specific chants/songs from “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to “Ra-fa, Rafael, Ra-fa, Rafael, Ra-fa, Rafael, Rafael Benitez!”. Each of the big-name teams has a number of different chants and this adds a great deal to the atmosphere of matches.

Options 80/100

Since the UEFA Champions League is for European club teams, there are no international sides available. Although there is no actual ‘league’ mode, you can select teams from the following licensed leagues;

There’s no Dutch Eridivisie, no SPL and no Portuguese League. To try and mitigate this EA Sports have included a ‘Rest of Europe’ category that includes PSV, Anderlect, Celtic, Juventus, Olympiacos, Galatasary, etc. Unfortunately, even in this list there are several big-names missing such as Benfica, Rangers and Ajax.

Rosters are up to date till the January 2007 transfer deadline so El Gordo is at AC Milan, Arbeloa is at Liverpool and so on. The squads are fairly large and include a good number of reserve players.

As mentioned in my preview, the major modes of play are; Friendly, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Champions League Challenge, The Lounge (multiplayer), Ultimate Team and Xbox Live Multiplayer.

The UEFA Champions League mode is a single season in the Champs League. You can select any available team (Watford in the CL? Why not!?) and you start off in the group stages and work your way to the final. Since there’s no actual ‘League’ or ‘Season’ mode this mode is relatively short lived as you can only play a maximum of 13 matches per season (if you make it to the final).

Much more interesting is the UEFA Champions League Challenge that has 40 or so historical scenarios for you to play through. Unlike, the crappy ‘scenarios’ in FIFA 07 these actually place you (most often) in the middle of a match in progress and you have to either re-create or change history. The scenarios are divided into ‘Qualifying’, ‘Group Stage’, ‘Quarter Final’, ‘Semi-Final’ and ‘Final’ categories. This is my favourite mode in the game and it’s great to have scenarios that vary from recreating Liverpool’s amazing 3 goal comeback against AC Milan (in the ‘Final’ category) to changing the course of history and having Tottenham beat West Ham on the last day of the 05/06 season to qualify for the Champions League. In that latter case, the commentators even refer to the case of food poisoning that plagued the Tottenham team!

The Challenges aren’t all recent either and Celtic fans will be happy to note that you get a chance to reenact the heroics of Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions! Likewise, Liverpool’s 1984 final penalty shoot-out against Roma is another Challenge.

The only downside to the Challenges/Scenarios is that the rosters for the matches are all the current-day squads. So instead of Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Murdoch playing for Celtic in the aforementioned scenario, you’re using Jan Venegor of Hesselink and Nakamura.

The main gameplay mode, however, is the Ultimate Team mode. At the heart of this mode is a ‘card’ collection game that permeates everything you do in the game as each and every match you play (be it multiplayer or single-player), regardless of mode, earns you ‘Card Points’.

These points can then be used to purchase card packs that are separated into Bronze, Silver and Gold packs. The packs differ in terms of cost (100, 500 and 1000, respectively) as well as the overall quality of cards you get (you’re more likely to get better cards with more expensive packs). So what are the cards? Well the cards themselves can be divided into the following categories; Player Cards, Staff Cards (managers, trainers, coaches, etc), Contract Cards (can add matches to player or staff contracts), Training Cards (different cards can improve different player stats), Stadium Cards (different stadiums add different Morale modifiers), Boot Cards (different branded boots), Ball Cards (different branded soccer balls), Kit Cards, Badge Cards (different club badges) Injury Cards (different cards help your players recover from different injuries quicker) and Gameplay Cards (these can range from cards that temporarily boost your team’s speed to those that decrease the opposition’s shooting).

There is also a Card Album where you collect and organize cards (and you get Live Achievement points for completing squads and nations). However, once you put a card in your album you can’t get it back (unless you randomly obtain it again when you buy another card pack).

So what the hell is the Ultimate Team mode? This is basically a five-tiered Champions League qualification mode. You play dozens of matches in each tier until, ultimately (no pun intended), you gain a ‘Golden Ticket’ and entrance with your custom team into the Champions League.

The genius of this mode is comes from the fact that your team is always in a state of flux and you’re constantly tweaking. For example, each player and staff card has a set ‘Contract’. Once this contract expires the player leaves your team AND you’re unable to add him to your Card Album. Therefore, you have to use different Contract cards (of which there aren’t many) to strategically extend the contract of your key players. Yet, at the same time, the next match you may buy another pack of cards that unearths a top tier player card. Suddenly, you find you’ve extended the contract of player who’s now obsolete and since squad sizes are finite you’ve got to terminate some contracts.

That’s just one very basic example of the card mechanic. When you add in things like modifiers (different manager cards add more matches to contract cards), the card album, injuries, training, the plethora of gameplay cards and the online trading of cards you have a game within a game that’s an addictive combination of FIFA, Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon!

I know it sounds weird, but it’s pretty addictive!

Gameplay 75/100

UEFA 07 features a slightly tweaked version of the FIFA 07 (Xbox 360) game engine. As such the controls are practically identical. For the sake of completeness, here’s the ‘New Analog’ control scheme;

In tweaking FIFA 07’s gameplay, EA Sports have made modifications to the following areas; game speed, player interactions, and passing.

The first thing you notice when you fire up a match is the game speed – UEFA 07 is noticeably slower than FIFA 07. Initially, this slower pace makes the game feel a tad more realistic. However, when you start playing matches with weaker teams, the matches can become painfully slow at times. I think one contributing factor to this issue is the disparity between the only two available running speeds – you’re either holding down the sprint button and dashing along the field, or you’re dribbling at a snail’s pace – there’s no middle ground.

Another change to the gameplay, and my favourite, are the player interactions. In particular, the asinine player ‘shoving’ that plagued the last game has been removed. This makes a tremendous difference in the gameplay. Now if you beat a defender you don’t have to worry about him throwing you off the ball without a call. Slide tackles have also been improved and you can, with the correct timing, aggressively take the ball of an opponent without fouling him.

Speaking of fouls, there seem to be a lot more niggling calls present and a lot of these seem rather arbitrary. The exact same aggressive blocking tackle you do at one moment can be a foul and at other times it’s not. Fortunately, the refs are fairly lenient and only dish out the cards when appropriate (i.e. professional fouls).

Passing has also been mildly improved as you can now hold down the pass button (either regular or through-passes) to bypass the nearest player in a given direction. It may sound like a little thing but this really helps for cross-field balls and passes out of defense. Shooting has also been improved with a little more zip to shots.

Overall the changes are positive and enhance the gameplay experience in general. This is definitely a more enjoyable game engine than FIFA 07 360. However, the game still pales in comparison to its current-gen brethren and is still miles away from Winning Eleven. There are still many issues that need to be ironed out.

As before, ball control is still canned; Jamie Carragher running at full pelt controls a pass the same as Ronaldinho standing still. Furthermore, while the dribbling is still fun against the CPU, all that zigging and zagging is largely useless against human players as you just hold down Speed Burst + A and you nick the ball off pretty much anyone.

The keepers are also still maddeningly inconsistent and far too good in one on one situations. Be prepared to see keepers stop point-blank chances with ease and yet let in the most innocuous of shots. On breakaways the keepers hardly ever rush out to close the angle, yet paradoxically, are still ridiculously good with one exception – they can beaten to the near post very easily.

The inconsistency and unrealistic nature of the goalkeeping is maddening. If I have a shooting chance on the right side of box, in real life (and FIFA for the current-gen) I have a much better chance of scoring if I shoot low and across the goalkeeper. My chances of scoring, again both in real life and other soccer games, are further enhanced if the keeper doesn’t come out to narrow the angle and thus I have more of the net aim at. However, in FIFA 07 if you’re in the same situation – on the right side of the box, the keeper stuck on his line – if you shoot across the keeper (as you would in real life, you know, towards the gaping goalmouth) 9 times out of 10 you’ll be stopped. But if you shoot short side (closer to the keeper) you’re much, much more likely to score. It’s completely counterintuitive and completely unrealistic.

Aerial play is still broken, particularly inside the box. There still isn’t any real jostling mechanic and, as I said in my FIFA 07 review, the headers are lame. Rarely ever will you thump in a header with pace. A contributing factor to this problem is the poor crossing in the game.

Finally, the AI is same as FIFA 07. As such there’s very little overlapping movement, players often only make good runs when you prompt them to, give and gos are slow, and at the end of the day the best chances to score are almost always on breakaways (don’t forget to shoot to the near post!).

Don’t get me wrong, the game is still fun but like it’s recent predecessor it doesn’t have nearly as much depth as it’s current-gen (Xbox & PS2) versions. It’s definitely much more of an arcade-style game than Winning Eleven.

Replay Value/Longevity 75/100

It is a testament to the addictive nature of the Ultimate Team and Challenge modes that, despite my problems with the game engine, I’ve played more than a 100 matches. Unfortunately, I think I’ve reached the peak of my interest in this game. Each match seems to be the same as the last and I’m tired of getting partial breakaways and shooting near post to score.

Like FIFA 07, online play is silky smooth with practically zero lag, however, I’d much rather play Winning Eleven online instead.

Overall 79/100

Despite the (minor) gameplay changes, UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 plays quite similar to FIFA 07. The difference in scores between the two games comes mainly from UEFA’s fantastic Ultimate Team and Scenario modes. The card collecting is a game within a game and is something I hope EA Sports incorporate into FIFA 08.

So, if you already have FIFA 07 should you also pick up UEFA 07? For sixty dollars (more if you live in Canada) I’d have to say no. While the card collecting and scenario modes are great, the game is ultimately hampered by the same gameplay short-comings as its predecessor.

Lavan Chandran

3/31/2007

Overview

Road to the World Cup 2006, FIFA: World Cup 2006, FIFA 07 and now UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 – if my math is correct, that makes it four EA Sports Xbox 360 soccer games in the space of a year! That’s pretty damn impressive. EA Sports’ newest soccer game isn’t so much a sequel to the promising FIFA 07 but rather FIFA 07 ver. 1.5 – a few changes make it a better overall game than its predecessor but it’s still hampered by some notable gameplay issues.

Graphics 85/100

The graphics engine in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 (UEFA 07) is a slightly more refined version of that in FIFA 07. The player models are largely the same with great likenesses for a few big names and not-so-good to horrible likenesses for the average Joe. Even for the instantly identifiable players there is still something off with the body proportions and everyone seems to be just a bit too buff.

The kits, however, are fantastic with lots of detail and the appropriate sponsors present for each team/league.

It may be my imagination but there does seem to be more facial animations for things like celebrations and remonstrating with officials. These are, for the most part, quite impressive but there are some that are a little freaky. I’m still having nightmares about Zambrotta’s ‘vagina mouth’ facial movements…..

Animations are, you guessed it, very similar to those in FIFA 07 but the biggest difference is that those asinine shoving animations are gone which is a huge relief. Also gone are those stupid instances when players would shove each other at the same time and just ‘stand there’. Unfortunately, there still isn’t any depiction of strong, powerful running on the ball. Players either move like big-lumbering defenders or nimble, fleet-footed wingers - there’s no middle ground. There are also no skill moves present.

UEFA 07 features the same roster of 23 stadiums in FIFA 07, however, these seem to have significantly more detail and are absolutely stunning. The structural detail has been improved, as has the pitch-side detail (though you still don’t see things like subs warming up or benches). Pitch-textures and lighting effects are gorgeous though I’d like to see a little more variation as you can only play matches during the day or at night. There are also still no weather effects which is puzzling.

Finally, the TV-style presentation in UEFA 07 has been improved over FIFA 07. There are automatic multiple-angle replays to each goal, slightly more thorough intro sequences, and better end-of-half highlites. The instant replays do a fantastic job of showing off the phenomenal resolution and detail in the visuals. One particular angle has you right behind a player’s foot and you can see individual blades of grass as the ball skips along the ground!! During the Champions League matches it’s also nice to see graphical overlays showing real-time scores from other matches. The actual cut-scene when you win the Champions League, however, is a little disappointing.

Sound 65/100

Out with Andy Gray and Martin Tyler, in with Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend. The result? The same shockingly garbage commentary that plagued FIFA 07! In FIFA 07 the biggest problem with the commentary was that it lagged far behind the play. In UEFA 07 the problem is not lag, but rather how many of the comments are just plain stupid and incorrect.

Note to EA Sports; individual catch-phrases and comments are not insightful in and of themselves. They’re only insightful if they apply to the play at hand.

Some brilliant examples in UEFA 07;

        UEFA Commentary Says: “Well, that’s a routine save. You’d expect him to stop those.”

        UEFA Commentary Says: “It’s good to see defenders helping out their keeper.”

        UEFA Commentary Says: “Well, I don’t think that’s a foul, let alone a yellow card.”

I could go on and on. It’s not that just a few of the comments are incorrect, the majority of them are. In fact, if EA Sports had of just recorded the same comments but with Tyldesley and Townsend speaking sarcastically, this game would have the funniest commentary ever. Unfortunately, they’re stone-cold serious. The only saving grace for the commentary are the Scenario-specific comments for many of the Challenges/Scenarios – I’ll talk about this more later.

The musical selection is also disappointing as it’s fairly sparse with only a few licensed tracks and nothing spectacular.

The audio is saved, however, by the plethora of new club chants added. In my very first match with Liverpool I heard at least four team-specific chants/songs from “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to “Ra-fa, Rafael, Ra-fa, Rafael, Ra-fa, Rafael, Rafael Benitez!”. Each of the big-name teams has a number of different chants and this adds a great deal to the atmosphere of matches.

Options 80/100

Since the UEFA Champions League is for European club teams, there are no international sides available. Although there is no actual ‘league’ mode, you can select teams from the following licensed leagues;

There’s no Dutch Eridivisie, no SPL and no Portuguese League. To try and mitigate this EA Sports have included a ‘Rest of Europe’ category that includes PSV, Anderlect, Celtic, Juventus, Olympiacos, Galatasary, etc. Unfortunately, even in this list there are several big-names missing such as Benfica, Rangers and Ajax.

Rosters are up to date till the January 2007 transfer deadline so El Gordo is at AC Milan, Arbeloa is at Liverpool and so on. The squads are fairly large and include a good number of reserve players.

As mentioned in my preview, the major modes of play are; Friendly, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Champions League Challenge, The Lounge (multiplayer), Ultimate Team and Xbox Live Multiplayer.

The UEFA Champions League mode is a single season in the Champs League. You can select any available team (Watford in the CL? Why not!?) and you start off in the group stages and work your way to the final. Since there’s no actual ‘League’ or ‘Season’ mode this mode is relatively short lived as you can only play a maximum of 13 matches per season (if you make it to the final).

Much more interesting is the UEFA Champions League Challenge that has 40 or so historical scenarios for you to play through. Unlike, the crappy ‘scenarios’ in FIFA 07 these actually place you (most often) in the middle of a match in progress and you have to either re-create or change history. The scenarios are divided into ‘Qualifying’, ‘Group Stage’, ‘Quarter Final’, ‘Semi-Final’ and ‘Final’ categories. This is my favourite mode in the game and it’s great to have scenarios that vary from recreating Liverpool’s amazing 3 goal comeback against AC Milan (in the ‘Final’ category) to changing the course of history and having Tottenham beat West Ham on the last day of the 05/06 season to qualify for the Champions League. In that latter case, the commentators even refer to the case of food poisoning that plagued the Tottenham team!

The Challenges aren’t all recent either and Celtic fans will be happy to note that you get a chance to reenact the heroics of Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions! Likewise, Liverpool’s 1984 final penalty shoot-out against Roma is another Challenge.

The only downside to the Challenges/Scenarios is that the rosters for the matches are all the current-day squads. So instead of Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Murdoch playing for Celtic in the aforementioned scenario, you’re using Jan Venegor of Hesselink and Nakamura.

The main gameplay mode, however, is the Ultimate Team mode. At the heart of this mode is a ‘card’ collection game that permeates everything you do in the game as each and every match you play (be it multiplayer or single-player), regardless of mode, earns you ‘Card Points’.

These points can then be used to purchase card packs that are separated into Bronze, Silver and Gold packs. The packs differ in terms of cost (100, 500 and 1000, respectively) as well as the overall quality of cards you get (you’re more likely to get better cards with more expensive packs). So what are the cards? Well the cards themselves can be divided into the following categories; Player Cards, Staff Cards (managers, trainers, coaches, etc), Contract Cards (can add matches to player or staff contracts), Training Cards (different cards can improve different player stats), Stadium Cards (different stadiums add different Morale modifiers), Boot Cards (different branded boots), Ball Cards (different branded soccer balls), Kit Cards, Badge Cards (different club badges) Injury Cards (different cards help your players recover from different injuries quicker) and Gameplay Cards (these can range from cards that temporarily boost your team’s speed to those that decrease the opposition’s shooting).

There is also a Card Album where you collect and organize cards (and you get Live Achievement points for completing squads and nations). However, once you put a card in your album you can’t get it back (unless you randomly obtain it again when you buy another card pack).

So what the hell is the Ultimate Team mode? This is basically a five-tiered Champions League qualification mode. You play dozens of matches in each tier until, ultimately (no pun intended), you gain a ‘Golden Ticket’ and entrance with your custom team into the Champions League.

The genius of this mode is comes from the fact that your team is always in a state of flux and you’re constantly tweaking. For example, each player and staff card has a set ‘Contract’. Once this contract expires the player leaves your team AND you’re unable to add him to your Card Album. Therefore, you have to use different Contract cards (of which there aren’t many) to strategically extend the contract of your key players. Yet, at the same time, the next match you may buy another pack of cards that unearths a top tier player card. Suddenly, you find you’ve extended the contract of player who’s now obsolete and since squad sizes are finite you’ve got to terminate some contracts.

That’s just one very basic example of the card mechanic. When you add in things like modifiers (different manager cards add more matches to contract cards), the card album, injuries, training, the plethora of gameplay cards and the online trading of cards you have a game within a game that’s an addictive combination of FIFA, Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon!

I know it sounds weird, but it’s pretty addictive!

Gameplay 75/100

UEFA 07 features a slightly tweaked version of the FIFA 07 (Xbox 360) game engine. As such the controls are practically identical. For the sake of completeness, here’s the ‘New Analog’ control scheme;

In tweaking FIFA 07’s gameplay, EA Sports have made modifications to the following areas; game speed, player interactions, and passing.

The first thing you notice when you fire up a match is the game speed – UEFA 07 is noticeably slower than FIFA 07. Initially, this slower pace makes the game feel a tad more realistic. However, when you start playing matches with weaker teams, the matches can become painfully slow at times. I think one contributing factor to this issue is the disparity between the only two available running speeds – you’re either holding down the sprint button and dashing along the field, or you’re dribbling at a snail’s pace – there’s no middle ground.

Another change to the gameplay, and my favourite, are the player interactions. In particular, the asinine player ‘shoving’ that plagued the last game has been removed. This makes a tremendous difference in the gameplay. Now if you beat a defender you don’t have to worry about him throwing you off the ball without a call. Slide tackles have also been improved and you can, with the correct timing, aggressively take the ball of an opponent without fouling him.

Speaking of fouls, there seem to be a lot more niggling calls present and a lot of these seem rather arbitrary. The exact same aggressive blocking tackle you do at one moment can be a foul and at other times it’s not. Fortunately, the refs are fairly lenient and only dish out the cards when appropriate (i.e. professional fouls).

Passing has also been mildly improved as you can now hold down the pass button (either regular or through-passes) to bypass the nearest player in a given direction. It may sound like a little thing but this really helps for cross-field balls and passes out of defense. Shooting has also been improved with a little more zip to shots.

Overall the changes are positive and enhance the gameplay experience in general. This is definitely a more enjoyable game engine than FIFA 07 360. However, the game still pales in comparison to its current-gen brethren and is still miles away from Winning Eleven. There are still many issues that need to be ironed out.

As before, ball control is still canned; Jamie Carragher running at full pelt controls a pass the same as Ronaldinho standing still. Furthermore, while the dribbling is still fun against the CPU, all that zigging and zagging is largely useless against human players as you just hold down Speed Burst + A and you nick the ball off pretty much anyone.

The keepers are also still maddeningly inconsistent and far too good in one on one situations. Be prepared to see keepers stop point-blank chances with ease and yet let in the most innocuous of shots. On breakaways the keepers hardly ever rush out to close the angle, yet paradoxically, are still ridiculously good with one exception – they can beaten to the near post very easily.

The inconsistency and unrealistic nature of the goalkeeping is maddening. If I have a shooting chance on the right side of box, in real life (and FIFA for the current-gen) I have a much better chance of scoring if I shoot low and across the goalkeeper. My chances of scoring, again both in real life and other soccer games, are further enhanced if the keeper doesn’t come out to narrow the angle and thus I have more of the net aim at. However, in FIFA 07 if you’re in the same situation – on the right side of the box, the keeper stuck on his line – if you shoot across the keeper (as you would in real life, you know, towards the gaping goalmouth) 9 times out of 10 you’ll be stopped. But if you shoot short side (closer to the keeper) you’re much, much more likely to score. It’s completely counterintuitive and completely unrealistic.

Aerial play is still broken, particularly inside the box. There still isn’t any real jostling mechanic and, as I said in my FIFA 07 review, the headers are lame. Rarely ever will you thump in a header with pace. A contributing factor to this problem is the poor crossing in the game.

Finally, the AI is same as FIFA 07. As such there’s very little overlapping movement, players often only make good runs when you prompt them to, give and gos are slow, and at the end of the day the best chances to score are almost always on breakaways (don’t forget to shoot to the near post!).

Don’t get me wrong, the game is still fun but like it’s recent predecessor it doesn’t have nearly as much depth as it’s current-gen (Xbox & PS2) versions. It’s definitely much more of an arcade-style game than Winning Eleven.

Replay Value/Longevity 75/100

It is a testament to the addictive nature of the Ultimate Team and Challenge modes that, despite my problems with the game engine, I’ve played more than a 100 matches. Unfortunately, I think I’ve reached the peak of my interest in this game. Each match seems to be the same as the last and I’m tired of getting partial breakaways and shooting near post to score.

Like FIFA 07, online play is silky smooth with practically zero lag, however, I’d much rather play Winning Eleven online instead.

Overall 79/100

Despite the (minor) gameplay changes, UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 plays quite similar to FIFA 07. The difference in scores between the two games comes mainly from UEFA’s fantastic Ultimate Team and Scenario modes. The card collecting is a game within a game and is something I hope EA Sports incorporate into FIFA 08.

So, if you already have FIFA 07 should you also pick up UEFA 07? For sixty dollars (more if you live in Canada) I’d have to say no. While the card collecting and scenario modes are great, the game is ultimately hampered by the same gameplay short-comings as its predecessor.

Lavan Chandran

3/31/2007