By far the best football game available. Graphics & gameplay put Pro evo to shame. Looking forward to
Since Iss and Iss deluxe (SNES / Super Famicon) Konami's series has been drawing ever closer, to who always where the leader in Football / Soccer games.
Then with the Playstation Konami went for a dual release changing the core game to "Pro Evoultuion Soccer" and releasing a stand-by game which held many of the Arcade features from previous games.
Immediatly Pro Evolution Soccer was a hit, and its tougher, more realistic gameplay was the top of most Football Fans Lists.
As technology goes forwards so do the games, And today it's a close fought battle between the recuperating Electronic Arts series, and Konamis Pro Evo series, which many feel is the "better Game"
One thing EA sports And Fifa has always held is the money to buy lucrative icense deals year in year out.
And whil emost say Pro evo gives you better gameplay, the superior graphics, and official teams full of official players has always been EA's Fifa edge.
This year, Electronic arts has taken there license money one step further and has brought us EUFA champions league 2006/2007.
While core gameplay is very similar to the recent fifa title (Fifa 07) there has been a few slight improvements, bringing the game to become more alligned with the Pro Evo series.
Gameplay feels much more realistic this time, And the whole team morale / chemistry system gives players that "Football feeling"
Back with Pro evo on the Ps2, was the first true football feeling I witnessed, you fought, you battled, and no matter how hard you tried, the ball just wouldnt cross the line.
And the next game, you'd be popping them in from all over the place,
Perfectly showing how Football i sa funny old game, an don a bad day even the best would struggle.
So Gameplay wise, Champions league is a slight improvement over Fifa, initiating player runs is better, ball physics seem a little more fluid, And while some have complained of difficult defending, the "call a second man" button, allows you to easily pull a second defender to help against tricky offenders, Add to this a well made offside control (allowing you to step forward th edefensive line) and defensive gameplay becomes much more skilled that a few "less depp" reviewers may have mentioned.
Off ball players move well, and apart from a few dodgy directions, generally player movement is pretty impresive, On the Ball, While i would love to see passbacks more realistic, and "pplay-on" decisions a little more fluent, Things are still pretty good.
The only thing I feel the game really misses, is th eIntentional Dive button found in a fe wxbox/ps2 fifa titles.
And I would love to see EA or Konami bring in the fantastic "Handball" that was seen in This is Football,
So, to cut a long and pretty boring story short, Gameplay is easily as equal to previous Fifa games, and drawing closer and closer to the konami series, with only the "through ball" needing to be drew closer to the system used in Pro Evo.
As for Graphics,
There's truly no contest,
Havin gplayed alot of Football game son the 360, i would have to say Fifa Road to world cup is better than last years Pro Evolution soccer, But in comparison, Champions League honestly makes Pro evolution soccer look like a Ps2 game. (love or hate, sony fanboys, But the Ps2 aint even close to the 360, and even the so called super-power ps3 is having trouble keepin gup)
Anyhows, After playing for a while me & my cousin decided to power up pro evo and we where litterally shocke dby how bad the graphics are.
I truly hope Konami get there act together for the expected release later this year.
Sound is also much improved, while football sound / commentary has always been laclustre, Champions league gives a much better atmosphere, and while I wasnt particualry pleased with either fifa 07 or pes, (pes being the better of the two)
Champions league. is deffinatly a step in the righ tdirection.
Next on the list is modes,
While fifa 07 wasnt fantastic, PES was severely lacking in game modes.
and while Champions league onlin eis pretty limited, offline you've got the best Football section you will ever witness.
Think pokemon with football players,
you play games, you collect points, then you use those points to purchase players, managers, or even stadia or kit. either via Foil packs, (bronze silver and gold) or by the online trade system that allows you to pass on unwanted cards, for lucrative ammount of money to unsuspecting idiots, who migh tnot see the players injuered etc...
It's bad though when you spend god knows how much on Arsene wenger, and lose him after on ematch because you didnt check his contract.
In all this fantastic mode, keeps you playing, you build up a great squad, and befor eyou know it your changin gevery player becaus eyou want better team chemistry, or you want to work your team around a certain player.
For me, Ronaldhino was my pick, however after switching back to 4-4-2, he was useless, and sold within a few hours, (shame th emoney only got me a Portsmouth away kit after 3 poor Gold packs)
Overall this is fantasti cvalue, I've played alot myself, and even me and my fruiends have spent more time than we'd wish to mention, playin gco-operative trying to beat old CL records (to get more points) or winning a golden ticket to again see our "ultimate team" (made via the colelction of cards) onto and thorugh the Champions League.
So, this review may have been boring, But pick up Champions league, and you wont be dissapointed.
True, i may have wasted ten minutes of my life, but hopefully somebody out there might make a decision based on this review,
and if your decision is to get this game, It's a decision you wont regret.
Capiche