UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 Updated Hands-On
Trade you a Beckham for your Ronaldinho. We check out the collectible card modes in this upcoming soccer game from EA.
When you come right down to it, UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is all about balance. There's the balance of choosing when to field a tired player and when to let him recover on the bench, the balance of when to screw over your opponent with a punishing gameplay card and when to save it for a desperate situation, as well as hundreds of other tiny balancing acts that you will oversee in your role as manager of your ultimate team. We had a chance to get some hands-on time with an updated build of UEFA and have quickly come to appreciate the game's depth and unique take on the soccer genre.
As we described in our previous look at the game, the on-the-pitch action is very much like what you'd expect from the FIFA series. UEFA separates itself from its better-known soccer counterpart, then, with an in-depth and compelling trading-card feature that permeates practically every mode in the game. The aim is to build your ultimate dream team of players, staff, and coaches, and then work your way to winning the UEFA Championship. To do so, you'll have to break out the same skills you might have honed back in the '90s with games like Magic the Gathering, as it's all about collecting and trading cards in the hopes of building the strongest team you can.
You start off in ultimate-team mode by opening up a "starter pack" of cards that contains everything you need to get started. Cards are organized in a few different categories in UEFA:
- Player -- These are the players that fill out your roster. You'll start with enough cards to field 11 players on the pitch, as well as a few backups. All players have different abilities and preferences that you'll need to keep in mind when putting them on the pitch together. Players have contract attributes, as well, and once a player has played all his games for you, he'll be removed from your deck. You can counter this by using a contract-extension card.
- Staff -- Your managers are here. As with players, staff members have different likes and dislikes that can positively or negatively affect your team.
- Coaches and Development -- These cards include player and goaltender coaches, as well as a fitness trainer who will help your players recover their stamina between matches.
- Physio and Healing -- Even the best players get injured, and these cards will help your players recover quickly from their injuries. As with players, these staff cards have their specialties; for example, one doctor might be more adept at treating head injuries than arm injuries.
- Gameplay -- These are cards that either positively affect your team or negatively influence your opponent. A maximum of four gameplay cards can be loaded before a match begins, and you can access them during the game by pressing down on the right stick and choosing the card you wish to activate with the directional pad. Once used, a gameplay card is removed from your collection.
- Club Info -- These cards include basics like home and away kits, badges, and home stadium.
- Unlockables -- With these, you can unlock new soccer balls, boots, and other unlockables.
Your starter pack won't come with cards from all the above categories; instead, you'll start with just enough to get you going. It won't be long before you're buying packs with the in-game credits you earn and filling out your collection. At first, you'll only be able to purchase bronze packs, which will feature mostly mediocre players and cards. As you progress, you'll have access to silver and eventually gold packs, which is where the really valuable cards will be.
Every attribute included in the various cards will have an effect on a player's abilities and, tangentially, your team in general. This is most apparent in the chemistry meter, which looks to be one of the most important factors contributing to your team's success. A chemistry meter is front and center on your team-management page, and with a few switches to your lineup, you can get a quick (if not always huge) boost to your chemistry that should pay dividends once your next match begins. Easy ways to improve chemistry include putting players on the same line who are from the same country or using a formation that a majority of your players prefer to play in. That said, there are pitfalls, as we discovered when we started our team up. On the next page, we'll give you a rundown of how the initial section of our first ultimate-team season in UEFA went.
UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices
- GameSpot Score7.6good
Check Prices: $9.73 – 41.85
| GameStop | $19.99 | SHOP › |
| Amazon.com | $9.73 | SHOP › |
| RadioShack.com | $19.99 | SHOP › |
Content you might like…
-
UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 Review
UEFA Champions League's unique method of building teams by collecting player cards makes up for it being EA's fourth soccer game for the 360 in just over a year.
- Mar 23, 2007
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
Images
- EA Games
- EA Canada
- Soccer Management
- Release: Mar 20, 2007 »
- ESRB: Everyone
Games you may like…
-
Love Football
(X360) -
UEFA EURO 2008
(X360) -
FIFA World Cup: Germany 2006
(X360) -
FIFA 06: World Cup
(X360) -
Sensible World of Soccer
(X360)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
63 Comments