Games for Lunch: UEFA Euro 2008

In a nutshell: Football as 99% of the world knows it.
5/30/2008 6:07 PM | 0 Comments | Page 3 of 3

0:53 I have no idea what the controls are for these shots. My first shot goes sailing high, then my goalkeeper watches Andorra's go right into the corner.

0:55 Two more shots go wide right and wide left, despite my extremely gentle tilting of the control stick for the aiming. I've figured out how to make the goalie dive for the saves, but I guess the wrong direction twice and it's all over. Lowly Andorra has beaten mighty France! My goalkeeper is the man of the match, unsurprisingly, as he saved my bacon many a time.

0:56 I decide to finish out the hour with some more penalty shoot-out practice. This time I put France against lowly Faroe Islands.

0:58 After two more overpowered high misses, I finally get one in by using the "finesse shot." Holding down R1 was the key, apparently.

0:59 Then I get a save by guessing the right direction and reacting quickly enough! Faroe's final shot goes wide. We're tied at 3-3!

1:00 Faroe sends another shot wide! I... I win! "It had to happen, someone had to miss, and that's the miss that decides the shoot-out," says the announcer. Darn right, and it wasn't me!

Would I play this game for more than an hour? No.

Why? While it's technically proficient and pretty fun, I'm not nearly good enough or interested enough in soccer to devote the time necessary to get a lot out of it. I might whip it out when my soccer-loving friends are over, though.

This column was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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