
	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Sports Publisher Electronic Arts Developer EA Canada ESRB E (Everyone) Released March 20, 2007

- Fun with some buddies over - A "technical fighter" for the football set

- A niche title for a niche audience - Learning the ins and outs of the "technical fighter" controls take a long time to master

Review: FIFA Soccer 06 (360) Review: Super Mario Strikers (360) Review: FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 (XB)
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UEFA Champions League 2006 - 2007

Score: 7.0 / 10

U.E.F.A. Champions League 2006 – 2007 could accurately be described as a niche title in a niche genre. Soccer, or more accurately, football, has never enjoyed the kind of following the other football garners in North America so it came as quite a surprise that EA would send us a review copy. (We’ve never reviewed rugby or cricket either.) In fact, I had to look up what the U.E.F.A Champions League was before writing the review.

For the uninformed, the U.E.F.A is here’s Wikipedia’s brief description:

The UEFA Champions League (also known as the European Cup) is a seasonal club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1955 for the most successful football clubs in Europe . The prize, the European Chamption Clubs’ Cup, is considered the most prestigious club trophy in the sport. The UEFA Champions League is separate from the UEFA and Cup Winners’ Cups.

The current tournament wrapped up on May 17, 2007 and went to F.C. Barcelona.

But if you want to keep it to generalities, U.E.F.A. is essentially a FIFA game with new skin and a card system, which I found difficult to use to any effect.

Like FIFA and all the high production values that go with it – though the characters still seem somewhat plastic in appearance – U.E.F.A. is about as far from fanciful

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soccer games like Sega Soccer Slam or Super Mario Strikers as you can get. U.E.F.A. demands more from players than just hammering on one or two buttons to score quick and easy goals. In fact, it’s actually comparable to a fighting game in respect to the layered controls and its various situational setups, like corner kicks. Against the AI, I found myself

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struggling at the best of times but playing against people head-to-head or online, it’s a much more comfortable experience because they won’t take every misstep you make and cram it down your throat (at least with the people I played against).

Much of what U.E.F.A. has to offer revolves around card collecting and using cards in specific ways to receive bonuses that affect the performance of your team on the field in Ultimate Team mode. It adds another layer to this “fighting” sports game, which I never truly got a handle on, even after paying attention during the included step-by-step tutorial. And then there are other aspects to consider such as team chemistry (i.e. players from like countries play better together as a unit) which were hard to gauge, though being so unfamiliar with the U.E.F.A. that’s probably more my problem than the game’s.

Football fans should have no problem picking up U.E.F.A. and enjoying themselves with a layered experience, but for me and gamers like me, I have a hard time even fairly scoring U.E.F.A. because it is so niche, so specifically targeted that a fully “objective” review just isn’t possible. For me it was more a matter of just enjoying the Play Now mode when some friends are over and we want to play some video game soccer. That’s fun. Not worrying about Achievements or cards or if the players are being accurately portrayed in physicality or their endurance – just playing and having a few laughs.

- Omni

(May 24, 2007)


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