X360, PS3 Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 11:59 AM

Euro 2008 demo online

EA just released the demo of Euro 2008 on Xbox Live Marketplace, and here is an early video of it. As a PES addict, I am surprised how much EA has revolutionized their Fifa series. Players do realistic runs and there are a lot of things that is done better here than in Konami's games. I am in a hurry to right now so you will only see some of the goals from my first playthroughs, where the last one is from the Be a Pro mode.

The controls can feel really sluggish at first, as you really feel every step the controlled player takes. Turning around and changing direction can feel really slow sometimes, but this is something you will get used too - it's just the way the controls work in Fifa. Some would say that making mistakes as a goalkeeper, like on one of the goals (not the first, that was on me), is realistic - but sometimes they just stand on the line and do nothing, even though there's a high ball landing two meters in front of them.

If you were angry to see every shot hitting the 20th row in PES when you first played it, be ready for some irritating moments at first in this game - you really, really have to be light on the buttons, as some balls just fly straight up into the stands even though you press the button really fast. This while standing faced towards the goal without anyone near.

The Be A Pro mode lets you pick one player to control, while the AI controls the rest of your team. You can shout for a pass and you are, in one way or another, always involved in the play. It works good and has been pretty fun to play so far.

4 images

Demo gameplay

Stream the video

Download: WMV | MP4

All comments

Dits

Commented on 2008-03-27 12:32:20

Its taken over 13 years but EA may have actually made a good football game

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 12:35:42

I know the answer to this question... but why couldn't they just include the european championships in Fifa 08?? all it needs is tiny update to include how the groups start.

but..... £££

Slabs

Commented on 2008-03-27 12:54:55

You can recreate the Euro 2008 tournament in FIFA 08 quite easily. You just don't have the stadia, dedicated commentary etc. which I guess EA feels they can charge a premium for with a new game.

FIFA 08 was a revelation, especially compared to the massive mis-step that Konami made with a buggy and broken PES 2008 (thankfully the PC version has a dedicated modding community to resolve at least some of the issues)

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 13:03:25

Agreed, I've been a PES fan forever since ISS, but they screwed 2008 up royally... Fifa 08 has (for now) converted me to the dark side... I play a lot of games against the same person and the ability to track the games and stats and the Lounge mode is awesome. Just a shame the 'Be a Pro' mode is limited to just single games and the challenges

blmbox

Commented on 2008-03-27 14:09:35

As an absolutely huge Pes fan, I know I will never buy Fifa instead of Pes.

However, I too have been impressed with how much Fifa has come along. I still don't feel that the gameplay has quite been mastered yet, which is why Pes is still quite easily my number one choice.

I will check the demo out though...

(Would also like to add that they really have something with the 'be a pro mode', and I hope they perfect it by implementing it into manager mode and giving the mode access to league and cup tournaments).

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 14:14:05

Blm, the best bit is the 5 vs 5 online with the fixed player 'be a pro' camera... it's SUCH a laugh, especially if you work well as a team you're shouting for passes as much as in real football, totally changes how you approach the game

Trebby

Commented on 2008-03-27 14:32:05

too bad this is only gold members pff... the demo too is 1.1gb in size, that's 1/10 of what I am allowed to download each month :( so in reality I pay 2 times, one for the downloadbandwidth and one time for the gold subscription if I would have one.

kprountzos

Commented on 2008-03-27 14:49:48

This message is in "Boulet Time" (TM), If you still *really* want to see it, click here

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:03:19

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... think someone needs a new Caps Lock key!! :)

1.1mb is huge for a footie demo thinking about it... must be a few teams or something

Manager

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:09:26 In reply to rob230

Posted by rob230
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... think someone needs a new Caps Lock key!! :)

1.1mb is huge for a footie demo thinking about it... must be a few teams or something

1.1 mb big?! :D

It's only those two teams.

blmbox

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:13:45

Oh.... surely it's a full match though?

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:17:24 In reply to Manager

Posted by Manager
1.1 mb big?! :D

It's only those two teams.

HAHHA Balls! :D

Think it'll only be one half... that's what they've done before... tight gits

Manager

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:27:02

It's a full match, but a short match (6 min?). But it's easy to restart the game without any long loading times.

rob230

Commented on 2008-03-27 15:35:30

Ahh that's cool, I'll check it out to see how it's evolved from F08

n385055

Commented on 2008-03-27 16:15:38

2 minutes per half in a demo is typically ea style. Too short to build my own opinion but the difference to Fifa 08 will be nothing special, I think.

citizenx

Commented on 2008-03-27 18:41:49

EA always use these tourny games as a beta for the new FIFA's features, so i'll check it out - see if they've made many improvements to an already great game.

Ezekiel_Xz

Commented on 2008-03-27 21:52:58

This demo is broken for me. When I score as france it says press buttons to celebrate. When I run to the corner and press anything the game crashes. Sometimes you can press pause and unpause it and it comes back, but not always. Doin this for anyone else?

Sheps

Commented on 2008-03-27 21:56:16 In reply to rob230

Posted by rob230
Ahh that's cool, I'll check it out to see how it's evolved from F08

Lmao, you'd need a high powered microscope to see a difference between any Fifa yearly vs a Fifa euro game.

Ezekiel_Xz

Commented on 2008-03-27 22:05:39

This demo is completely broken just crashed at half time all the players just stood around wobling and it wouldnt got to the second half.

blmbox

Commented on 2008-03-28 03:23:35

Hmmmm, it's fine for me :S

Tbf, I really really liked the demo. Playing be a pro mode with a mate is wayyyyyyyyyy fun.

azustra

Commented on 2008-03-28 10:47:02

fifa maybe better on xbox 360 and ps3 but pc fans still love pes
ea always ruin pc fans by making same old current gen games

Trebby

Commented on 2008-03-28 12:07:18

can anybody comfirm that the demo has been pulled of XBL? cause yesterday I saw the demo, but couldn't download it as I have a silver subscription and it's only gold subscriptions, and today I want to check again if it has changed but I can't seem to find the demo anywhere.

DLuv

Commented on 2008-03-29 08:14:16

I have downloaded it from PSN and on PS3 it works flawlessly. Judging from my first impressions, the game has improved from FIFA 08. It feels very dynamic right now.

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