It's like Top Trumps/Panini sticker album
The difference between the first three difficulty levels at the moment is barely noticeable; I scored 12 goals in my first 10 minute game on Semi-professional difficulty and another 10 when I tweaked it up to Professional. World Class level currently provides a decent challenge, as far as scoring a goal is concerned; marking is tighter and the midfield are far better at keeping hold of the ball, but the opposition rarely score. Out of 12 matches played on World class level, 7 of those have resulted in me winning by a 1-0 margin. Of course, I don’t want the opposition to win, but for the sake of a decent game of football, it would be nice if they could get a shot on target. For this reason, although it is preview code, I’d be more inclined to play UEFA 07 online against human competition.
One of the big changes on match day is the commentators. There’s something about Andy Gray that has always annoyed me, perhaps it was the fact he used to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers (I’m a huge fan of Walsall F.C and we absolutely hate the Wolves), so I was delighted to see that he’s been replaced by Andy Townsend. Good old Clive Tyldesly has made the short trip across from the FIFA studios to record his well-informed chatter again and between the two of them they do a great job. The commentary flows alongside the matches and Clive constantly quizzes Andy on his playing career where he reveals the answers to such questions like “Who’s the toughest manager you’ve worked with?” and “Who’s the best player you’ve played against?” Despite the irrelevance, it actually makes for some entertaining banter. If you’ve ever thought about purchasing Andy Townsend’s autobiography I wouldn’t bother, it's all here.
Click for larger imageA brand new addition to the franchise is Ultimate Team Mode, which introduces a unique and collectable virtual card system allowing you to develop players; think Top Trumps combined with the Panini sticker album. You begin the mode with a random starter pack and build you’re way up from bronze pack to gold ones, with the overall premise being to build the best team that you possibly can. It starts of pretty basic, with enough cards to build a team and a few substitutes. As you win matches you gain credits based on your performance with which you can buy more packs of cards. I used to buy the Panini sticker album every year when I was a kid so I found this type of reward based game play extremely appealing and a reminder of my misspent youth. If you’re after a challenge in UEFA 07 this is where it’s at.
Click for larger imageMy initial pack of players was pretty poor, low on fitness and morale and fairly slow on the field. It took an extra effort to win these initial matches, but the incentive of buying some more packs of cards, building my team and filling in the sticker album made it worth the effort. As you progress you’ll receive staff cards, healing cards and game play cards which you can use to affect the outcome of a game. Further down the line, you’ll open your packs to reveal bonus cards (remember those shiny club badges in Panini!) where you’ll receive such items as classic balls and a new pairs of boots. Thankfully, unlike buying a pack of trading cards in the shop, you won’t suffer from the disappointment of receiving duplicates (oh, no I’ve got 6 Peter Crouch’s). But, if you’re not happy with your cards you will be able to put them into an online trading shop where people will bid for them. The concept of trading cards may only appeal to kids and those adults who still longingly stare at the Panini sticker book in the newsagents too embarrassed to buy it now they're 35, but the choice is there; you don’t have to play the Ultimate Team Mode, but I’m going to stick my neck out and say that you’ll love it once you give it a chance.