Champions League (video game)
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The UEFA Champions League video game license has been used by three different companies, with a surprising unregularity, given the competitions' fan-base and popularity. Debuted in 1996, the series only had 5 games published so far, and after being in the hands Krisalis Software and Silicon Dreams, the license now lies in the sports games giant EA Sports.
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[edit] Krisalis (1996)
Krisalis had a strong history of football video games in the past, and inclusively released European Club Soccer, a game that simulated the old knockout format in 1992. With the official branding, Krisalis worked on a 3D engine, fitted with the Tacti-grid and gameplay in the line of their older games. It had all 16 teams present in the 1996/1997 Champions League with the actual groups, plus national teams. Only one title was produced, distributed by Philips Media.
[edit] Silicon Dreams (1998/2002)
With Silicon Dreams, who also developed the World League Soccer series, Champions League had three titles, 98-99, Season 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 released, aimed mostly at the Sony PlayStation, but PC releases existed for the three games. It replaced the national teams with finalists of all competitions since 1960, also including scenarios (in 98-99, with fake settings, in 1999-2000, based on the previous finals, including the 1999 final last minutes). All games were published by Eidos Interactive.
[edit] EA Sports (2004 to present)
In November 2004 Electronic Arts announced the licensing deal and further development of the game, which was published before the second round on the 2004-2005 competition started. It uses the same FIFA engine, and is now the fourth licensed football title EA has in its catalog.
UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 was released in 2004 and had licenses to many leagues in Europe, stadiums including Stamford Bridge and Anfield and also licenses to the players for the clubs. ERT's Manolo Mavromatis and Magic Tv's Doukakos did the commentary for the game and the graphics and gameplay had been taken from FIFA 2005 A career mode was made into the game where you had to win the Champions League with various scenarios. EA sports talk radio which was incorporated into the career mode included the voice of ex footballer Tony Cascarino, with his former radio partner at TalkSPORT, Patrick Kinghorn.
[edit] UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 Official Game
A second version of the UCL game was released by EA Sports on March 23, 2007.
There are 4 versions of the game, one for the PS2, one for the PSP, one for the PC and one for the Xbox 360. The game modes differ between PS2, PSP and 360. The PSP, PS2 and PC versions were developed by HB Studios while the Xbox 360 version was developed by EA Canada.
[edit] PS2 / PC Version
New features include:
- The Treble - Much like Season Mode in UCL 04/05 but with an added objective of winning the domestic cup.
- Master Challenge. Control Rosenborg and try to move out of the 4th place.
- Snowy weather effects for winter matches.
- The Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, the hosting stadium for this season's final.
- European legendary team Rosenborg included as an extra.
- New Unlockables such as The Ultimate Arena, where a fantasy stadium is roofed by the stars that form the UCL logo.
[edit] Xbox 360 Version
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The Xbox 360 game is based upon the 360 FIFA 07 engine, making improvements on many of that game's minor failings.
The game's single player mode is based around a 'Collector's Card' system reminiscent of the Sticker Albums that many football fans will have collected as kids. Cards can be achieved in 2 ways, either by purchasing them in random 'Packs' or by using a misleadingly titled 'Trading' function over Xbox Live, where you purchase cards other users have deemed surplus to requirements. Packs of cards come in 3 varieties, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with Bronze being the least expensive and having less chance of containing rarer cards and Gold being the most expensive and likely to produce rarer cards. Credits to purchase cards online or packs are earned via playing games, either against an AI controlled team or online, with more credits being awarded for various aspects of the player's performance.
The Collector's Album requires the player to fill 11 players, a Club Badge and 2 Kits, Home and Away/Third, as well as pages to be filled for Boots, Stadiums, Balls and Classic Balls.
Cards are also integral in the game's main single player mode, Ultimate Team Mode. This mode puts the player in charge of a custom team composed of players that come out of card packs or that are bought online. This mode sees the player's team challenged to progress through 5 Stages by playing teams of increasing difficulty, for a 'Golden Ticket' which allows you to take them into the Champions League tournament. Your Ultimate Team can be improved by having a lot of players from the same country playing in similar positions, as well as a good stadium.
The game has a somewhat eclectic roster of teams, as while it contains the majority of teams who participated in the 2006-2007 tournament, not all of them are licensed, such as PSV, who appear in the game as Eindhoven with a team of fake players. Some teams, such as Ajax and Sparta Prague are completely absent. The game includes Sections for the English Premier League, the French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera, the German Bundesliga and a small 'Other' Section, though does not contain all the teams from the leagues. The roster is frustrating, in that former competitions winners like Ajax and frequent participators like Glasgow Rangers are absent, yet teams who have never played a part in the competition are included.
