Hey there, it’s me monser and I’m back with another game review! This time it’s for UEFA EURO 2004, For the PS2. Being dutch, I have a grudge against the 2004 Euro, since the host nation beat us 2-1. But do I have a grudge against this game? Well, you’ll find out in this review, or of course if you looked at the score, which you most likely did.

This game was released in 2004, the same year that the first great fifa game was released, in FIFA 2005. But, does this game have the gameplay of the great FIFA 2005, or of the lesser FIFA 2004?

Well, I’d say let’s find out!

Graphics 6/10

Let’s start with the least important, the graphics. They’re average, at best. The PS2 can pull off so much more, and the same franchise even showed that. But they’re not horrible, they’re just not that great. The Pro evolution soccer game of this year looked better.  My biggest problem are the players, they look like they were ripped from a PS1 game. The field looks pretty nice, and the audience from an above view also looks pretty cool.  When you score a goal, it looks pretty cool, but you still want a bit more detail.

Do the players look like the players? Well, kind of… I guess.  If you are a fan like me, you would recognize them, only.. They don’t look particularly good either.

Overall The graphics are average, the players look OK, and the field is actually pretty nice. A 6/10

Story: N/A

There is no story, well maybe you can make your own story with players. The story is, you go in a tournament. The end.

Depth 8 /10

There is  a lot to do in this game, tournament mode, UEFA EURO CUP mode, situation mode. And even dream match mode.

Let’s cover the modes

UEFA EURO 2004 Mode: You pick a team (Or teams) and you try to qualify for the tournament, after that you enter the UEFA EURO and try to win the tournament, this is very addicting, for a while, I beat the tournament 2 times and after that I got a bit bored with it. Yes the players and teams played differently, but not enough for me to want to continue, I beat the game with turkey and the Netherlands.

Dream match mode: This is a great mode. You can make your OWN custom team and play against other custom teams, this is a great feature and was not often in older FIFA games. But very common nowadays. Anyway, you make your own team, and you try to beat all of the other custom teams.

Situation mode: For a game that is called UEFA EURO 2004, it is strange that this is my favourite mode. Basically, you make your own challenging situations, For example: Be 2-0 behind and try to equalize in 5 minutes, you can make it extremely challenging, and it’s a lot of fun to experiment with what challenges. This is also a good mode if you want to see who can do it the best with your friends.

Tournament mode: Set up a tournament with different options, nearly every fifa game has it.

Overall There are quite a lot of things to do in this game, but it could have given us a bit more, a 8/10

Difficulty 8/10

This game is hard. Like, hard.  If you want to get used to the game, your only bet is to play on amateur, this game has a weird difficulty system though. You win 6-0 from a good team, and you lose 2-1 from a bad team. It’s a bit weird.

The controls are really getting used to, they are a lot differently from the modern FIFA games. They move a bit stiff, but at times, they go way to fast.

However, It is a LOT easier to score from crosses. (If you don’t know much about the sport, a cross is where you shoot the ball from the left or right side of the goal for another player to put in the net)

This results in you trying crosses a lot of the times. You rarely go from the front, and actually make a good looking goal. But when you’re in the middle of the game, you don’t care about making a good goal, you only care about winning.

What this game does have going for it in the difficulty department, is that the match feels intense the entire way through. You can’t jump off the couch and celebrate when you score a goal, because the other team will already have scored 6 goals by then. However, does this game have fair difficulty? Fair meaning challenging but when you are losing it is your fault. Well.. Kinda. Like I said the controls aren’t the worst, but they certainly aren’t the best of any fifa game either. It’s really in the middle.  I wouldn’t say that it’s unfair. But it does have some difficulty flaws. For example It also isn’t really consistent with the stats of the team, resulting in me playing Romania (Not a very good team) In the finals, and playing Portugal in the semi’s.

Overall It isn’t exactly unfair, but like I said the difficulty has some flaws. It does keep it intense the whole way through, though. Again,  a 8/10

Sound 9/10

I’m gonna admit, FIFA songs are one of my guilty pleasures. And this game doesn’t disappoint.

It has some really cool songs, there are some lesser ones in there but most of them are cool. They also have the theme for the 2004 UEFA in there.  But they are just music for the menu, and there Is not a lot to say apart from, they are entertaining and cool.

Of course there are sound effects in a fifa game.

The crowd effects, are just amazing. When the game is going on you can hear the crowd, and their noises. They make football (Soccer) Chants.

The commentary.. Well it’s not horrible, but It’s not awesome either. They do have some cool lines, but they get repetitive pretty quickly. Now no fifa, or any football (Soccer) game for that matter has great commentary, So it gets a pass there. It is pretty entertaining to listen to, for a little while.

Overall: It had good sound, rocking music and so-so commentary. A 9/10

Gameplay 7/10

Alright, the gameplay. It has some issues, I already addressed the problem that crossing is a bit too easy, but there are some more problems. Of course the gameplay is passing around and trying to get the ball in your opponents net.

Here are the problems. You have to be very specific about passing, because if you aren’t the ball will go to your opponent, it can become quite frustrating especially if you are used to the new FIFA games.

Overall The gameplay was pretty good, despite some issues.  It’s still a FIFA game and it does show that.

Addictiveness 6/10

I have to admit, I was actually kind of addicted to this game a few years back, However only for a little while after you have played all the modes a lot it gets a bit repetitive yes there are many modes, but they don't feel very unique. The gameplay is pretty good, and the controls are ok. It gets boring after a while when there isn’t a lot to do, which is a huge big point off for addictiveness for this one, but hey I got this game for free so I shouldn’t complain. Situation mode is probably the most addicting mode of the game, but that also gets a bit boring after you play it a lot.

Overall a 6/10 This game was addicting.. but not for too long, which can be a problem for some.

OVERALL: 7/10

This game was enjoyable, it had some flaws that you should really take note to when you are going to play the game, but it’s still an enjoyable FIFA game that I recommend you play.

However the sequel to this game, UEFA EURO 2008 is a lot better. And who knows maybe I’ll review that game too one day.

Memories  8/10

A few years ago, I  burned this game, and played it for hours on end. I still have fond memories of it. Like I said I accidently chose turkey as a team. I really liked this game and wasn’t really  thinking as much about flaws as I do now. A 8/10

 
 sonicthehedgehog57:
greenluigi :
kirbmanboggle :