UEFA Champions League 2005 (PS2)

*NEW set piece system. Corners and free kicks are now brilliant.
*NEW shooting system
*NEW passing and crossing system.
*NEW transfer system (you are told by the owner what positions to buy for and what positions to sell, who you buy or sell is entirely up to you)

From the out you take control of any team you like. The first task is to win the final game of the season to attain the exclusive CHAMPIONS LEAGUE place. If you win; a new owner comes in and buys your club and gives you a big wad of cash. Your mission is to become League and Champions league Champions.

100/10

"THE TENSION IS BACK INTO AN EA FOOTY GAME, A FEAT THAT HASN'T BEEN ATTAINED SINCE WORLD CUP 98"

The secanrios are a great addition i.e you can be losing 3 -0 after say 10 mins a man down, 5 of your teams mates on a yellow. And you start of the game at this stage!.

One thing i have always wanted in footi games is a home and away option. (including away goals rule - optional. These are the type of games where you may be winning 1-0 away and last few minutes you decide go defensive trying to hold that vital away goal. These matches bring out the best in tactical play. However one problem with this is after the first leg, it automatically goes to the 2nd leg without giving you a chance to change your team. I.e if you won at home you may want to play some defensive player. Instead you have to sub. This seems a bit silly!!, should have been sorted!

The AI seems to have also improved. Defenders play more higher up the pitch reducing the gap that used to be between midfield and attck in 2005. Also Goalkeepers seem the same i.e clumsy, more animations are used.

Corners seemed to have improved, i didnt like 2005 where you only controlled one person. Now you can loft the ball and any nearest player can head it.

Free kicks. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, not sure about this!. Seems to me more like pot luck. Doesnt require any skill. You press the shoot button, bar fills up when it turns red (half way through) you let go of the button. Thats it! Mind you you have three options to curl it, blast it or take a short pass.

Crosses, EA seem to have a problem in this area. They are far to floaty!!. You should be able to whip them in pro evo style.

To sum up, its a good game, i would recommend it! if you can afford it.

It has also tried something that no other game has tried, it's season mode known as 'The Season' is completely mission based with some objectives like win by 2 goals or get a player rating of 8 or better with Arjen Robben. This is extremely good and it has worked a treat. In some season modes you sometimes have to force yourself to play the game but with a new challenge thrown up every time you just want to keep on going to see what is next. If players play poorly your chairman forces you to sell them and buy replacement players within a certain budget, if your players recover their form they will not need to be sold. It is really annoying at the beginning when you have to sell one Starting XI Defender, Midfielder and Attacker, this is pointless as they are needed and you don't wan't to get rid of them, also this would never happen and takes away a bit of realism.

Also in 'The Season' there is EA Sports Talk Radio where you hear about what supporters think about recent performances by the team and their hopes for the future, this is very realistic as it has TalkSport's own Tony Cascarino and Patrick Kinghorn. This can however become tedious as there are not too many pre-recorded messages and they become repetitive.

First Touch remains and it is still easy to use, this is a great game and captures the champions league perfectly.

BRILLIANT!!!