Last week EA Sports launched their Euro2012 tournament tie-in which comes in the form of a paid digital extension pack for existing FFA12 owners.

We asked gamer Alex Bentley to forego any sunlight for several days as he attempted to steer Ireland to glory on his Xbox.

I should probably start by pointing out that this isn’t actually a new game, as such. This year EA decided to release it as downloadable content (DLC). Being honest, I’ve never bothered buying any of the World Cup or Euro versions of the game before, mainly because I’ve struggled to see the value. However, costing only 1800 Microsoft points (£15.99), the DLC is not too pricey at all.
There is nothing surprisingly new about the instalment. The graphics are slightly more polished and the gameplay is still brilliant, if not a bit smoother. Besides that, it’s very similar to FIFA 12.
The obvious, expected, game mode added is the Euro2012 tournament. It would have been nice to include a qualifying stage for this, but that aside, this is a decent supplement. It’s not really a long-term venture, but it’s definitely enough for the duration of the tournament itself, which realistically is when this game will mostly be played.
‘Expedition’ is the big addition to the game. It is essentially like taking a random team of European misfits to play against the current reigning champions. You start out with your created player from FIFA 12 as a captain joined by a designated collection of European reserve players, and as you beat teams, you get to swap a player with them each time, strengthening your team as you travel the continent. It’s difficult, but not without its satisfaction or replay value.
Bizarrely, just under half of the 52 nations are not licenced, which means slightly different kits and changed player names. It does though, seem to be mostly smaller nations where my non-encyclopaedic knowledge of squads eludes me anyway, so rather ignorantly, I don’t know who most of the players are anyway.
In all, it’s a nice little addition to the EA canon. I think that EA have made the correct decision to make it DLC, rather than a full new game. It freshens up the original, and should tide fans over until FIFA 13 is released. A few creases have been ironed out, with better graphics and gameplay welcomed. Besides the extensive lack of official, licenced squads, there is very little to complain about.
8/10

EA SPORTS UEFA EURO 2012 is available to download on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC from April 24. Visit www.ea.com/uk/football/euro12 for more information