2008 Euro Cup

We're becoming increasingly impressed by the ability of mobile game developers to continually shoehorn the athletic world of super-sports into a few hundred KB of Java code. Perhaps much of this success is linked to improved technology in even the lowest range of handsets these days, but credit where it's due – this is most certainly a comprehensive football game for the micro-screen.

Despite the fact that England won't actually be at the 2008 Euro Cup, pocket gamers can at least find some solace in dabbling with an imaginary fixture in which they can personally return glory to our once great Britain. Choosing from 54 European teams, the championship stands ready and bustling for the right thumb to carry a team to the top.

Doing so is no small matter, of course. What's immediately noticeable about 2008 Euro Cup is the grand scale of the pitch. While this might sound like an expected feature, playing MobilityZone's latest sports offering brings home the realisation that a great many football games – particularly those intended for the handheld formats – clearly reduce the playing area size to better accommodate the mobile screen.

This grandiosity of scale is suitably accompanied by a small overview map in the corner, which provides a slightly cluttered, yet appreciated, bird's eye view of the squad.

Carrying the ball from one end to the other is certainly too much to ask of one single player. Fortunately, control of the team is where the real labour of 2008 Euro Cup has evidently been poured, and while care has to be taken when making a pass, the ball is easily and effectively recovered and handled by the tiny lads in the colourful shirts.

The isometric view lends itself well to the micro-screen – the small amount of extra detail visible in the corners of the display emphasises the visibility very nicely and ensures there's always at least one of your team mates within eyeshot.

An arrow denoting the currently controlled player isn't especially accurate, being rather rounded off on the corners and pointing only vaguely in the character's direction, but the scale of the pitch alleviates much of the confusion since there's rarely a congregation of sporting colleagues in one space.

Tactical management isn't particularly in-depth which, for this reviewer, was welcome, though statisticians and strategists (of which there are a great many when it comes to sports titles) might find the off-the-shelf play tactics a little shallow.

The weather also adds to the drama, though the claims at it affecting gameplay is perhaps a little self-congratulatory – we found it to be an initially amusing, though ultimately ineffectual, obscuring of the playfield.

With unlockable challenges, goal replays and online scoreboards, 2008 Euro Cup will make a very decent accompaniment to the live football game (playing it in the stands would undoubtedly add a great deal of atmosphere and enthuse supporters for the real match action), though it's a little difficult to find something in particular to make it really stand out from the soccer game crowd.