Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro

With the bitter taste of England's exit from the Euro 2012 championship still fresh in the mouths of an entire nation, now is a good time to give the Three Lions the one kind of victory they are capable of achieving - a virtual one.

Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro is an unofficial football title that clearly hopes to benefit from the increased focus on the beautiful game at the moment.

While it lacks the proper licence, it essentially replicates this year's Euro 2012 tournament: you can pick a team and aim for the final, or choose to play a more straightforward exhibition match.

In the opening minutes, Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro does much to impress. The cartoon-like visuals are sharp and detailed, and the game flows as neatly as a Cruyff solo run. A D-pad lets you control your players, and tapping anywhere on the screen executes a pass, tackle, or jump - depending on the context.

Holding down your finger on the screen fills up a power gauge, and when this reaches the red section your player is ready to unleash a net-bursting shot. The simplistic interface helps maintain the pace of the game, but other issues bring Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro to the ground with a bump.

The most obvious problem is that the game has scant regard for the basic rules of football. For example, at kick off, there's only one player in the centre circle, so you have no choice but to pass the ball backwards into your own half in order to locate a fellow player.

Another annoyance is the complete lack of away kits, so teams with similar strips are hard to differentiate.

It's also impossible to get red or yellow cards, removing the risk involved in making a particularly nasty challenge when your opponent's striker is clear on goal.

Strangely, despite these glaring omissions Striker Soccer Euro 2012 has a decent understanding of the offside rule - something that some of the most well-respected footie simulations struggle with.

It's also appallingly easy to score in Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro. Unless you set it to the hardest difficultly level, nine out of ten shots on goal seem to find the back of the net.

The final insult is the complete absence of a two-player mode, which is the one thing that could have saved this weak effort from the subs' bench.

As it stands, Striker Soccer Euro 2012 Pro offers brief snatches of skill and talent, but ultimately isn't good enough to mix it with the big boys of the soccer world - rather like the England football team, then.