Microsoft's latest entry into the overcrowded football genre will soon be vying for space on the shelves. Has it got the legs? Has it got anything new to offer? Read on, football fans...
Andy Smith

Oh deary me. You did one of these last week!
We did warn you that there was going to be a slew of them over the coming months, but this one's worthy of note because the early version we've been playing is very promising.

Go on then. What's it got?
As the title suggests, this is an international affair. You play your fave country against other countries in a variety of leagues and tournaments that you can design, with a mix of computer-controlled and human opponents.

Why are you impressed then?
It actually plays like a decent game of football. The motion-captured graphics are splendid, the players move tremendously and down on the pitch the action's realistic. It's more akin to the Actua model than the FIFA one, in that it's more a simulation of The Beautiful Game than an arcade representation of it. This, for Future Gamer, gives it many, many brownie points.

Blimey! Go on.
Your players move around very realistically, and I don't mean the animation. They run into space, make openings for themselves and generally act as if they've been trained to play the game, rather than just obeying a set of algorithms. This might be down to the involvement of top English coaches like Glenn Roeder.