Cristiano Ronaldo's UFL football video game launches for FREE this week - can it rival EAFC and eFootball?

Most football video game fans of a certain age where always split down the middle - FIFA or Pro Evo?

It divided friendships and shaped the footballing experience from the comfort of our own homes. Both have had facelifts in recent years - changing into EAFC and eFootball - but their dominance nevertheless has remained unchallenged. Until now.

After eight years in the making, UFL is finally ready for players to enjoy. The game, both available on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, was set for a September release before a last minute change of heart saw the public launch delayed for three months while developers sorted out the kinks. Gaming studio Strikerz decided to postpone the big day after receiving less than positive feedback from the last round of beta testing. Around 1.3m people played the first open beta in June, while the game has 838,000 followers on Instagram.

So what is all the fuss about? What can it offer that other football games can't? And, more importantly, will it be any good? Record Sport is here to give you some back ground to the new gaming kid in town.

UFL is a brand new original football video game developed by gaming studio Strikerz. The game boasts itself as the ultimate football simulator in a similar set up to rivals EAFC and eFootball where the player controls the 10 outfield players on the pitch in a variety of modes.

The developers have made the game's core selling point a skill-based game, appealing to those who favour step-overs and overhead kicks rather than tactic. The game will be free to play and the developers have labelled it 'fair to play', which means that players will be able to progress through it based on merit, rather than the controversial microtransactions that EA Sports users