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Action Soccer |
Action Soccer
Ubi
Soft released this funny soccer game ... well, a while ago by
now. It's a neato game where the teams are represented by animals
and things like boots and stuff. Homepage: UbiSoft
Actua Soccer is a cool game, which is rich animated and runs smooth
- even on a slow computer - with the resolution set to high and
all the textures turned on. Homepage: Gremlin
Interactive This is the game that I think of as the very first 'real' soccer
game. As I recall it was the first game to get you closer to the
action and let you do some tricks with the ball and not just the
passing, shooting thing, which most others have to offer. I've had
a great deal of fun with this game, - nothing beats a two-player
game! - but if you play it enough, you learn the different ways
of scoring a sure goal. Homepage: EA Sports This is the next in the series of soccer games from EA Sports. The quality of the game has been greatly improved. Commentary added. The game itself has been modified. Several views have been implemented and there are few more tricks to learn. The user interface is much better and you have the option to play in a higher resolution: if your computer can handle it, that is. It is a very good-looking game, which has a lot to offer. It takes a bit to learn how to use the different keyboard (which is what I have always used. Sorry, but I just don't like playing with a joystick or gamepad. The game lets you use either, though, and the mouse ... but think about it! Playing soccer with a mouse (!) combinations, but when you first get to know it - it is great. I like it! Homepage: EA Sports ... I'm getting tired of Fifa '97 [sorry about that, fanatics!].
I guess I shouldn't be. It is rather cool. Nicer graphics, more
camera angles, two commentary's, an indoor game built in - which
is much more fast-paced and even funnier than the well known outside
one if you are playing against a friend - a career option ... -yes!
It really is much nicer than Fifa '96, but what's wrong then? [get
to the point, dammit] I guess it has something to do with the cameras.
As you play you see the game from many different angles and as you
are about to pass or shoot, you have to think about the direction.
Left isn't left anymore, know what I mean? A game like this where
you have to move fast and think quick, shouldn't be like that. I
can't get used to it. Unfortunately, It's a great game, but Fifa
'96 easier to play. Homepage: EA Sports Hmmm, I have to find a way to restrain myself from putting the CD in the tray and playing just one more match. I have to concentrate on this review, arh!, but it's difficult - because this game is just about the closest you get to play real soccer on your PC; and I like it. Sometimes when I am playing, I find myself too occupied on doing tricks and dribbling and playing with the ball than scoring goals, but the way the game is done and the way it looks, it's hard not to. A+ to EA Sports. I hoped - but didn't expect - that this Fifa 98, Road To World Cup was something like this and it's great (and rare) when games exceed your expectations. Fifa 97 bored me: without any flow whatsoever in the gameplay but Fifa 98 so much better. You can do almost anything in this game: do fantastic dribbling with the ball, loop the ball to yourself, turn around 360 degrees, fake a penalty or freekick and much more and it's all so smoothly animated that you feel you're almost there in the middle of it all ... drooling, just watching the other players. Of course there are those annoying commentators, but you can turn them off if you wish (but faking a penalty and hearing them discussing the referee's decision, makes it worth it!). There are about 18 stadiums to pick from and they are all of high quality. The game supports Power VR and 3Dfx graphic cards and can (of course) be run over a network - for up to 20 players per game! - or serial connection. The game includes DirectX 5 drivers and also has a league feature, so that there is something new when you have won the WC three times in a row. I have read a lot in the newsgroups about the game being too easy and well: I guess it is quite easy. Anyway if you choose a harder level of difficulty (you can customise 8 levels) it's more fun and a lot more difficult and not that easy, I think, as some in the NG's are writing. Well, 'nuff said, download the demo or buy the game (might just as well buy it now), and you're in for an enjoyable evening (or two minutes anyway - that's all the demo will let you play!) Homepage: EA Sports The best PC soccer game just got a tiny bit better. Wow! Homepage: EA Sports or try
Fifa99.net (even better) Yes! Finally! (always a good way to begin a review, isn't it?) Fifa 2000 has hit the billboards! Here with me is also EAs F.A. premier League Football Manager 2000 and it seems EAs has streamlined their products, - I'm still waiting for a PC version of their Knockout Kings series (come on! where is it!?!). Anyway, - not that that has much to do with Fifa 2000 ... First of I don't like the title music in Fifa 2000 and I'm not sure if its that, that also seems to mess up the intro, but - even though the idea behind the intro is OK - I think the intro should be longer: its like they did the intro after choosing the title music ... and they because of that had to finish it so it matches the fading music. But what do I know?!? The game - sure this is bought product! =) - takes a long time to start, which really also is just a pain in something just above my legs [damn! I bought the game!] Anyway - its only 20 seconds or such - I ought to replace my computer sooner or later now ... (nothing to eat the next couple of months, kids! ... Here's a glass of water =) But it'll probably be later. The game, I feel, is sort of designed for release in America, not only does the title track indicate a more American attitude (I'd prefer Blur), but also things in the intro reveal (I think) a more American way of life ... please do not ask me to explain this further, as it might scare all you Americans away ;-) ... And of course the presence of the best (?) (all?) Major League soccer teams, which is also the default in a Friendly match. Just examined the box and it seems that its Robbie Williams, that sings the title track (oh! that’s why I didn't like it =), but he's English right!?! And how come he (Chrysalis) advertise on my manual, jezz, what’s this! Where does this end?! But enough about that. In my opinion, advertisement can be tolerated if it funds improvement of the product and at the same time doesn't spoil it: my manual isn't spoiled (not better, than the ones in the previous versions, either =) but, nevertheless, somehow this is wrong. On with the review: - a lot more teams have been included in Fifa 2000 (the Danish, thanks great!) and they include: The international teams, the Rest of the World teams, The Classic teams, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Major League teams, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. Of course you can still play both League, and Cup - full integrated leagues, to be played year after year, haven't tried this though, but guess that it would mean you can get qualified for the European Cup or something like that?! The players are now more detailed and differs more from each other than in Fifa99. They look more grainy now, but perhaps that's just my voodoo2 card?! Their strength should be different also (read this somewhere) and the controls are also different from the previous Fifa games. It's now easier (or is it?) to dribble with the ball and if you press the E key, you can protect the ball, nice ... ! There are not as many cameras to choose from, but instead you have the option to configure them for what suits you, oh! Darn! Where's my favourite Stadium Cam? Agony! I now prefer the End-to-End camera I think it’s called, as I feel it’s easier to control the players with that. Its also like that the players now acts more intelligent (?) and you'd have to prepare for a crowded game, as the players sometime seem to get sucked to where the ball is. More realistic? I guess so. The modifications to the players however, have made them look much more fragile, like Michael Owens World League Soccer, but one can (has to) live with that. The gameplay is much more lively now: there are more injuries, more penalties (a thing I missed in Fifa 99) and some predefined Set Pieces, when taking free kicks - I've still to figure these out, but it like you have three players to give the ball and you just choose which one and the free kick is taken. I liked this control better in Fifa 99, but perhaps I just have to get used to it, - I bet it's ok, then. The commentary is nicer now, than in the previous games. More lively I feel. More like a real game. The crowds are moving as well, just to add to the impression. And last, the replays are also better now, - more television-like. I like Fifa 2000. It's ok. Although Fifa '99 somehow seems much more like a finished product. Homepage: EA Sports or try
Fifa2000.net (even better)
There's not much to write about this one. You, - like take about 80 percent of Sensible Soccer and add bigger and more animated players, program a nice user interface and you've got Football Glory. It just a Sensible Soccer [which I like better] clone and you might as well read that review instead. Homepage: www.croteam.com
Since the release of Windows95, Microsoft tries to get into the game area also. Up to now they have released quite a few games and I bet there's much more to come from them. Anyway this is their first soccer game and for a start it looks really good. Unfortunately, there are several things that bring down the final impression of the game. I don't know from where they've got the player names, but they don't match the real names of the players, that's too bad, because I think that if you're going to enjoy playing and controlling your favourite players in a soccer game they have to be available too. The game itself is pretty easy, but then again - very easy. It demands quite a lot of your system, even though it uses DirectX. Homepage: See if you can find it at MicroSoft This is really a neat little game. I like it and it seem that most others do to. It hasn't got the best graphics around the soccer game scene, but it offers a really great playing thrill. It's fast, furious and obviously determined to make you sweat to get that title. I must admit that when you get used to this neato and learn to cheat the goalkeeper, you can easily win a game by something like 8:0. Cute though and addictive. Homepage: sorry, they've moved ... somewhere The next little really neato game. Sensible World of Soccer. Sensible Soccer now includes a career option. Earn money. Buy players ... and beat Barcelona or Manchester United in the Champions League. It is still a great game - better than the predecessor is, but now you can't just click off 'turbo' on your computer to play an easier game, because the game isn't CPU dependent anymore. Sorry. It isn't fun to cheat anyway is it? Homepage: not here =) Hmmm, I just don't like this one. It reminds of something I once
saw on a Commodore Amiga. Homepage: None I was just about to write that Total Soccer just was another Sensible Soccer clone – like for example Football Glory, but I’ve just changed my mind. Actually Total Soccer is in fact more than just a ’Sensible Soccer clone’. I like this game, I like the looks of it and the way you navigate and I might even play it for more than just the two periods of 45 seconds (!) (rather stingy from Live Media UK if you ask me; 1.30 minutes of playing time and the demo expires 1998.03.15) if you could use the up/down/left/right keys to control your player(s) and if Fifa98 wasn’t around, but – I guess, that I eventually get tired of Fifa98 and I might just give this a chance. On the other hand, that would require me to go out and buy the original and I guess I wouldn’t bother anyway, because then EA Sports probably have released Fifa99 and I would rather buy that … and on, and on … bla-bla-bla, could you imagine a Fifa00? Funny, eh? Sorry, back to the game: In this demo you can choose from three different resolutions 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and using page up and down zoom in on the pitch as you desire. Nice feature. Total Soccer is playable for awhile, more smooth than Sensible Soccer, but not as funny in the end than the latter. The demos only about 990KB, so try it out. Homepage: www.totalsoccer.com
For all (or should I just write 'those'?) of you out there, that
is getting tired of playing Fifa 2000 or
some other game alike, here is Total Soccer 2000; And this' fun!
Hell! Its fast, furious, fun and addictive ... and hard, even on
the easier levels -- and its nice to see that some game-designers
have figured out, that not everything these days need to be presented
in 3D to just have a minimum of chance to enjoy the masses. It reminds
a lot (even the crowd noise) about the old Sensible
Soccer and Sensible World
Of Soccer [SWOS] games, but much smoother and nice (both D3D
and 3DFX versions) and the ball control is great. Most of all: its
just nice to play a game, where you don't have to wait several minutes
for the game to collect garbage data from all around your hard drive
(!). Not much to write about the game, as I guess you've seen the
like of it before, and you can probably recall playing something
like this some time or another. I'll not write that Total Soccer
2000 is a thing completely different (The Larch =)) from all the
other games available today, nor inventing something new, but perhaps
the programmers are just a bunch of hardcore football gamers, keeping
the old school gaming alive, and I thank them for that; I almost
forgot how fun it was (is) to play a game like this. Homepage: www.totalsoccer2000.com
Ok, been quite some time now, but I'll try to get this done; Check it out. Homepage: www.uefachallenge.com Just tried the new UEFA Champions League 99/00 and I'm generally impressed. Of course releasing the game here in Denmark about 14 days before the Champions League Final is not so great: It should have been out months ago, and releasing it at the same time as EAs UEFA Euro 2000 adds to the bad timing, as I think quite a few people might buy the latter if they had too choose. Nevertheless everything about UEFA Champions League is even more detailed than EURO2k, the stadiums more detailed, the players are of different height and weight and not two look alike, the player actions are much more lively than EURO2k and you can even define your own controls (!) (take that EA =) ... but if you ask me which game I like better, I must admit that it's EURO2k, but that's merely based on its playability and not how the game looks. I _can_ run the game on my computer (Pentium 200, Voodoo2) (anyone out there that can spare an Athlon/GeForce machine =), but the game practically isn't worth playing. The players/screen move in steps during the actual match and even though I changed the resolution to 640x480x16 and used the sliders to ease up on the graphical orgasm, I couldn't really see any difference, - well, perhaps a bit: everything have these irritating pixilated edges, but I think they also were there before -- and perhaps the game got a bit faster, not really playable faster, ... but a bit. And even so: the players move in this precautions, slowly and clumsy manner, not really dribbling with the ball but taking a stroll with it, the ingame animations (i.e. picking the ball up, goal kick, referee showing cards) seem to go on and on, the ball (I can't really get my eyes of it; it's too big, isn't it? =) sometimes keeps on rolling - and I really miss some action - (and some logic in switching players). Wow! There it was, that was the word I was looking for: Action! More of that. Much more. And even so for how long does a game like this last? Ask yourself how many times you want to win the Champions League or play a Custom Tournament (yes, you can build your own Custom Tournaments in the game)? A could-be great game, which has many nice options, but lacks action and playability. Homepage: At Eidos I've sort of recovered a bit from my EA
Sports illness, with this release prior to the European Championship
played this summer (this month, actually, great - send the wife
and kids away, unplug the phone, popcorns in the microwave and a
nice cold beer (Tuborg =), draw the blinds and I've set for some
action; although I sort of have lost my faith in the Danish team
lately, but I guess they'll do alright once the tournament has begun;
they always do). The game is better than Fifa
2000. Since Fifa 98, I think the releases
have become worse and worse. Until now - even though I disagree
with the removal of my favourite Stadium Cam. Like in UEFA
Champions League, you can zoom in and out and set the height
of the cameras and that's a great feature. I think the game-engine
has been cleaned up as well, because the game seems faster than
before, and that even though a lot of graphical features have been
added. I just had me a game and suddenly it started snowing =) At
first I thought like: Darn! Must be my voodoo card! But then I realized
it was snow and it was ok. The spectators are animated now too.
And nicer, although I can't see what they're doing, clapping - I
guess =) They've also added training, so you can do/or learn to
do, your favourite moves and get used to handle your keyboard (which
I prefer) or joystick (nah! joysticks are for 2D up screen arcade
shooters - or Speedball 2 (!) (one of the greatest games ever!)),
because you'll need to be quick on your keys to win! Ok. I've just
started playing it and I know it becomes easier later on, but I
don't like the key combinations/selections. In a big game like this
you should be able to select your preferred keys and you SHOULD
be able to view/play with the Stadium Cam (just caught myself shouting
there, sorry =)) Anyway, the direction the Fifa games are heading
(more Fifa98) is my way, hope they continue
the good work. The players are bigger now and not as skinny as in
Fifa 2000, they have individual strength
(also had in Fifa 2000 I believe) and you
can change their looks =) Added for the unemployed, I guess, but
I reckon euro2000.soccergaming.net
will be flooding with homemade teams or updates to the different
teams, but it's great - and nice that someone do it. I'll probably
be among those who download such, but I won't do the hard work,
- so you can just call me lazy =) Homepage: At EA Sports
This one reminds me of Euro '96 and Actua Soccer also from Gremlin Entertainment. The gameplay is much the same - again with those annoying circles and stars and so on, but besides that it's very nicely done and runs smooth even with the highest detail chosen in the setup. There are many different views, much the same as in Fifa 97, but the field seems way to small compared to the size of the players. It almost feels like there are too many players on the field. The full game allows net play for up to 20 players, but in this demo you play one match: USA vs. Russia. Homepage: VR
Soccer To be honest I've just played the demo for about 10 minutes and it might be a bit of a joke, trying to put a review together, but I'll try and I'll try to do it fair - although it may not seem like this. First of, it was a lot of messages in the newsgroups that caught my attention. Some were (even (!)) stating that Fifa99 came nowhere near Michael Owen's World League Soccer 99 and of course things like this get your attention. I was almost about to buy the game, when I decided to download the demo first. Games are expensive enough and there's no need to spend money on a game you'll probably never play more than a dozen times. I remember (come on (!) get on with it - yeah right, easy now) buying Gremlin's Euro '96 - one in the Actua sports series, I guess - one day, without having either played it or heard of it and I've played that game once or twice and it's now collecting dust, hmmm _ somewhere. Come to think of it I think it was because it was a Danish version. It has this Danish television football commentator, commenting the games and I thought this sounded like fun and well, it wasn't and the commentator sounded like a bad joke on a Sunday morning (or Monday morning, or whatever you like =). And now (to something completely different (?!)) back to WLS99. It reminds me a bit of a game my son played on his Playstation a while ago (unfortunately, I can't remember the name) and with my configuration all the game more or less looks like the graphics you can expect on older Playstation games (3DFX Voodoo 1 640x480). Not especially nice compared to Fifa99 with the same configuration. The standard keyboard controls are strange, but can be changed to what suits you - wish you could do the same with the controls in Fifa99, but ok one quickly learns those Gamepad-like keys. . The navigation is easy and it's nice to use the keyboard as well when selecting items - the Fifa99 team could learn from that: pretty annoying always using the mouse for menu navigation. There are only two different cameras to choose from, but the isometric one is included and that's the one I use the most so it's ok for me. Coin toss (hmmm?), not included in Fifa99 and I could really do without; it's more or less unimportant I feel and only takes up time. The players are nicely animated and look ok from a distance but close-up they're not as nice as in Fifa99. There are a great deal of tricks to do with the player, but I never came to try those, so I don't know whether they are easy to do and how to do them. Also a lot of people are complaining about Fifa99 being too easy and I don't think I can be the judge of that. Personally I don't think Fifa99 is easy; perhaps if you just head for goal and do all the easy stuff (?). I prefer to trick my way through the defenders and score some nice goals. That seems like more fun than just to see how much one can win over Man. Utd.. But if you're thinking about buying the game be sure to check both the Fifa99 demo and this one. Be the judge yourself. Homepage: Eidos Interactive
Know the other PC games from SEGA? Like Sega Rally Championship, Daytona USA? Great games. Well, so is their soccer game. The demo lets you play an exhibition match (England vs. England) (It seems that the full game have teams from all around the world - and perhaps even better graphics?) against the computer or through a link. The graphics are ok, the players rich animated and they do some nice tricks with the ball ... I could do without the sound, though. It has four different views, but they are not as complex as in Fifa 97. Playing the game, you don't get one-minute rest, always tackling, passing, shooting - a lot of action going on on that field. A two-player game would be funny. Try it. Homepage: Sega
Entertainment A BIG thanks to Martin Benkerrou for some of the links! (c) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Daniel Henriksen
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