A glorious mix of old gameplay and 21st century presentation.
There are certain games that should never be remade; classic games that exist fondly in your memory, covered in fuzzy nostalgia, never to be experienced again. All too often we are exposed to horrific remakes of these titles, complete with snazzy new graphics, struggling to cope with the transition to the analogue stick. Sensible World of Soccer was always going to be a remake for the fan. Fans that were not going to appreciate any deviation from a formula that created, according to last years GDC, one of the top 10 most influential games of all time. The success of any SWOS remake was going to be placed solely on its ability to capture every crumb of playability and fun that the original Amiga titles had. An issue that must have been appreciated by the development team behind this wonderful XBLA version, as it's the perfect carbon copy of the game that stole my childhood.
For those of you that don't know, Sensible Soccer was a top-down football game released on Commodores "Amiga" console back in the 1990's. It was an immediate success for European gamers, and spawned several sequels which caused the eventual name-change to Sensible World of Soccer or SWOS. The key to its success is that it plays nothing like football, yet captures the essence of what the sport great. It coupled frantic onscreen action, with a deceptively immerse management and coaching simulator, all of which are thankfully present in this new iteration.
In single player, the game is a carbon copy of the original version. Menu navigation and gameplay is practically all single-button. As before, you can choose between a range of preset tournaments at both national and club level, create your own custom tournament, play a friendly game, or delve into a Career in management. The game sports a highly impressive roster of over 2,000 teams spread across five continents, all of which are available for each game type. The beauty of this mass of teams and leagues, is that it exists as SWOS's difficulty setting. If you're new to the game, jumping into the lightning fast Premiership is going to result in embarrassing defeat, whereas the treacle-slow football of the Latvian League will prove much easier for any newcomers. Unfortunately since the nineties, open platforms aren't what they used to be, and so SWOS has been hit firmly in the jaw with the FIFA licensing hammer, meaning both team and player names are horrid misspelled versions of their former selves. As the original 95/96 team sheets are still being used, this can create an entertaining but irritating game of "Guess the Player".
As always though, the real sauciness is in Sensi's Career mode, where you can choose any one of the games club teams to manage in their domestic season of leagues, cups and any tournaments they qualify for. The matches can be played, watched or you can opt to simply see the result, but the end result is always a by-product of your work behind the scenes. Checking opposing teams form, buying and selling players, keeping an eye on the bank balance, and resting your top striker for the local derby is all very important. With seasons lasting hours, the pageantry of football really comes to live here, with finals being played with 4 players injured, a relegation battle going to the final match, trying to qualify for Europe, or being offered jobs by other teams. It's enthralling, incredibly addictive and a perfect balance between arcade fun, depth and a lot of the time, dumb luck.
The big worry with the games revival was how the Xbox 360 controls would translate onto the pitch. SWOS was a game played on a fat joystick, with a hell of a lot of idiosyncrasies that the cynical among you would probably call bugs nowadays. Fantastically, the developers have somehow managed to recreate the on-screen action to perfection, while simultaneously mapping the controls to the analogue stick which never feels wrong.
In SWOS's you control one of your team members at any time, kicking, heading, tackling and throwing the ball with the same button at all times. The manner in which you interact with the ball depends on where it is (in the air, in your possession, etc.) and the speed it travels at depends on how long you hold the button down. The real trick however, is the after touch mechanic that SWOS is gifted with, which controls the direction and amount of curve the ball travels with, according the direction you pull the analogue stick in once it has left your player. This creates the ability for your player to diving header a high flying ball at a 90 degree angle by pulling the analogue stick away as his head comes in contact with it. Low passes can be curved around opposing defenders and balls can be kept in play with a clever after touch slide tackle. It's not a requirement in the lower leagues, but as you play it all comes together so you should be fully prepared once you hit the big leagues.
In terms of additions, this version sports fantastic new HD graphics which are so similar to the style of Sensible Software games, you almost forget they're enhanced. From glorious new stadiums which cast shadows on the grass, dilapidated urban pitches beside train-tracks, goal side hot-dog vendors and satisfying weather effects, the new graphics just drip the detail and sense of humour that permeate the Sensi of old. Similarly the soundtrack, including the fantastic menu and intro tracks, has been re-recorded to great quality. Such is the understanding between Codemasters and SWOS fans that these can be turned off in favour of the classic audio and graphics if required, though I doubt many will.
An addition that doesn't warrant such praise is the totally broken multiplayer mode. I have managed 4 games in my weeks of playing, and countless missed connections in both ranked, unranked and invite matches. The worse thing is that the two non lag-infested games I did play were fantastic fun. The games were short but sweet 3 minute bursts of fun, that had be smiling even after defeat, something I cant say about many modern multiplayer games. This is the sort of thing you would hope would be fixed in a pre-release patch, so fingers crossed.
It's hard to quantify with a number, the sheer ammount of fun you can have with this new version of Sensible World of Soccer. Whole-heartedly I admit I'm knee deep in nostalgic joy, but even without the history of playing with wonderful game, for 800 MS points SWOS for Xbox Live Arcade is about as deep and fun and experience you can have with your pants on.
Just wait till you play it with them off!
For those of you that don't know, Sensible Soccer was a top-down football game released on Commodores "Amiga" console back in the 1990's. It was an immediate success for European gamers, and spawned several sequels which caused the eventual name-change to Sensible World of Soccer or SWOS. The key to its success is that it plays nothing like football, yet captures the essence of what the sport great. It coupled frantic onscreen action, with a deceptively immerse management and coaching simulator, all of which are thankfully present in this new iteration.
In single player, the game is a carbon copy of the original version. Menu navigation and gameplay is practically all single-button. As before, you can choose between a range of preset tournaments at both national and club level, create your own custom tournament, play a friendly game, or delve into a Career in management. The game sports a highly impressive roster of over 2,000 teams spread across five continents, all of which are available for each game type. The beauty of this mass of teams and leagues, is that it exists as SWOS's difficulty setting. If you're new to the game, jumping into the lightning fast Premiership is going to result in embarrassing defeat, whereas the treacle-slow football of the Latvian League will prove much easier for any newcomers. Unfortunately since the nineties, open platforms aren't what they used to be, and so SWOS has been hit firmly in the jaw with the FIFA licensing hammer, meaning both team and player names are horrid misspelled versions of their former selves. As the original 95/96 team sheets are still being used, this can create an entertaining but irritating game of "Guess the Player".
As always though, the real sauciness is in Sensi's Career mode, where you can choose any one of the games club teams to manage in their domestic season of leagues, cups and any tournaments they qualify for. The matches can be played, watched or you can opt to simply see the result, but the end result is always a by-product of your work behind the scenes. Checking opposing teams form, buying and selling players, keeping an eye on the bank balance, and resting your top striker for the local derby is all very important. With seasons lasting hours, the pageantry of football really comes to live here, with finals being played with 4 players injured, a relegation battle going to the final match, trying to qualify for Europe, or being offered jobs by other teams. It's enthralling, incredibly addictive and a perfect balance between arcade fun, depth and a lot of the time, dumb luck.
The big worry with the games revival was how the Xbox 360 controls would translate onto the pitch. SWOS was a game played on a fat joystick, with a hell of a lot of idiosyncrasies that the cynical among you would probably call bugs nowadays. Fantastically, the developers have somehow managed to recreate the on-screen action to perfection, while simultaneously mapping the controls to the analogue stick which never feels wrong.
In SWOS's you control one of your team members at any time, kicking, heading, tackling and throwing the ball with the same button at all times. The manner in which you interact with the ball depends on where it is (in the air, in your possession, etc.) and the speed it travels at depends on how long you hold the button down. The real trick however, is the after touch mechanic that SWOS is gifted with, which controls the direction and amount of curve the ball travels with, according the direction you pull the analogue stick in once it has left your player. This creates the ability for your player to diving header a high flying ball at a 90 degree angle by pulling the analogue stick away as his head comes in contact with it. Low passes can be curved around opposing defenders and balls can be kept in play with a clever after touch slide tackle. It's not a requirement in the lower leagues, but as you play it all comes together so you should be fully prepared once you hit the big leagues.
In terms of additions, this version sports fantastic new HD graphics which are so similar to the style of Sensible Software games, you almost forget they're enhanced. From glorious new stadiums which cast shadows on the grass, dilapidated urban pitches beside train-tracks, goal side hot-dog vendors and satisfying weather effects, the new graphics just drip the detail and sense of humour that permeate the Sensi of old. Similarly the soundtrack, including the fantastic menu and intro tracks, has been re-recorded to great quality. Such is the understanding between Codemasters and SWOS fans that these can be turned off in favour of the classic audio and graphics if required, though I doubt many will.
An addition that doesn't warrant such praise is the totally broken multiplayer mode. I have managed 4 games in my weeks of playing, and countless missed connections in both ranked, unranked and invite matches. The worse thing is that the two non lag-infested games I did play were fantastic fun. The games were short but sweet 3 minute bursts of fun, that had be smiling even after defeat, something I cant say about many modern multiplayer games. This is the sort of thing you would hope would be fixed in a pre-release patch, so fingers crossed.
It's hard to quantify with a number, the sheer ammount of fun you can have with this new version of Sensible World of Soccer. Whole-heartedly I admit I'm knee deep in nostalgic joy, but even without the history of playing with wonderful game, for 800 MS points SWOS for Xbox Live Arcade is about as deep and fun and experience you can have with your pants on.
Just wait till you play it with them off!