One thing that I wanted to talk about was soccer video games. This came to mind as I have been spending quite a bit of time recently playing the new FIFA World Cup 2010 soccer game by EA sports on my Xbox 360. I have yet to find that "perfect" soccer game, although a few variations have come close (at least with the limitations of the technology at the time). So here's a non-comprehensive, completely personal and subjective look at soccer video game history:
Pele's Championship Soccer for the Atari 2600 was the first soccer video game that got wide play here in the US. My brother and I spent a good amount of time on this title, but it had major flaws. Playing the game was almost as tiring as actual soccer, since the "players" (they were blocks with extra sprites representing legs as they ran or "kicked") ran at a snail's pace and it took several seconds to progress up the field. To "make up" for this deficiency, players moved twice as fast when retreating towards their own goal, meaning that games usually devolved into arduous tests of joystick stamina around midfield (hey... that sounds a lot like many actual soccer games I've seen... maybe this game was ahead of its time?). Teams consisted of three players forever linked in a triangle formation, plus a goalkeeper permanently trapped within the goal (but able to keep the ball out of it). Needless to say, real soccer movement was left to your imagination. All this is not to say that the game was without merit. There was a very cool fireworks graphic (cool for the Atari 2600 timeframe) whenever someone scored, and there was true sense of accomplishment associated with scoring goals because it could be so difficult to do.
GOAL! for the NES was the first soccer video game that really made one feel like he or she was playing a soccer game. There were many soccer games in the arcade that looked like soccer, but were unwieldy to control and horrendously difficult (unless you knew THE MOVE, which was the case with most sports video games back then). Goal! actually looked AND played like a soccer game. It had an innovative angled field, rather than just straight up and down or left-to-right, although the controls were such that moving left or right moved you left or right relative to the field, not the screen, so that it was still intuitive to play. Even better, your teammates moved like actual soccer players. Players would make random runs into open spaces for you to pass to them. Passing consisted of two forms, a "touch" pass with the B button which could be directed via the gamepad or left on auto-direct for funky tricks. This sounds tricky, but it was actually incredibly intuitive and made it easy to link passes together and even lead your teammates with a forward pass. At the time, this was almost unheard-of for a soccer video game. The second form of passing was an alteration of the shooting (button A). All shots and long kicks were performed in the same manner, but your players (regardless of their individual skill) had the greatest trapping ability known to man so that it was possible to combine short "B" p
asses with hard, long "A" passes to move all over the field in a completely controlled and skillful manner, as if your entire team was made of 10 Gersons.Just as impressively, the game included 16 national teams that were arranged to be played in a World Cup. While this wasn't entirely accurate, it was closer than anything else at the time. And each team truly played differently. Spain, for example, was inexplicably slow. Russia had a player that was slightly faster than anyone else. There were somewhat distinctive players on nearly every team. My personal favorite was the Danish #10, who I called Elkjaer. My brother and I wasted many glorious hours on this video game.
FIFA International Soccer was the first attempt by EA Sports to take on the soccer genre. Having made their name with the original Madden and "Celtics vs. Lakers" NBA titles, EA sports branched out and dominated the SNES and Sega Genesis with their very fun NHL franchise. They next went after the soccer market with this game. As you can see even from the screenshot here, the graphics of this game were light-years ahead of anything else on the market. Even arcade soccer games (the Neo-Geo had some entertaining soccer games at the time) couldn't beat it. True to what would prove to be their form, EA went all-out on presentation, adding fantastic crowd sound effects and animations. The game even added some coaching options such as formations and tactics. In terms of "feeling" like you were part of a real soccer match, this game was a huge step forward for the genre, and firmly established EA sports' FIFA series for the future. Unfortunately, while the game was awesome to look at and listen to, it played rather poorly. In terms of actual control, it was a step BACK from the simple NES titles that preceded it. Games nearly always disintegrated into kickball contests with too many goals scored from midfield, even against human opponents. Trying to pass your way up the field and organize an attack (or a defense, for that matter) was nearly impossible. This gave the FIFA series an "All-flash, no dash" reputation among hardcore soccer fans that has only recently started to wane.It's worth noting that EA started a policy of releasing a new version of the game
on multiple platforms each year, much as they did with their other franchises. Each year brought improvements, and the PC version in particular became a pretty good game. By Fifa 98, the control issues had been worked out, the graphics were excellent, and the game was one of the most fun soccer experiences you could have off an actual field. It was still far too "arcadey" for most grognards, but it was a blast to play and had features galore.
With the advent of the Playstation 2 and the Xbox, Konami expanded their Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven) series to the US to satisfy players who were looking for the most realistic soccer game available. Unlike the FIFA series, Konami focused on gameplay from the start, with a heavy emphasis on realistic player movement and control. Their graphics weren't quite at the same level as the FIFA series, but most everyone agreed that a PES game was the closest thing to watching a real soccer match as was possible. The PES series also gave players a huge number of options to customize their experience. They could even create their own teams with uniforms and such via the "Master League" feature. The drawback of the PES series was always the licensing issue. While EA Sports owned the FIFA license, Konami had to try and sign individual clubs to support their game. This led to all kinds of confusion when the game featured teams like Arsenal playing against "East London FC." This is still the greatest handicap the Konami series faces.
Which brings us to the game I'm currently playing, FIFA World Cup 2010 by EA Sports. They basically took their FIFA 10 game engine and added a bunch of extra presentation features, such as a bewildering array of national teams. The usual FIFA games featured the most significant national teams, but focused more on the big-name club sides. This edition has ALL the FIFA member national teams, and no clubs whatsoever. The tradeoff is that you can play complete qualifying campaigns and such, even as tiny nations such as Grenada. The World Cup presentation itself includes all the South African stadiums, complete with "fanatical" team followers and incredibly detailed representations of the coaches of most sides.The modern state of soccer video gaming has EA Sports' FIFA series ruling the roost. Their licensing and presentation values, coupled with an increasingly sophisticated game engine and unique features such as the "Be a Pro" mode, make it hard to choose any other title. The PES series has not adjusted well to the PS3 or Xbox 360, and is virtually the same game that it was 5 years ago. It is probably still the most realistic game in terms of soccer action, and its "Master League" mode is still awesome, but it's getting harder and harder to recommend it over the FIFA line. As a soccer video game junky, I hope that Konami can get their act together and put out a real upgrade next year, something that will let me justify diving back into Master League mode for hours on end.
SAH
No comments:
Post a Comment