[PSP] World Tour Soccer
Despite the meagre 70odd percent this got on ign, I was desperate for a football game on my psp, and knowing that I'd sell it on without a problem.. got this anyway.
All I can say is I will NOT be selling it on.
Boot up the game and after the obligatory language selection (shame they dont remember your selection), you are faced with a main menu backed with one of the licenced audio tracks a-la the fifa series there seem to be a fair few music tracks.
Main game modes available are as follows
Quick Game - 2 (fairly poor) teams, one yours, one for the cpu.. exactly what it says and means you dont go thru team/kit/stadium selection
Exhibition - Would have been called 'friendly' in other games. This is where you can select both teams, kits etc and just have a game - this is the mode i have been playing most this morning.
Challenge mode - Not played this yet but seems to be you move through a ladder of matches, progressively getting harder, earning medals and unlocking the next level as you go.
Cups - Several of the worlds major cup competitions to be involved in, world cup euro cup euro club cup etc.
Multiplayer - not tried yet but appears to be via ad-hoc connection so this is one for xlink kai
options - if you're a pro evo/WE player, go in here and set the camera to medium or far NOW !
Anyway, on to the main game and most importantly how does it play.
control of the players is acheived on the dpad or with the analogue stick and is pretty responsive. Turning is fairly natural as in it takes time to turn from running one way to running the opposite way, so adds realism. The only micro whinge i have is player movement doesnt feel as free as it might be as in not true analogue.. You move from your current location in one of 8 directions. This feels odd right at the start but doesnt really detract and sounds much worse than it is.
The basic controls are x for pass, o for high pass, square for shoot, triangle for thru ball with sprint on R shoulder and tricks accessable from L shoulder button.
For the defence, X is change player, o is light tackle, square is sliding tackle, triangle is keeper advance, R shoulder is sprint and L shoulder is "assist".
It doesnt appear that any of these can be changed unless I missed an option for them, but soon picked them up (after a few games shooting when i was trying to cross)
Game speed is excellent, action is very quick and it can be hard to tell the difference between when your player is running and sprinting. Having the camera in the closest mode, made it all a bit too blurry, but this was soon sorted out when i changed it to medium.
The passing and movement is very intuative and individual players like beckham will often do little tricks to beat someone - just in the normal play. The passing scanners are excellent, you get grey arrows to say which direction your players are in, when theyre not on the screen - and they work really well.
Shooting, im still trying to get to grips with this, its pretty hard to master but im getting a good 1 or 2 goals a game so im getting there. It's all too easy to hold the shoot button too long and fire the ball way over the bar. I'm sure this sounds familiar to plenty of you
Teams - there are piles and piles of teams, it seems like every international side and lots and lots of club sides have been covered. Brazil to Bolton and everything in between. Dutch league etc etc but it appears all but a few need to be unlocked so are not available from the start.
There are 4 main skill levels and in a mornings play the bottom 2 are still plenty for me, so theres a fair bit of potential for play to develop.
Im rambling a bit now so best i cut to the summary..
This game is very very good, speaking as a long term fan of football games in general. I cant help thinking that the ign reviewer wasnt a football game fan and is just a general gamer, cos it matters. For the 26 quid in all this cost me, this is excellent and one of about 4 must have titles in my collection now. Not just a nice to have - a must have.
I'm a pro evo fan, have been for years. If you are a pro evo fan looking for a mobile fix, this is definately for you. It plays well, its fun and its pretty accurate (plus lots of the stuff you like has been *cough* borrowed *cough* for this game). This will do you a treat until winning eleven comes out. Unless psp FIFA is really really special, it won't get a look in here. This isnt perfect but its really really good.
My IGN style scores... seeing as they messed it up
Presentation 8.0 - The boot up and menus are simple and useable. Theres a few music tracks that pump out during selections to keep you amused.
Graphics 8.5 - Functional and fast. Good detailing where needed and kept simple otherwise to help the game flow. Blur is a little excessive when the camera is close but perfect when on middle range.
Sound 9.0 - Commentary is (unusually) pretty good. It's not delayed, not repeated too often and is a recognisable voice (peter drury). Crowd noise is well done such as if you put a load of passes together, each pass is cheered. nice stuff
Gameplay 9.0 - Plays real nice. Take a couple of games to get used to it and it'll feel natural to play. It's fast and fluid.
Lasting Appeal 9.5 - with HUNDREDS of clubs, unlockable stadiums and the challenge and multiplayer sections - theres loads to do here. plus as football game fans know, its great to be able to pick up a footy game for a quick go.
Overall 8.9 (not an average)
cheers
malty
Social Networking Bookmarks