Review by Jon Donnis
Back in the early 90's we had a game called Sensible Soccer, it was quickly followed by Sensible World of Soccer or SWOS for short, it was quickly hailed as the greatest game of all time, best football game of all time and won award after award. Originally available on the Commodore Amiga, it truly was the must have game of its time.
So fast forward 25 odd years and it is available on XBOX Arcade, does it still hold up?
Checkout 30 seconds of game play, then read on. Also make sure you subscribe to my Youtube Channel, I will be uploading more gaming videos, and I promise to keep them all nice and short and easy to watch. - Youtube / JonDonnisShow
Well, the game has eight directional controls, and one button for everything else. By modern standards this is really poor, but still there is something special here, yes, the graphics are quite dated even if they have been smoothed a bit, but look how often newly made games go for that retro pixel look. Here you have a game that still has it.
I am not going to talk too much about the game modes, it is a football game with some dubiously named teams (for where they do not have the rights), some dodgy team badges, but it is pretty clear who the teams are supposed to be, the controls are basic, but still there is something about this game.
Simply put it is addictive, if you played it back in the 90s and you pick it up now to play, the first thing you will say is "this game is rubbish", 30 minutes later you will still be playing it, and that is the point. If you have never played the game then there is a chance you simply won't get it, but if you played it as a kid, the magic is still there, the aftertouch curling shot, the guaranteed scoring if hit from the exact right place over and over, the goal you know you can score every time but you deliberately avoid doing it to see if you can win without resorting to that as your back up.
The game is addictive and that is all that matters.
The Good
SWOS still has that "little bit of magic" as Glen Hoddle would say. You WILL moan the first time you play it, but you will be determined to prove that you are still as good at it as you was 25 years ago.
The Bad
The graphics and sounds are dated, but if they suddenly made a 2020 version with all the bells and whistles, you know you would hate it more.
Overall
It just has that one thing that so many great games have. And that is the fact you will keep playing it.
Perhaps no longer the greatest football game ever made, but still one of the most addictive. I score this 8/10
Out now on Xbox Arcade
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