Not only is Hooligans a bad Command & Conquer rip-off, it glorifies a subject that simply doesn't deserve attention.
User Rating: 2.6 | Hooligans: Storm Over Europe PC
As a student, I kinda feel guilty for criticizing a game in which your first mission objective is to "get completely ******ed on beer". However, as a gamer, I feel absolutely no shame in ripping into Hooligans: Storm Over Europe. Not only is it a bad Command & Conquer rip-off, it glorifies a subject that simply doesn't deserve attention - soccer hooliganism. You start the game by picking your team colours (so you can represent your favourite soccer team. My, how the clubs' lawyers must have laughed), and then watching a film clip in which several ringleaders are interviewed for a documentary, which serves as a video briefing. Then comes the actual mission. You start off with just a few beer-bellied oafs and one leader. And herein lies the main problem. The "leaders" MUST be protected at all cost. If all your leaders die or get arrested, the mission ends in failure - regardless of how many "troops" you have. So it's perfectly possible to have a huge, screen-filling crowd of drunken, violent yobs, but nobody to lead them. Real riots are NEVER this disorganised. Even without the leader problem, the game's controls are still needlessly complex. Remember Command & Conquer, and how easily you could control everything with a few mouse clicks? Well, Hooligans takes that concept and twists it beyond recognition. You'll find yourself having to double-check the tutorials just so you can control your hooligans. Madness. Needless to say, Hooligans is a bad idea from top to bottom. Its subject matter is practically offensive, and the game doesn't even re-enact it properly. Its control system is flawed, and it's way too harsh on mistakes. In all honesty, it'd be much more fun to be a bystander at an actual soccer riot, then to play this game.
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