kinda empty and generic
One thing that really bores me about sim sports is that the players usually seem empty and generic; Soccer Slam fixes this by giving each player a personality complete with quotes and theme music. You haven’t lived until you hear the rambling of an angry Irishman amongst an onslaught of bagpipes. The characters are all cultural stereotypes, but it isn’t really offensive due to the fact that they pick on everyone equally and are not really mean. I think this adds a lot to the gameplay because it just feels like you are controlling a character, not just some generic blip on the screen. The stadiums being interactive and having little hazards and such could have enhanced Gameplay a bit more, though.
The action feels like an arcade title by which you pass and deke to perform a combo and earn points. When one gains enough points they are able to perform a Killer Kick. By name it sounds lethal, but by reputation it is a glorified rebound waiting to happen. On my stats page I have attempted over 50 of these so called Killer Kicks and have only succeeded twice - and that was because my Russian astronaut was kind enough to slap the referee out of the way. This was one of my two major complaints with the gameplay. The second is that when I press the run button, I really expect my soccer man to go a little faster.