The kind of game that Xbox Live should have.
Now that's a little harder with my old Amiga/ST games where there's so much dust on them in my attic, and the guarantee that all the joysticks are well and truly busted! SWOS is a classic example, to me anyway, of exactly the type of game that should be on XBL - and this (albeit long awaited) product from Codemasters (sorry all of you over the pond - only a UK house could handle a true Football game) is a gem of conversion. All the old blood, sweat and (plenty of) tears are back, along with the first real calluses that i've had on my thumbs since i bought my 360 at launch day. Back on the original i reckon this game took out close to 20 joysticks with the mental bend (not to mention the pure frustration!).
There's no real point in explaining the game, as you'll only find yourself looking here (and at this review) if you remembered the original sensi and the joy it brought to many a household over 10 years ago now. With the (admittedly annoying) exception of the names of the players (surely they could use the 97/98 player names?) its perfect and flawless and more fun on the new big tele i've got now! There's also none of the commentary from Jonathon Pearce - again, something that could hardly be that difficult to add, sure there's a reason somewhere. other than that the play, the menu's the 'goal scoring superstar hero' are all where they should be!
Well done Codemasters, well done Jon Hare and well done XBL. Now where's Speedball 2, It Came from the Desert, Wings, Shadow of the Beast, Alien Breed and all the other Amiga beauties that I miss so much!