Ouch...terrible.
Review 31
Game Genre: Sports
Gameplay
This game has a humongous variety of game modes, especially for a GBC game. The first time I saw the modes, I thought “Wow, this game’s gonna get a 9 or a 10”. Then I saw the in-game play.
The first mode is the Exhibition mode, for those who just want to play a single game.
Then there’s the “League” mode, which is basically like playing a season.
Third is the “Tournament” mode, which is the World Cup format mode, where you start with a number of groups, then play three games in each group, advance to the actual elimination brackets and hopefully win.
If you do not want to do the group play at first, there is also a Playoff mode, where you select the teams in the brackets.
The really cool part is the Indoor mode. Being someone who plays Indoor soccer, this one made the whole gameplay category what it is.
Now…for the terrible part. The in-game play. I’ll describe that in the next few sections.
***NOTE*** Keep in mind that even though I am not talking about the in-game play in this section, it still counts toward the “gameplay” category’s 5. If it were not for the in-game play, this category would have a 10.
Graphics
At first, the graphics will seem pretty good. The camera is tilted to make it a perspective view, as if it is an actual spectator’s view. The characters are not so pixilated and look pretty good for GBC graphics. Then the gameplay starts. The game itself is pretty choppy when there’s a lot of action going on. The soccer ball also jumps ahead every now and then and you can easily lose track of it. Also, it’s quite common to walk right over the ball and have the player not kick it.
Controls
Apparently, to try to offset the fact that the GBC only has 2 buttons, EA Sports decided to make different ways of tapping the buttons have different effects. It didn’t turn out so good:
D-Pad: Move player
A: Tap to dribble, hold to pass on offense, hold to slide on defense (I think, the sliding was pretty confusing.)
B: Tap to kick on offense, hold to sprint on offense or defense.
Start: Pause
Durability
The game would last so much longer if the graphics and in-game play were just a little more decent. It’s such a frustrating game. I highly suggest never playing it.
Difficulty: Hard
Overall Score (2/10)