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Football
games are one of the main genres that, in recent years, have allowed
games consoles to become acceptable possessions for adults. If you
ask any twenty-to-thirty year-old man what games they have for their
home console, which tends to be a PlayStation2, they will inevitably
tell you that they own the most recent incarnation of one of two
football series; EA’s FIFA or Konami’s Pro Evolution
Soccer. Although Pro Evolution Soccer, or “Pro Evo”
as it’s affectionately known to it’s fans, is actually the
better franchise, the now twice-annual FIFA are still one of
the UK’s biggest selling titles year-on-year. A lot of people who have
no interest in the games industry or gaming in general own a console
just to play one of these games and may never buy another. With so
many people already convinced of their allegiance to one title or
the other, does anybody stand a chance of muscling in? Well SONY
seem to think they do. Although SONY’s This Is Football
series has never really sold particularly well in this country, it
has faired well in the US. Convinced that the game has enough merits to warrant its continued
existence, This Is Football is back this side of the pond,
complete with the new title World Tour Soccer and as one of
the launch titles for the SONY PlayStation Portable.
As
soon as the game starts it is apparent that FIFA was an
inspiration during production. There is popular music playing during
the Menu Screens by bands such as The Stone Roses - typical of the
big budget FIFA titles - which may leave you hoping that this is not
another case of style over substance. However, this is the way that
the PSP is marketed; as a fashionable gadget and it would stupid of
them not to continue with this style. The Menu System is simple and
most functions are easily accessible. There is  the increasingly
utilized Quick Match option which allows the user to play with a
random team against another random team, Exhibition Mode which lets
the player choose his team and his opponents team for a Single
Match. There is also Challenge Mode, a Mode that judges players on
their style and awards Points for good play, but also removes Points
for bad. Then there is Cup Mode which simulates several
championships such as the European Cup, African Nations Cup and, of
course, the World Cup. A football game would hardly by worth buying
if it didn’t have Multiplayer and as such Multiplayer is included,
allowing play with teams that the players have unlocked.
So
how does it play? Well, decently enough for the most part. The
control system is very similar to Pro Evolution Soccer’s
and benefits from it. Play flows well and the game is a lot of fun. World
Tour Soccer also features a good system which allows more
precise set pieces to be taken. Pressing the L Trigger presents four
distinct areas for the ball to be placed, each relating to one of
the PSP face buttons, and is very useful for corners. However the
refereeing seems unnecessarily harsh. Even blocking another player
anywhere but from the direct front can result in a card or even a
sending off and can adversely affect the game greatly as tackling
your opponents in the eighteen yard box regularly causes a penalty
to be awarded. This means that the player must tip toe around the
opposition and this is not exactly what most gamers will have in
mind when Thierry Henry is hurtling toward goal with an
eye-for-the-kill. Another small issue is that the qualifying
sections in Cup Mode don’t seem to be randomly generated as you
might expect; instead each team seems to have a set three matches,
such as Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria in the case of England. Challenge Mode is a novel addition to the Football genre in
general, each Match has a High-Score System, which awards medals for
certain amounts of Points and although quite challenging toward the
end, is a good addition to what is a fairly standard Football title,
although, with only seven matches, it is a little short. However,
all that being said, World Tour Soccer is good fun to play
– the most important feature of any Simulation.
Graphically
the beautiful game is looking a little ropey. Although the animation
is decent, the 3D models have sharp corners and the scenery is
lifeless. Considering the realism in the new Pro Evolution Soccer
and FIFA titles on the PlayStation2, as well as the recently
released Pro Evolution Soccer 5 on the PSP, the graphics in World
Tour Soccer do seem very dated and could have used far more of
the PSP’s horsepower. The sound is also mediocre, although the
commentators do use the players’ names, the actual commentary
banter is very repetitive with each commentator only having a few
phrases each.
The
unlock system is a nice touch as it allows you to a ttain teams such
as the 1966 World Cup winning England side and 1970’s Ajax as well
as a lot more including Stadiums and Club Teams simply by fulfilling
certain requirements such as scoring a hat-trick or keeping three
clean sheets in a row.
World
Tour Soccer is a very fun and easily playable title marred with
a few gameplay issues and average graphics. However, it is worth a
purchase if you really want a football game for your PSP and can’t
get to grips with Pro Evolution Soccer. But, for the rest of
us, Konami’s world champion really has no need to worry, as there
still is really no substitute.
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