Sensible Soccer - European Champions
Author
Lorenzo has written 23 additional reviews
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Written by Lorenzo
July 31, 2001
Another #1 hit by the Sensible crew !
Choose your formation and tactics carefully, and remember who your star players are...
No, they aren' t gnomes, they' re football players, trust me on that. They may be small, but they still deserve your respect...
Players and stats are those of the 1992 season.
Goal ! The famous star Zanotti scores again for San Marino against poor France...
As the picture shows, teams are fully editable and customizable.
Comments
There was a time when soccer games were all the same. Yes, they could have good or bad graphics, horizontal or vertical scrolling, but all you had to do was push the ball forward and try to score. And the ball was pratically glued to the player's feet, no matter how fast you wiggled the joystick.
Then, in 1989, Dino Dini created Kick Off, soon followed by the excellent Kick Off 2, a game that set the standard for the years to come; the ball was no longer glued to the player, and ball control was a difficult art to master; and besides, the game was cool, fast and challenging, the best in its category. Until, in 1992, Sensible Soccer was released...
Graphics
Not bad... they' re just like the Amiga version. There are some well drawn pitches, and the details are more accurate than in Kick Off 2. The only problem is that the players are REALLY small... you know Lemmings ? Yep, about the same size.
Sound
Original soundtrack: Captain Sensible! Music and FX: Richard Joseph (check out some of his great c64 tracks) ! But, honestly, the ST sound is not as good as the Amiga version. The intro tune has been severely cut, and there's no music on the menu screens. What a shame... good in-game FX though.
Gameplay
Superb. Fast, furious and challenging. The control system is not too difficult to learn, and the computer's AI, even if not perfect, is quite good. And unlike most soccer games, including KO2, where you could just run through the pitch with a single player and shoot, passing is the key to victory in Sensible Soccer; you'll need a good timing and an open eye on your strikers.
And when you've become clever enough to beat France playing with San Marino, well, it's time to play against a friend; and that's where the game becomes truly wonderful. I used to spend entire afternoons playing tournaments against my friends.
There are many teams; national teams, clubs, and even a lot of fantasy teams, all fully editable. You can enter one of the many available leagues and tournaments, or create your own; or just play a small friendly match. Nothing very strange here, but there's a whole load of options anyway.
Anyway, don't expect this game to be anything like real soccer... to my knowledge, the first game to look and play like the real thing was Konami' s "Winning Eleven" for Playstation. Sensible Soccer, with its fast and furious action, feels more like a pinball game, or an improved version of Pong.
Conclusion
...but it' s still great fun to play, and it's the game that set the standard for soccer games from 1992 to at least 1997. If you've never played it before, and even if you don't like soccer games, do yourself a favour and try it, you won't be disappointed.
Score
- Graphics: 7
- Sound: 7
- Gameplay: 9
- Overall: 9
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What an accomplishment this game is. Created with such a small team, the result is really amazing. The game oozes creative passion. While the gameplay is really well balanced, it is a tough cookie, very hard from time to time with its moments of sheer frustration. As of level 3, timing becomes key. You will need to practice and learn the levels to complete this game, there are so many bad guys on screen it sometimes gets a bit hard to take.
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April 4, 2020 by Morcar
Graphically, it's also nice on the eyes with well-defined graphics and animation. You really get the feeling that the developers put some thought and love into the game. Remember what I said about the large levels? Well these are wonderful and are very different to each other, they also scroll fairly smooth in all four directions.