18.1.2007

If you've always wanted to revive the Sensible Soccer series on your PC but can't be bothered with an Amiga emulator, this is the game for you. In fact, at current prices (less than £5 if you look hard enough) it is probably worth having anyway.It lacks the depth of Sensible World of Soccer, the ultimate instalment on the Commodore Amiga, but players who preferred the action on the pitch to the management aspect of SWOS will be richly rewarded. You can no longer take a rock-bottom team through all the divisions until they rule the Premiership, but the custom team game is still wide-ranging and packed with rewards to keep you interested. (In a nutshell, you begin with a team of no-hopers and boost individual players'skills when you win a tournament. If you win easy competitions, such as the Italian shield, your goalkeeper improves very slightly. If you win a big competition, like the English premiership, your striker will improve dramatically.)The pitch is where the fun truly starts, however. The top down gameplay is similar but more sophisticated. In the original games the tactic was broadly to get the ball to your striker, run him vertically until he was just outside the opposition box and thump in a banana shot. It was possible to score with diving headers and sliding tackles in the box, but the players' poor ball control meant that there was little scope for twisting and turning. Piling your attackers in by pointing your joystick up the pitch and hammering the fire button generally achieved the job better than any pre-planned goalmouth play. This is no longer the case.If you are playing against a terrible team then the banana shot system still works, but more sophisticated goalies have that move sussed. Instead, with a series of passes and a well-aimed shot, your players will intelligently pass the ball to goal-hangers, who will turn swiftly on the ball and execute volleys and headers.There are flaws, certainly. There is a tendency for players to execute a move you meant for a player who has just been tackled, and your electronic men will occasionally prefer to pass the ball to a heavily marked player instead of the one in open space. But these events are rare enough not to be too frustrating and besides, it's the sort of thing that happens all the time in the real world.Is it, as one reviewer suggested, too easy? Not a bit of it. Even if you're really skilful, you will still find a challenge by selecting a lowly team and taking on a better one. Suddenly you will find that your men are routinely coming off worse in tackles, being outpaced, marking poorly and taking their sweet time to pull off a finishing move.It is the custom game that will keep you playing, however. You can choose from a wide variety of complexions, face shapes, hairstyles and body sizes to make a team that looks arrestingly like your friends or work colleagues. The graphics are sufficiently detailed that you can recognise who is who during play, and you begin to get attached to them and want to improve their skill levels. Another dimension is the 21 player types, such as poacher (good at finishing and pace) playmaker (control and passing) wingback (stamina and pace) or stopper (tackling and strength). Selecting your team's profile is instrumental in how you play the game. My only complaint is that you seem to be able to create only one custom team at a time.All in all, well worth the price. Welcome back, Sensible Soccer.

21.6.2006

So the classic, and arguably best ever, football game is back; Sensible Soccer. But is it as fun and as good as its predecessors? Well, almost. The good news is that it looks and plays just like Sensible Soccer should. That is, it's fast paced, fun and, only requiring three buttons to play, supremely simple. You can pick it up and get into the game in an instant. The graphics are improved, with some good goal-celebration cut scenes, but still it retains the classic feel of good old Sensible Soccer.Unfortunately it is somewhat cursed with an unbelievably dire AI, especially when it comes to things like selected the player for you to control, and occasionally seeing passes you've made go off in an entirely different direction to the one intended.That said, in some way this is beneficial, adding something of a random element in what would otherwise be a ridiculously easy game in single player. It still is fantastically easy against the computer, 15-0 wins are easily possible, and putting 5 past Brazil isn't really something that should be able to happen whatever team you're playing as. Still the game remains hugely fun and engaging to play on the pitch, (which is of course the majorly important part) in single-player, but of course even more fun against a mate, though the four player cooperative mode might be a bit much.Off the pitch, the flaws are perhaps a little more annoying. Leagues, cups and tournament can of course still all be created, whilst unlocking features in preset tournaments is somewhat fun. The option of creating a custom team is doubtless the best, allowing you to customise not only the names and the kit but the fairly detailed look of each player (with extra options unlocked through the preset tournaments). Then you can put your custom team through a series of preset tournaments, which if you win will upgrade the star rating of your players, not that this is difficult with how easy the game is. So it does, in the end, feel a little empty.The presentation of all this is pretty basic however, and it's rather unfortunate that you can't see the results of matches other than you are own when playing in a league or group format. It's also rather disappointing not to be able to see more detailed information on the teams and players, there is a list of top scorers in whatever tournament and league you're playing, but it's rather hidden in a strange menu system. Other problematic things include the fact that yellow cards don't seem to be carried through to later games, and rather surprisingly, absolutely nothing happens at half-time, the players merely go off, and then come back on again.Still, despite these problems, Sensible Soccer 2006 is undeniably great fun to play. With just a few extra little options and polishing it could have been truly excellent indeed, but still it's pretty good, certainly better than I had feared in my more cynical moments. Now, wouldn't it be great if they remade SWOS like this? Perhaps with the extra options of adding your own custom team to leagues in that too? Now there's a thought...

24.7.2006

If your anything like me, you'll want your games to be fun, and if possible addictive enough to keep you entertained. FIFA and PRO EVO football games have abandoned me to enter the realm of simulation. Over complicated, over-barring and slowed to a snails pace to emulate real life football strategy and flair.ENTER Sensible Soccer 2006. It's fast paced, exciting and damn fun to play. The menu's and controls get you to where it counts the most, the pitch, without fafing about with formations, player positions and strategies. The games themselves are limited to 5 mins in order for you to progress through the many leagues and cups, unlocking new treats on the way,

19.5.2014

It took a while to get used to the controls (using keyboard) but once you've mastered it you will be addicted. you can create your own tournaments and leagues, or play in any pre-loaded competition. But it was the details I loved, like players arguing with the referee which makes the whole thing such fun. I tried an experiment of playing one match where I was just deliberately committing fouls. My players were getting booked and sent off left, right and centre, until . . . the match was abandoned. I could hear the crowd booing. The referee would report my club to the FA where we would be fined and docked points for violent conduct. As for the control of play,

9.6.2006

I was hugely addicted to the original Sensible Soccer, and I was hoping that finally this would be a game that could measure up to what was, in my opinion at least, the best football game ever. Has it? In one word yes...Sensi 2006 has retained many of the old features- Jon Hare, one of the original team, played a big part in this game for starters. Indeed even the menu screen is almost identicle to the original. The new cell-shaded in-game graphics are fantastic, and work really well with the fast nature of this game.Gameplay-wise, the game is fast paced and exciting... mostly. The majority of the time the game is fast and frantic, just like the original. Every now-and-again though, it slows down.

4.4.2010

This game is great.I saw it in the shop for a fiver, so I got it. It was easy to install, and it didn't leave the computer with any viruses. As for the fun of the actual game, I loved it. It uses simple controls, and has hours of fun gameplay. You can play preset competitions or make your own custom club and play in competitions for cool unlockables. For copyright reasons they cant use the actual names of teams or players, but it doesn't matter because you can change the names to the normal names with the data editor button. You can have up to 8 save games at once, which is a huge bonus.Overall it's a great game, and it's worth the money.

20.1.2007

I was never a big fan of Sensible soccer,and didn't like all the management options in SWOS.I felt Kick off 2 was much superior as you had to learn all the skills before you could even start scoring goals...(oooh) This is also true to some extent with S.Soccer 2006 and makes for a much more challenging game.Too easy for you?? Choose a low starred team then take on the big boys!The slight camera angle overhead is great, the game speed is perfect and you will pull off some great passes and goals as you learn the tricks of the trade.Buy yourself a competition pro joystick from Amazon,win the leagues,bring the world cup home and have some fun!

7.6.2006

I've played the demo and from what I can see this has genuinely captured the Sensible Soccer spirit... fun, ultra-playable, fast and easy to control... everything the modern simulations aren't.I lost countless hours of my life to this on the Amiga 500 between the ages of 11 and 14, and now I get to do the same again! Woohoo!Oh and the best part is they kept the uber-cheesy title music! I've never been so excited about a computer game.Altogether: "You're a goal scoring superstar hero!"

15.5.2006

The older gamer may remember this title from way back when - I played this on the amiga years ago. It was easily the best game I owned, so intuitive and simple. Pro evo is all very well and I'm all for more realism in games but there's something special about scoring from the touchline 50 yards out, if only to see the look on your mate's face.Please please make this a good game. If this is rubbish there'll be trouble. Dummy-spitting trouble.

9.6.2006

This was a hard game to make. The old sensi fans will always have the augument that any remake will lose something from the original and they are probabley right. Fifa & Pro Evo fans will laugh at its simplistic graphics. However it is so playable & fun that it is hard to put down.

3.3.2013

One of the best soccer games and still going strong - for £4 - couldnt go wrong - hours of relaxation and getting rid of stress!

22.7.2014

OK.

Sensible Soccer 2006 (PC) - Reviews

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