Sensible World of Soccer

To say that I love Sensible World of Soccer is a massive understatement. The game originally was released on the Amiga in the 90s and I would play it at my friend's house all the time. Even now, this is a game that I have on my Xbox One and I will never delete it. It may not look like much by today's standards, but the impact this game had was amazing.

Become A Manager

You know the career mode that FIFA is famous for these days? Well, Sensible World of Soccer did this nearly 30 years ago! You pick what team you want to manage and then you start a two-decade-long quest to take them to amazing heights. The scope of the game is amazing with thousands of teams and thousands of players for you to deal with. The game does not have an official license so player names are misspelled, but you know who everyone is supposed to be.

As you go through the season, you have to deal with transfers, budgets, and injuries. The game is very slow in handing you out money so it can take a while to make any meaningful transfers which can be a tad frustrating. If you become good enough, you get the chance to manage an international team. One thing that this does better than FIFA is other teams will try and get you to manage them and you do not have to start until the end of a season.

One Button To Rule Them

Some people think it is crazy that Sensible World of Soccer only uses one button! That one button does everything in the game. Passing, shooting, tackling is all done with that one button. The way this works is that it is sensitive to pressure. If you press down hard, you kick the ball hard. It is very simple, but there is a level of fun and depth here that cannot be described in words.

GOALLLLLLL

The gameplay on offer here is fast-paced and fun, the matches only last three minutes, but it is very intense stuff. The AI can sometimes become invincible and it is like no matter what you do, they are scoring a goal. Still, you are always going to have a fun time with this, you can score from crazy distances and header the ball about half the length of the pitch. There is an element of randomness to the game which makes multiplayer games in Sensible World of Soccer a ton of fun.

Primitive But Cool

The visuals on offer here are very, very primitive, but I would not want it anyway. I do feel that they are a tad sharper than the original game. The lack of an official license is something that you get over very quickly as they did the best they could. The soundtrack is pretty much nonexistence so be sure to have your own music as you play this.

I think that Sensible World of Soccer is a game that has aged like a fine wine and it is just as much fun to play now as it was all those years ago. I can easily spend a few hours playing this and it is kind of crazy it took FIFA as long as it did to have a manager/career mode that was as cool as this. If you like football games, you have to play this one. As much as I love the original Sensible Soccer, I would say you are better off jumping in here.

Pros:

• The game has thousands of teams
• The career mode is fantastic stuff
• It is a very addictive game
• It is fun, easy to pick up and play, but still has some depth
• Playing against friends is a lot of fun

Cons:

• There are no licensed teams or players
• I wish the career mode gave you more money to spend