Euro '96 is billed as the biggest sporting event to be held in Britain for 30 years which is strange, because last year's Youth Olympics were also hailed as the biggest sporting event to be held in Britain f or the last 30 years. Ho hum. Marketing eh? It's a funny old game all right.
Euro '96 is going to be absolutely brilliant. England versus Scotland at Wembley is going to be incredible. I can hardly wait. The Quarter Finals and onwards are going to be particularly exciting - due to the major rule change being introduced.
After 90 minutes the game goes to extra time and the Golden Goal rule has its first showing in a major European competition. The Golden Goal is the Euro '96 organisers way of saying sudden death and it works as you'd expect. From the Quarter Finals onwards, if the scores are level at the end of 90 minutes the teams play a maximum of 30 minutes of extra time and the first side to score, wins. If there's no score at the end of the period of extra time then the game goes to penalties as usual.
Golden rule
The Golden Goal changes the whole shape of the game, that 90 minutes now becomes very important. You don't want to be playing for extra time at all because any kind of f lukey goal can have you heading home. I reckon it's about time this rule was introduced anyway because penalties have always, always been a lottery. Sure, they may be exciting for a few minutes, but then the game is exciting enough without having your progress in the competition decided by a single kick.
Golden Error
This Golden Goal has been in debate for a long time but it's definitely happening according to the Euro '96 Press Office, who I rang to check with just this morning (May 17).
Maybe someone at Sensible should have rung them too because then maybe they might have included this crucial rule change in the game.
In Sensible's European Championship Edition of SWOS '95/'96 they've stuck to Quarter Final and beyond matches going on for the full amount of extra time. Sorry chaps, this isn't true. First goal in extra time wins.
POOR
EXCUSE
Sensi would, presumably, defend themselves with a 'Well no firm decision had been taken when we were putting the competiton together and we had to get the game out and on the shelves before the competiton started'. Reasonable enough you'd think but it isn't.
Today is Friday May 17. I have a boxed copy of the game (exactly like the one you're going to find on the shelves) and Euro '96 doesn't kick off until June 8th which is 22 days or just over 3 weeks away. Yes, things might have been a bit tight but I reckon there was plenty of time to get this rule included (the decision about the Golden Goal was taken long before today, incidentally), so Sensi will have to come up with a better reason/excuse.
I have another problem with this game. In SWOS '95/'96 you can create a European competition yourself using the game's DIY Competition option. You can pick 16 European teams, have them in four groups of four, have the top two teams qualify for the quarter finals when the competition becomes a knockout contest. Hmmm, isn't that just a little bit like Euro '96? Well, yeeeess, but the major difference here is that you don't get to choose which teams go in which groups.
WHAT CHANGES?
SWOS '95/'96 European Championship Edition has Euro '96 already pre-set. With the right teams in the right groups and stuff.
So what about all the gameplay improvements that Sensi have made? What about the increased passing aftertouch? What about the new, easier to score from, corners? And what about the updated players and stuff?
Well, the players have been updated sure enough, but there aren't really any major changes to the gameplay. Even the subtle changes are subtle to the point that I didn't really notice 'em.
CASHING IN
This European Championship Edition has little to add to SWOS '95/'96 - simply the inclusion of the pre-set Euro '96 tournament. This is a cynical attempt to cash-in on those championships and although there's a part of me that says 'Well, why the devil not? If they can get loads more people to buy the game then good for them. Have another Porsche Mr Hare."
But there's another part of me which shouts a bit louder and that says "Don't bother with it mate. If you've got SWOS '95/'96, then stick with that. This one's not worth forking out for."
At the end of the day you're left
with what is still one of the greatest ever games for the Amiga.
If you haven't already invested in a copy
of SWOS, of
whatever variety, then get yourself down to the shops and buy this
version straight away. a
Well, you can't win can you. What would you do if
you were Sensi? Hundreds of people whine at you all the time that
the teams are out of date, that there should be this and that and
whatever in the game. Then when you do release a version everyone
claims that you are cynically cashing in on the previous popularity
of the game. Personally, I am
one of the sad completists who would probably want to upgrade to
the latest version, but I can see how others may disagree. The
omission of the "Golden Goal" sudden death option is a major
oversight for a game which is supposed to celebrate Euro '96. The
game does show a few other disturbing traits. Although some of the
goal scoring positions have been tightened up, it does seem
paradoxically easier to score with good players.
In all my
games against Graeme, Yeboah seemed to basically score every time
he got a shot in. The computer still plays like Steve Bradley on
ten cans of Jolt Cola. Still, on the final whistle, if you have
never owned a version of SWOS before, this is the one game
that should be in your collection above anything else.
As a non-football fan the significance of rulings such as the "Golden Goal" and the like, pass me by. However as a devoted SWOS acol yte, new developments in Sensible Soccer always grab my attention - if only for me to squeal "that should have gone in, it always used to". SWOS 95/96 certainly had me crying after a number of sure-fire goals had been saved, but after a few exiting and high-scoring games against Nick, I discovered there are new "scoring-spots" (which I will not divulge). It's a shame that you still can't install the game to hard disk though, as I could happily sacrifice a few Mb on my computer to get Liverpool performing just the way I want, and reduce the amount of disk-swapping needed.
On a brief journey from the 'real' world of Total
Football back to the familiar clutter of the AF office,
it was a joy to be helping little sprites rush around the pitch
once again. All right, getting stuffed when playing Bristol Rovers
is always disappointing, but by the time I had got rid of the joy
pad and had a sweaty joystick nestling in my palm, the old magic
was back and I humiliated Andy 2-0 playing Croatia against Denmark.
Sensible is brilliant. The Euro '96 hook is a rip-off - you
certainly don't need this game if you've already got yourself a
version of SWOS, but you
DO need Sensible World Of
Soccer.
Publisher
Time Warner Interactive
0171 391 4300
Price
19.99
Versions
All Amigas 1Mb and above
System requirements
All Amigas
Release date
Out now
Graphics
They've always been tremendous. And they still are.
Sound
There are a couple of crowd chants and the odd whistle being blown but these are drowned out by the sound of yourself shouting at the screen.
Addiction
As impossible to put down as all the other versions.
Playability
If it could be canned you'd make a mint selling it to everyone el se.
This is SWOS 95/96 with a pre-set Euro '96 competition. The dilemma is this: the game is brilliant, but this version offers little more than the last. Sorry Sensi, I can't possibly recommend this to anyone who's got SWOS or SWOS 95/96 already.
But what about if you haven't got one of the SWOS incarnations yet? If that's the case, then this game should be at the top of your shopping list because it's absolutely brilliant!