FIFA International Soccer

While modern FIFA games may be falling behind the incredible game play of the Pro Evo series (Winning eleven in the US); this was a game of pure genius. It was the first football game which looked even similar to the football we watched on our TVs. It also provided game style similar to modern games, based around EA Sports obsession with passing. No more was the running around in circles of Sensible Soccer.
Beyond that it was simply the most fun you could have on a computer at the time.

Simple controls and a relative degree of simulation of football meant that players were drawn into the world of international football. Coinciding with the domestication of football, it allowed EA Sports and the FIFA series to develop the reputation that has assured the highest volume sales of football games every year since.
It recreated most of the different styles of tournament available. You could play as all of the major international teams, and as a few who no one had ever heard of, and probably no longer exist. Unfortunately the players’ names were all made up and as it was an old game there was no editing feature to right this wrong. However the addictiveness of the game meant that there are many players who look back with fondness to the days of Tito Mancuso and others.
It did have its flaws however. A certain type of shot would get stuck in the angle of the cross bar and post. This developed a personality of its own, as the first few times this happened would cause infuriation, and then later the humor of the situation kicked in and you spent the next few moments watching the defenders bouncing up and down trying to head it away. Later you just got bored and left it to go and get something to eat or try to find a better game. But this never happened. FIFA 96 added clubs and the champion’s league, but then FIFA 97 presented us with the worst game play ever seen on a computer, as impossible angles meant that the ball was forever out of sight and usually off the pitch. Only Pro Evo's brilliant understanding of what makes football enjoyable could ever get me to give up on FIFA International Soccer as the land mark of truly great football games.
There will never be anything better than scoring a 40 yard screamer with Scotland's imaginary left back, and it is that and all the classic touches of FIFA International Soccer which are branded on the minds of an early gaming generation that make this the game I would give most to play again.