Sensible World of Soccer is perhaps my all time favourite game. It achieved cult status among my mates and me and it is still held in high esteem by us today as a legendary soccer sim 10 years on.
The career mode on the game was a highlight for me and the gameplay was frenetic. SWOS represented all that was soccer at the time of its release; excitement, plenty of options, buying, selling and trading players and, of course, putting your own local side into the mix with the custom team options.
We'd spend hours upon hours of our time tweaking kits, attributes and, of course, the all important names of people and things we either loved or loathed and graded them accordingly.
The playability of this game is exceptional, if easy to master after a while. You'll find yourself still wanting to smash Real Madrid, Man U and AC Milan over and over, no matter how many times you win the UEFA cup or the European Champions League. You can take any number of teams around, be it Adelaide United in Australia, Obuasi Goldields in Ghana, Border Security in India or Liverpool in the UK. Heck, you can even take the Latvian National side around (be prepared to be beaten convincingly by
everyone but Tahiti or Fiji). The up and down scrolling nature of the game allows you to see the majority of the pitch, which itself can be dry as the Aussie Outback to snowed under like an Alaskan outhouse, and the simplistic controls promote playability at joystick pick-up. You can bend it like Beckham from outside the opposition half and (sometimes, though very rarely) score in the top left corner to a rousing cheer. You'll feel like you're there! And won't you feel good about it.
Career mode is one of the most endearing features of this game and you can ride the ups and downs of the season over and over. A 50K goalie against Eric Cantona and friends can make for a very long season in SWOS, as can a season ending injury to the star attacking midfielder who provides the through balls for your 2.2 million dollar striker to put the wickedly curling, aftertouch-sodden ball past a flailing keeper (yes, 2.2 million was a very talented player in those days in Sensi World!), but, what can you do? Get this game. You'll love it!!!
