Realsports Soccer

"Realsports Soccer must really mean Realsports Sucker"

Atari 2600 - Realsports Soccer

Realsports Soccer is just one in the series of sporting titles that were made under the ''Realsports'' license. All of the games in the series were simple, fun, and really easy - not only to learn and play, but to beat the game. Soccer is the gleaming example of this series. Controls at first will confuse you, but after a minute you will have them down, and before you know it, you will be destroying both the computer and your friends at this video game classic.

Gameplay
In their nature, Atari 2600 games are generally fun for only a while and then wear off very quickly. This is especially true for the sports genre. Today's games just have far too many options and little intricacies that older sports games loose their fun at a steadily increasing rate with every new release.

Realsports soccer is one of these games that is being forced further and further behind in the technology gap. The basic nature of the game lends itself to many faults. Some being with challenge, some with lack of replay value, but the most unfortunate factor that gets depreciated more and more is just how fun this game is. When I first began to play it, I remember being hooked on it - playing for an hour with no breaks. Now that I have gone back and played it, I almost had to force myself through the first game. I was saddened really.

Controls
Surpassingly the controls are more complicated than most sports games from this system. The button and joystick take on different roles when you are on offense and defense, and even when you have the ball and when you do not. This ''advanced'' control scheme is not beyond the grasp of anyone who calls themselves a video gamer. Picking up the controls and having them mastered are tasks that will be completed within a few minutes of each other. I can not praise the Atari 2600 enough for how many great games they have as far as controls go. With all this praise, I must mention the one thing that I do not like that seems to be a pattern in the Realsports series... the players that you control only have limited movements, you will need to switch your players if you wish to do a full field attack.

Graphics
The players in the game are very .... uh... distinct. Neither recognizable as human, nor as beast - one must assume that there is a sick combination of both that has created this unholy mulatto. There are six of these things running on the field of green background and thick white borders, kicking a semi-square ball around trying to get it into a line that is understood to be a goal. Three of one blue three of another representing the two teams. The whole game action is viewed at an overhead camera angle with about a quarter to a third of the length of the field visible at all times. There is nothing outstanding about the graphics: just your everyday Atari style graphics.

Sound
With the beeping and the bopping and the beeping again, the sounds of the era are present and strong. They play and undeniable role in creating the atmosphere of soccer - well actually they don't. Rather they get quite annoying and you are wishing that you had some sort of muting device on your television, and then you realize that you do and you are happy.

Challenge
The first few go-arounds of Realsports soccer you will be given a good run for your money, but once you begin to study the game and exploit the programming you will be scoring dozens over the computer in no time. The real challenge lies in beating a human opponent, which may be easy and may be hard --- either way it is irrelevant to the AI, which is easy, and there is not much you can really do about it.

Options
Most Atari games will give the player different options on the difficulty of the game they are playing. For some reason Realsports Soccer feels like it is above this. Instead you get the option of playing a five minute game and playing a nine minute game. You do also have the two player mode, which is better but by no means makes up for the lack of difficulty settings.
Overall
For the most part Realsports Soccer is not a very good game. It is far to easy of a game, and there is a lack of difficulty settings to change this. The game's engine makes it too easy to score easy goals which leads to the game being even less fun than it already is. I would only recommend this game to a collector. If you are not a collector - there are better games out there for you to play.

5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/04