Sega Soccer Slam

"Above average but single player boredom may soon set in..."

Ever been embarrassed as the opposition dribbles past you with the grace of Maradonna? Ever been the victim of a perfectly timed slide tackle? Ever wanted to just forget the ball and beat-up that annoying striker from the other team? Well today could be your lucky day…

Sega's latest Gamecube offering is a slightly futuristic arcade take on what us Brits like to call football and others like to call ''soccer''. Soccer Slam allows you take control of any one of six teams (each with three players plus a goalie) and take part in the fast and furious action that is Sega's take on ''the beautiful game''. Any real comparison to football is quickly forgotten once the game kicks off. Anything goes here, kicks, punches and luckily never a red card in sight.

The premise is simple, score more goals than the other team. The method for achieving that goal is where the fun lies. Don't try to dribble, instead use your arcade fast reactions to ''deke'' your opponents (hoping in the air with the ball), work your way to the goal using the turbo to burn past a defender and whack the ball in the back of the net. Prepare to be amused as each player celebrates their goal in a unique way, complete with catch phrase, music and celebration.

Playing defence is simple; slide tackling the ball off the opposition and even kicking and punching them until the ball comes free soon becomes the norm.

Stealing, passing, shooting and even hitting your way through the game will result in power points being rewarded. Get enough and your power gauge will soon be full and the ''Killer Kick'' display will start flashing. Now simply lob the ball in the air to a teammate who will execute one of their special moves in an attempt to score. All in Matrix-style slow-mo, all very cool.

But the game has its problems. Sure, the six teams are all great and the three players in each team are nicely modelled, well animated and bristling with character. But there are no hidden teams. The pitches all look nice, beautifully lit and some great textures on and off the pitch. But they are just that tiny bit too small. Sure, the game wouldn't work if the players were on a full sized pitch. But everything is just too congested, you can never find any space and passing becomes an instant tap of the button in panic rather than one of well-judged timing.

Oh, and when you are in control of the ball there is none of the kicking and punching that creates a fun diversion when on defence. Besides, you probably wouldn't use them if they were available; the control set-up takes some time to become second nature and never feels truly intuitive. Running and passing is a bit loose too as the analogue control isn't well implemented.

The games shortcomings do allow the play to seem more free and more hectic which is great in the short term, great too if you are playing with friends. But playing the game alone soon becomes a bit of a chore. The faults lead to a lack of depth. Power moves and killer kicks come all too easily. As does the bonus money for winning which appears after each game and allows you to purchase power-ups that have no visible benefit to your team. After a few hours of play you are unlikely to ever improve, all you can do is play more games, play through the same Quest mode with each team.

But for what? Well very little actually, a few secret game codes (which you can buy in the shop anyway) and a few new pitches, some of which look great, but the game plays the same wherever you are; there is no attempt at a change in ball physics, it still flies around as if on polished glass.

Of course, all this goes on almost unnoticed at first because this is an attempt at a fast paced pick up and play all out arcade soccer brawl. And it almost succeeds, but who says that arcade game play must equal shallow and repetitive? Anyone who ever played Speedball (80's classic on the Amiga and soon coming to a GBA near you) will know what this game could have been with better and more challenging game play, harder earned rewards and a perfect balance of intuitive, fast but exact controls.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/03/02, Updated 04/03/02