RedCard 20-03

"A proper review from someone who actually watches and plays football and enjoys games."

Lets get one thing straight right away. RedCard soccer is not a simulation of the sport. It’s not a Pro Evo, nor is it a FIFA or This Is Football. What it aims to achieve is to turn the game into an Extreme Sports title, whilst trying to retain the essence of the game. Unfortunately it fails miserably. Why? Check it out:

It all starts off well enough with a decent enough looking intro and some promising looking moves. However as soon as the Main Menu screen loads, your pretty sure it’s going down hill from here.

Apart from the 2 player mode Midway obviously wanted you to spend most of your time playing the World Conquest Mode and unlocking all of the zany teams locked within. However this World Conquest Mode drags on for far too long (especially for a game of this ilk) and gets tedious and tiresome right after the first “Boss” match against the Dolphins. The World Conquest Mode should last you about 6-7 hours at least which for me is far too long for this type of game and I would have preferred 4 different types of competition, each lasting 2-3 hours which is a much more manageable prospect for a game with such strong arcade roots.

It doesn’t help that within this 6-7 hours you will feel that the game is cheating you. This is because scoring appears to be very random. You can use up your meter to perform quick dashes or to perform a Matrix style shot on goal. However the Matrix style shots hardly ever go in and therefore wipe out most of the fun of the game. There also appears to be a very limited amount of tackles that you can perform. In a game like this I would have expected dropkicks, punches, flying Karate kicks etc etc when in fact all you get is a couple of standard looking tackles that you would see in any Premiership game and a karate kick. I would have thought that this game was also crying out for each team to have their own special “Attacks” but no, they all play the same. In fact, it’s about as extreme as going to watch a fixture between Leeds & Millwall. Couple with that the unresponsive controls and the fact that there is very little to unlock and no create a player mode, it makes you wonder why you are bothering with it.

Visually the game is very disappointing with generic player models, awful animation and the fact that the players act like they are on speed! In its defence the stadiums do look reasonable but they can not hide the fact that the players lumber about the pitch without any conviction.

With regards to the audio, it’s a bit of a mixed bag really. The commentary at first sounds good but then becomes repetitive after a couple of matches. The commentary (provided by Chris Kamara) is very enthusiastic and in a simulation, with a bit more variety would have been good but in an arcade style game it doesn't fit in with the atmosphere. It takes itself far too seriously. The crowd effects are at best barely acceptable and the music is easily forgettable.

The main problem with RedCard soccer however is that it’s just not extreme enough. At times it feels that the developers lost direction and what we are left with is a game that is a cross between a simulation and an arcade game. It’s not very extreme, nor is it very entertaining which is a shame as this is the type of game that could be really good if it had been developed properly.

Design 4.5
+ Nothing
- Unresponsive controls. Overly long World Conquest Mode. Not enough to unlock.

Visuals 5
+ Stadiums look nice.
- Generic player models. Players look like they’re on speed. Awful animation.

Audio 5.5
+ Commentary acceptable but too serious for the game.
- See above + poor music.

Gameplay 5
+ Different I suppose
- Extremely repetitive due to teams all playing the same.

Longevity 4.5
+ Holds some appeal in 2 player
- Again extremely repetitive and tiresome with very little to come back for.

Overall 5
If it’s a footy game your after, save your cash for Pro Evo 2 or the very underrated This Is Football 2003. If you fancy a footy game with a hint of extremity to it – best save your money until something better comes out as this isn’t even worth the cost of a rent.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/03, Updated 01/20/03