RedCard 20-03

"Serious soccer fans avoid this..."

Now what exactly happened here? Usually it's hard to judge sports games. You can't really judge on their story/plots or even replay value. The next best thing would be to compare it to another sport game of the same genre. For soccer, there are the Winning Eleven Series and of course, the well known FIFA series. But this game, Red Card 2003 pales in comparison to these two games. It's not even good enough to compare them. Here's why:

Overview.
Okay, there's no story here. You just control a soccer team and try to beat your opponent. 4 distinct game modes offer you scant incentive to play the game. There's just not enough modes to seriously play this game. Although this game offers you the chance to play as real life players and in real life stadiums, almost every other soccer game offer you this as well.

Graphics.
Although vibrant and realistic, the lifeless crowd doesn't do justice to the game. During gameplay, the cheering from the crowd can be heard clealy, but if you take a close look, they are sitting there lifeless. The situation does not improve much during goal celebrations either. Character models are bland, they only offer a minor representation of the real life players.
Camera angles are erratic, especially the far cameras - you can't really see where you're heading at. All the tricks and skills (i.e scissors kicks) are specially done to a slow mo effect, but then, there's nothing much about it. A real soccer fan would rather not enjoy it.

Sound.
Well, the crowd does cheer and the players do celebrate a goal with joy but that's it. The commentary is done rather blandly, with commentators not actually focusing on the match. You can be fouling someone else or breaking his legs, but the commentary will be on something else.

Gameplay.
This is where is sucks though. The series is known for giving you the ability to avoid committing fouls. In other words, this means that you can tackle at will, even break your opponents' legs and the referee will just continue play. In sense, there is no referee at all. This also means one team - that the opponent can do it to you as well. But most of the time, your opponent is too dim witted to exact the same thing on you. You can just tackle your way to the goal and shoot and score. Real soccer fans will not find this amusing at all. For one, this kind of play is virtually impossible in any real life match. Controls are shaky, and the erratic ball physics do not do justice to the world's most popular sport.

Replay value.
You can unlock other modes, teams and stadiums. That's all. The only good part of the game.

Scores.
Graphics 6/10
Sound 5/10
Gameplay 3/10
Replay Value 7/10

As I mentioned earlier, the game's premise that allows you to avoid fouls does not appeal much to real soccer fans. We all know what a real soccer game should be - to it be as realistic in real life as possible, although playing soccer games does not beat the realism of playing it in real life yourself. Half serious soccer fans should try Sega's Soccer Slam instead, a hilarious representation of soccer. Hilarious and realism? This game offers neither. Serious fans should avoid at all costs.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/03, Updated 07/04/03