Head-On Soccer

"Duh, need to improve.............."

When I first bought the game, I don't really have think much of it. After playing it, I thought the game wasn't bad at all. The game focus on conquering all continents of the world to become the ultimate champion just like the world cup.

I spent some time playing it during the SNES days and quite like it. As a soccer fan myself, I thought trying out different soccer games like Championship manager, Fifa soccer games and thought so as they are all great games to play. The game's trademark of U.S Gold which is licensed by Nintendo.

The game's rules are almost the same as the real life soccer game too, to make the game more realistic. But some rules are not there like the off side. There are four pitches to play from and all of them have some realism in them.

Story plot:

Well, it's not so a story plot, but it's can be sort of one too. From here, you play throughout the whole world, facing many world class teams and progressing to win the whole entire worlds prizes like Asian cup, African cup and ultimately becomes the world champion. While playing, top stars are signed by to you to boost team performance to
get better and better to become the best of the world.

Game play:

The game's kind of creative; meaning there are lots of options first, like the replay option for you to see the beautiful goals you scored as well as an ability to fast forward or slow motion or reverse the replay option menu.

The other options are also cool too, like the Cameo and Aggro options. Aggro option allows you to turn off the rules of the game and the Cameo option shows a short pics of a player as he celebrates a goal or get under a referee's booking or loses a match.

Well, the game's a bit weird in terms of game play because you will need to buy up stars players to boost up your country's squad which is more like a club thing if you know what I mean. But some star players are cool, like tricky who has a whacky hairstyle and can jump around as his abilities. There are also some great stars players like Striker 1 and 2; one curves the ball while the other hits the ball like thunderbolt. And there's also a Cheat player who dives around framing players!!!

While playing the game, you will find yourself playing in one of four pitches that is in the game like the soggy pitch which the ball bounces around which make the game a bit realistic.

Controls:

The controls are very easy to navigate, each button has it's own function and there's no need of some difficult moves to perform at all. So I think you will get the hang of it in no time.

Difficulty:

The game is not quite difficult provided you build up your squad well. Some teams are tough to beat as they have very deadly star players like Strikers 1 and 2. The game generally fast pace and ou will find the net with one touch football so it's quite difficult to defend and the opponents which the the computer play quite dirty as they whack you down as you get hold of the ball which can be frustrating.

Video:

It's quite okay but it can be still be improve as the player appearance need to improve as well as the crowds which look dead. The field also can be improve like making it more real as well as the ball.

Audio:

The game's audio is not great and needs to improve like adding some BGMs during the soccer game as well as the main screen BGM and also the sound effects like the kicking off the ball. Example is when striker 2 kick the thunderbolt ball, the flames sound effect can be improve.

Replay Value:

Well, there's not much in here to really boost about in this game . Once you complete the game, there's nothing much to play for so they maybe can improve in this area like adding some cup option to unlock though.

Here comes the question:
Should you buy or rent it?

For a soccer game, the game is not that great but as a fan of soccer games, try it and you might like the game. I would perfer you to rent it first before you buy it though.

Critics section:

The pros:

* A wide variety of teams to choose
* Innovative star players
* Win cups to conquer the world
* Replays there when Goal is scored, you can also use slow motion or fast forward or fast reverse
* Rules of the game
* Fast pace
* Realism

The Cons:

* Too fast pace
* No replay Value
* Computer play dirty
* Difficult to defend as they pass and pass and next you will find
the ball at the back of the net
* Passwords given can't seem to load

Gameplay: 6/10
Entertainment:6/10
Replay value:2/10
Video and audio: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/02, Updated 06/28/02