"They played the World Cup in 1992? Yeah, I didn't think so either."

Oh, but wait this is Tecmo's World Cup, not the universally recognized, biggest soccer tournament in the world. Yeah, nobody would ever confuse the two…

Actually, I believe the game originated in the arcade in 1990 when the real World Cup was going on. Apparently, Sims Co. (the company that released the game) decided that it was okay to port a two year old game in a non World Cup year. Nice strategy, guys.

This is an arcade-style, no frills soccer game. Don't expect referees, red cards, yellow cards, fouls, penalty kicks, injuries, substitutions, strategy, or players and countries of varying ability levels.

The game features 24 countries and only a few game modes (1P, 2P, and World Cup). You're not able to select your opposition in any of the modes (unless obviously you have a friend playing). In the World Cup mode, you play against three teams within a random grouping for a spot in the 16 team tourney and a chance at winning the title.

While the game is short on features and modes, the game is easy to play and more fun that many of the soccer games I've played on the Genesis (World Championship Soccer, World Cup USA '94, and Pele come to mind). However, there are so many problems outside the realm of gameplay that you should just stick with EA's soccer games.

Graphics/Presentation

Considering the system's capabilities, the game feels thrown together with its bland menu and team select screens, not to mention the actual in-game graphics. The menus, in particular, look like the game was designed for eight year olds. Italy is written as Italia (Italy in Italian), and the Soviet Union, despite its collapse in December of 1991, is still represented.

The game lacks considerable depth and authenticity (the Italian national team does not wear red and green). All the players on your team are clones of one another (same haircuts too), and a mere palette swap differentiates the national teams. There is very little detail to the players, and even less animation. However, the grass looks nice. That's really all I have to say.

Music/Sound

This is one of those instances where bad music kills a game. All the music is trying desperately to be catchy and it backfires, big time. It sounds more like rush-hour traffic (hear those horns in the background?) than something that keeps you playing the game. This is Tecmo we're talking about. Remember Ninja Gaiden? How about the two NES Tecmo Bowls? I can still hum the themes from those games, but I just wanted to mute everything here. I guess when Tecmo entered the 16-bit arena, their great music missed the ride.

The music is played like Chinese water torture, endlessly looping the bad melodies. The music you'll hear later in the game is slightly better, but everything you hear before the actual tournament is garbage and may prevent you from playing further. Mute the game and you'll find yourself liking the game much more.

The sound effects aren't much better, but I didn't realize they were so bad until I let the demo play (which it did without the music). There are two sound effects in the game: when your player passes or shoots, and when you tackle someone. The former sounds like a bubble being popped; the latter sounds like brief radio static.

Gameplay/Control

Like I said earlier, the game is simple. You have two buttons: one to tackle and pass, the other to lob, shoot, and choose the closest player on D. It really doesn't amount to much more than that (there are no ball tricks), other than the shootouts (which I'm still confused about, but I think you press B and a direction when in net, but you press either A or C to shoot). You can do headers and bicycle kicks, something I was shocked to learn considering how little there is to the rest of the game.

Moving the ball is fun in the earlier rounds. When you see an opponent close in, pass to the open man, rinse and repeat until you're in front of the net, then shoot. You'll be scoring plenty of goals too (especially from sharp angle shots). Things get frustrating at higher difficulties (or the deeper you get in the tourney) because you have less than a second to pass and shoot, so the game quickly turns into “kill the man with the ball” and you have to speed your game up to even compete.

Another problem I have is that you can't change your team's formation. You initially get to pick it before the World Cup begins, but you're stuck with it the rest of the tournament. You also don't know what your opponents are playing, so if you're having a tough time moving the ball, you not only can't make an adjustment, you don't even know what that adjustment should be.

What's funny is that with all that can go wrong, the computer seldom, if ever, takes advantage. I've had three on ones going against me and the computer not only can't score, but puts up the easiest shots for my goalie to stop. It seems like it's an accident when they do score on me. All the challenge in the game comes from whether you can move the ball and get scoring chances, and has little to do with what your opponent does.

Replay/Lasting Value

You're not going to play through the World Cup more than once unless you've got a few favorite countries (which I don't think any true soccer fan does), you're reviewing the game and need a reminder of a few things (like me), or you got a friend who's still into 16-bit gaming and loves soccer (good luck finding that person).

Otherwise, you can find more polished, more complete soccer games that do all the above areas far better.

Overall Score: 4

There are certain elements in this game that are addictive (like many Tecmo sports games), but all the other things that Tecmo had done so well for so long (music, presentation) are missing or substantially not up to par, and frankly seemed rushed. It's very hard to recommend when better alternatives exist.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/04