Nintendo World Cup

"If NBA Jam went soccer and was made by Nintendo...."

One of the earlier Gameboy games, Nintendo World Cup Soccer is an innovative and violent soccer game. After I got my hands on it, I just couldn't stop playing it. I mean, an innovative violent Soccer game from my favorite company Nintendo? It was awesome.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics look great for a Gameboy game. The backrounds look extremely well done and the player sprites all look unique and cool. If you play it on a Gameboy Color or a Gameboy Advance, the backgrounds and terrain are beautifully colored.

Gameplay: 9/10
This is the best aspect. The gameplay of Nintendo World Cup Soccer is like nothing else of its time. Basically, at the beginning of each half you tell your team which strategy to use. Once you do you give them orders to pass to each other, or shoot. You also control one player completely, who tells the other players what to do. As I said before, when they have the ball you can tell them to pass to another player, or shoot. If they're close enough to the goal they'll shoot automatically, although they are usually a lousy shot. Of course, its much more fun if you do it yourself, and I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. When you're trying to get the ball you can either choose to slide behind the player to get the ball, or, my personnel favorite, you can tackle them. If you tackle them enough they can even fall unconscious for a few seconds! They can do the same to you, but revenge is a dish best served cold. Many new sports games like FIFA take their idea from this, although, in this you can't get a red card for fouling, so for all they care you can beat the living crap out of the other player with a pair of sunglasses you don't like. There are also super attacks, which are fun and pretty easy to do. Each level even has its own unique terrain, such as slippery grass or stones, which players can trip over.

Sound/Music: 8/10
The music has interesting upbeat songs with interesting assortments of sounds and smacks. For an early Gameboy game, this has pretty cool music, maybe even on the top 10 for launch games.

Control: 7/10
This is the games weakest point, although that's not saying much. The control is actually really good, but sometimes it becomes a pain controlling your computer players. Sometimes if you pass to them even if you wanted them to shoot they'll start passing, which becomes a difficult task to master. At first it seems a bit ragged, but the more you play it the more easily you adapt and get the hang of it until its becomes very easy to run a complex play.

Replay Value: 8/10
Even if you beat it once, there's no reason not to play it again with a different team. While that may not be the best idea, its still very fun, although I guarantee 2 player will be much more fun.

Overall: 8/10
Even now in pure fun and gameplay it still rivals modern soccer games. It blends soccer with strategy when you control your players and adds in some combat with the tackling and super moves. All in all, this is what I wanted NBA Jam to be -- Soccer rather than basketball. If you are a soccer fan, this is a must have. If you're a football fan, you might enjoy it just for the tackling. If you're a sports fan in general, you won't be disappointed. I'm not high on sports, in fact soccer is the only one I play, but this is certainly no disappointment.

Pros:

Innovative gameplay

Violence (that comes from Nintendo

Cons:

Takes practice to catch on to controlling your players

To Buy or Not To Buy:

This is a definite BUY

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/02, Updated 01/31/02