Our first Blast From The Past…….
SWOS – Sensible World of Soccer
Yes! Perhaps the greatest football game of all time is available to play on your Xbox. SWOS! Now that was a game, still is! I have so much time for Sensible World of Soccer, even if I am pretty useless at it.
This game brings back so many memories from my childhood, both as a single player and a multiplayer game with my mates all crammed into my bedroom back in the day. SWOS is such a fun football title, packed with a cracking football manager mode too.
Sensible World of Soccer brought to you by Kuju Entertainmnet and Codemasters, is the classic 90’s football game reborn on Xbox, with enhanced graphics. Get ready to take on your friends online or via the couch play in this fantastic pick up and play football game.
Make the choice to play a quick game, fire up a tournament mode, or manage your team over full seasons as a player manager or a manager with a fully immersive tactics editor.
Click the link to purchase SWOS | Xbox for £7.99
SWOS – Past and Upbringing
Sensible World of Soccer was designed and developed by Sensible Software as the 1994 sequel to their 1992 game Sensible Soccer which combined a 2D football game with a comprehensive manager mode. The game includes contemporary season data of professional football from around the world, with a total number of 1,500 teams and 27,000 players.
Although the gameplay is simple (eight directions and one fire button) a large variety of context sensitive actions can be performed without any predefined keys.
In 1996 the game was ranked best of all time by Amiga Power. In 2004, the Amiga version of Sensible World of Soccer was inducted into GameSpot’s list of the greatest games of all time.
The Legendary Career mode
The career game mode in Sensible World of Soccer enables players to manage a club through 20 seasons. Basic manager options include a transfer market (buy/sell players).
Every team has a squad of 16 players, by default. Every player has individual skills (speed, tackling, heading, finishing, shooting, passing, ball control). Player prices are calculated relative to their skills. Players can be transferred from other clubs by offering an amount of money and/or own players in a part exchange deal. To be able to buy stronger players and to keep them it is necessary to earn money with success in the various competitions. Job offers from other clubs and also from a national team may roll in, depending on the success.
The History of SWOS
Sensible World of Soccer
The first release from 1994 for Amiga had some bugs which were fixed with a free update disk a few months later (SWOS v1.1). A PC version came later, in 1995, as floppy disk version and as CD-ROM (including voice commentary).
Teams present included all European nations as well as (in this version only) 64 fantasy squads whose line-ups were references to and parodies of other concepts. Gameplay was noticeably easier than in subsequent versions, with computer opponents rarely able to tackle the player or create chances. Unique to the release was the choice of an “astro turf”, whose conditions mimicked artificial pitches installed in the 1980s by some clubs.
Sensible World of Soccer ’95/’96
The ’95/’96 Edition was an improved version for Amiga, with updated data, new menus and an enhanced gameplay (now with the possibility to do headers from standing positions and low passes with curling effect), which was also found in subsequent releases.
SWOS ’95/’96 European Championship Edition
In time for UEFA Euro 1996, the European Championship Edition (aka ECE or SWOSECE) was released. This version is equal to ’95/’96 Edition, but included the actual European Championship as a preset competition with updated teams. This version was released for PC as well as for Amiga computers.
Sensible World of Soccer ’96/’97
The release of 1996 was the final version of the SWOS sequel, for Amiga (two floppy disks) and PC (CD-ROM). It contained the updated data of the season and a new cover. It is also the base for the remake on Xbox Live Arcade in 2007.
Xbox Version 2007
The game is a straight port of the Amiga version of SWOS ’96/’97 and uses some elements of the PC release. The graphics are enhanced (HD mode). During the game graphics can be switched to the classic mode. SWOS is the first XBLA game which uses the technology of Massive Inc, to show commercials within the game, updated over the network.
Chris Wallace sums up my thoughts exactly about SWOS
“This is still the greatest football game of all time. You can keep your modern FIFA, ultra slick licensed dross and just gimme a joystick and a copy of SWOS”