Sociable Soccer Review

If you’re a 90’s kid like I am, then you’ll perhaps remember a classic title known as Sensible World Of Soccer, which first blossomed on Amiga systems in around 1992. Being seven years old at the time and football mad as I still am to this day, I was mesmerised by the huge roster of teams, players and the unlimited gameplay loop. Back then, we didn’t have online multiplayer titles and owning a gaming system was a huge luxury. Whilst the game did resurface on Xbox 360 as a much-needed nostalgia itch, the Sensible Soccer experiences have remained in the past. When I first clapped eyes on Sociable Soccer, I could see where the inspiration came from and how similar it appeared.

A Salute To The Original

There is a reason Sociable Soccer bears so many similarities to SWOS, and that is because the original developer, Jon Hare, is the reason this game exists. Sociable Soccer 25 boasts over 13,000 licensed professional players with hundreds of teams to choose from. Teams aren’t licensed, and you can get a sense of which is which, for instance, Manchester City are Manchester Blues. Unfortunately, with EA dominating a lot of the licensing deals, the smaller games out there logistically wouldn’t be able to grasp hold of them. But gameplay is what counts, and if you’re after fast and frantic gameplay that doesn’t ever feel too serious, then you’ll enjoy what is on offer.

I spent a lot of time in career mode, and I liked how deep and progressive it was with levelling up managers, unlocking player cards and achieving stars to improve the squad you’re using. There is a potential for hours of gameplay here as you can climb division ranking leagues and manage your team and tactics. You can simply just play one-off matches if you choose, or indulge in a range of different tournaments to try and achieve glory and win trophies. On Xbox, there is sadly no option to play against friends or random players online, something which I believe the Steam version does have. If you fancy it, you can match up with someone in local multiplayer from the comfort of your own play space.

Visuals & Audio

It is clear from the moment you play that this is a game never to be taken seriously, and you can gather that from the well-designed manager avatars. They are cartoony with some narrative between matches in career mode. There are a lot of teams here, for example, in the English leagues you go right down to conference level, and whilst the teams themselves aren’t officially licensed, the players are complete with player cards with faces. The UI and menus are well-knit together and easy to navigate and understand. You can change the camera settings within the options menu, but the default angle is from a pitch-side perspective, which isn’t what SWOS was renowned for.

The visual presentation isn’t going to win any awards, but it brings simplicity in how it looks. Player names appear above their heads, teams wear their respective colours, and the grass is green. There isn’t much you can do with a football game in terms of making it look spectacular if it’s not trying to achieve simulation, such as Pro Evo or FIFA. I did like the random sponsor names on the teams and the transitions when the referee makes decisions like dishing out cards, some nice animations tart up the game in ways that make it a perfectly acceptable arcade title. Sound effects are minimal with whistles, crowd noise and the thud of the ball. Sadly, there is no commentary, but I would love to hear some wacky stuff added into later games, perhaps.

Final Thoughts

Sociable Soccer 25 finally lands on the Xbox console and is a nice little nod for the older gamers out there, but also an evolution of the past for the gamers new to this style of play. Admittedly, I was a bit frustrated at first getting to grips with the control scheme and how the players reacted to my button presses, but over time the game grew on me and I was playing with more fluidity and keeping possession.

Sometimes the AI feels a little stale and doesn’t appear to be as reactive as I’d like, but then I remember this doesn’t have the enormous team and budget that something like EAFC has. This is a casual take on the football genre, and I love that it finally makes its way to my favourite console, because there is always room for more footballing fun. For this one, though, the experience is short-lived for me without online multiplayer, and I feel like they are missing a trick by not including it. If you’re not one for competing online, then it still provides a great slice of fun alone or in local multiplayer with family or friends.