A reader reminisces over his childhood playing Sensible World Of Soccer on the and how Sociable Soccer has become the modern equivalent.
Damn, I loved Sensible World Of Soccer as a kid! I played it every spare hour I had. This started back in 1994, when I was 14, living in a hellhole called Speke in the south of . I took my beloved (at the time) to 10 and victories. I was a master.
On Boxing Day, I would go to my cousins and lay all opponents to waste. I was a master. I wish the Amiga could have kept count of all the hours I spent on that game. Must have been close to a thousand hours, surely. When Sensible World Of Soccer was re-released on the in December 2007, I was hooked all over again.
However, the gaming climate had changed considerably since the Amiga days and my tastes had moved to first person games like Portal, Half-Life 2, music games like Guitar Hero, Lumines on my PSP, and the Japanese role-players Eternal Sonata and . With so many options, my attentions were distracted.
10 years later in 2017, Jon Hare and his team at Tower Studios released Sociable Soccer on early access for Steam. I was chuffed. I made a bootcamp partition in my Mac to be able to play it. The Ultimate Team style progression mechanic was enjoyable, the graphics and gameplay felt like a satisfactory evolution of the Amiga graphics. Jon was able to add more of his sense of humour to the players, with the extra detail that modern PCs afford.
Those banana shots felt as good as ever to pull off. Ultimately, I wanted the game to be available on my PlayStation 4, so I could proudly display the platinum trophy upon completion. On 24th April 2018, I realised I was becoming a Red and officially declared myself as so that day. For the benefit of non-gamers, this will come as a shock to a lot of football fans who think you should stick to the same team till you die.
The genius Jurgen Klopp and Mo Salah were enough for me to change away from the mediocrity of the Toffees. When I got my Steam Deck on February 25th, 2022, I was very pleased to see that Tower Studio had released a full version of Sociable Soccer. This incorporated a league table of all participants, with the ability to contribute to the league position of your favourite team.
Another enjoyable aspect was Club Clash, where for 24 hours you would battle it with the same football club to build up kudos for your team. If you win, it goes towards your club’s points in the Clan league table. It felt great working my way through this as a Liverpool fan. There was also a feature called winning streak where you could win players from your own club if you defeat all comers, which was nice to build up your team with actual LFC players.
Tower Studios released Sociable Soccer ’24 in 2023, gearing towards yearly updates. Not a big change to the game, with new players added, kits and stats updated. This version was released for the Nintendo Switch earlier this year. It was a great joy to be able to play this on my Switch. I pre-ordered the PlayStation 5 version at the same time via Argos but was told there would be delays on this version.
I received a message from Argos in the last week or so that my PlayStation 5 copy was on its way. PlayStation 5 owners would receive the latest yearly update, Sociable Soccer 25. Again, more of a kit and statistical update, but I would say that the goalkeepers had definitely improved. Not as many easy goals with this version.
The main problem with the PlayStation 5 version is its tendency to crash at random points in the game. Sometimes you’re in the middle of a match and it’ll crash, sometimes on the pre-kick-off screens. I haven’t played it without it crashing. No sign of a fix yet but I have contacted Tower Studios social media and email without response.
It is Christmas, so I’m giving them some leeway. Despite this wee setback, I am hopeful that Jon and Tower Studios will continue to build on what they have made so far. Sociable Soccer is a good alternative to EA Sports FC, for those who prefer a more arcade style interpretation of football. For a great price too. If you’re a football fan, give this gem a go.
By reader geohero
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