|
|
|
FEVER PITCH SOCCER (SMD)
|
a.k.a. Head-On Soccer
Publisher: U.S. Gold. Developer: U.S. Gold. Released: June 1995 (Europe). Genre: Football. Other versions: SNES; JAG. Posted 16th December 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
|
Having tested the sporting waters with a bunch of golf and football titles the previous year, U.S. Gold followed their officially-licensed World Cup ‘94 game with Fever Pitch Soccer, in the summer of 1995. It’s a really good effort, combining the slick visual style and by-then firmly established isometric viewpoint of FIFA with the speedy, one-touch immediacy of Sensible Soccer. In truth, FPS may not have been a match for either, but it was (and still is) a great deal of fun. It eschews a cultured approach for a more novel, arcade-friendly free-for-all that’s somehow both chaotic and well-balanced.
Fever Pitch Soccer places realism on the back burner, focusing instead on well-conceived gameplay mechanics. This being 1995, there are no real players, but there is a very respectable selection of international teams, more than fifty in total, an unusually broad representation of nations from across the globe. You’ll find nineties powerhouses Brazil, Italy and Germany, alongside a host of interesting outsiders including Kuwait, Honduras and, to the unabashed delight of the editor, Wales.
Dead ball situations are handled really well in Fever Pitch Soccer - judge them right and there are goals to be scored
Straight from the off, FPS is loads of fun. Its controls are really simple and take no time at all to get the hang of. Even against the computer, matches are regularly fast, open and action-heavy affairs. Within the first couple of hours of play, I’d experienced a 4-4 draw, a 5-1 win and an 8-4 loss, in six-minute matches. Forget tense, tactical affairs: Fever Pitch Soccer is an all-out attack, instinct football experience. Whilst fouls are part of the game, the referee tends to err on letting the play flow, to the point where, on one occasion, I got away with flattening three opponents with one, brutal sliding tackle. The pace of play encourages one-touch passes, keeping the ball moving and trying to find angles to expose weaknesses in the opposition keeper.
Undoubtedly one of the game’s coolest elements is its range of pitches. Design broadly to reflecting the climate of each nation, some teams have excessively dry and/or uneven pitches, which can be a lot of fun as they result in uneven bounces. Others may be water-logged, resulting in dead bounces and incredibly long, exaggerated slide tackles whilst those in a more temperate climate achieve a happy medium. This means the gameplay avoids slipping into overly-familiar patterns, as each offers a different challenge.
Undoubtedly one of the game’s coolest elements is its range of pitches. Design broadly to reflecting the climate of each nation, some teams have excessively dry and/or uneven pitches, which can be a lot of fun as they result in uneven bounces. Others may be water-logged, resulting in dead bounces and incredibly long, exaggerated slide tackles whilst those in a more temperate climate achieve a happy medium. This means the gameplay avoids slipping into overly-familiar patterns, as each offers a different challenge.
|
|
The Mega Drive couldn’t achieve realistic football but U.S. Gold recognised that entertainment remained the primary attraction for fans of 16-bit football. Tackling is fun, with the player able to win the ball with lunging slides and even just kick their opponents off the ball, whilst certain types of players can manage a bit of shielding and shoulder barges too. The ‘oof!’ sound effects bring to mind Speedball 2, and that isn’t the only similarity Fever Pitch Soccer shares with the Bitmap Brothers’ classic.
The player must battle through a career setup (albeit in knockout match form, rather than leagues), playing through Asian, African, American and European regions comprising gradually tougher fixtures. Each win grants the option to recruit new, specialist players to replace one of your journeymen starters. Markers, for example, are a cheap and effective starting point, players who automatically stick close to opposition strikers. To be offered more potent options, you’ll need to accumulate more wins. Tricky players can hurdle tackles; Bargers can smash through opponents, whilst there are players with heightened passing, shot-making and goalkeeping skills too. The class that raises the biggest smile, however, is the Cheat. In an unapologetically tongue-in-cheek nod to the personalities best able to manipulate referees, the Cheat can dive to win dubious free-kicks. It’s not football! But it is funny.
The player must battle through a career setup (albeit in knockout match form, rather than leagues), playing through Asian, African, American and European regions comprising gradually tougher fixtures. Each win grants the option to recruit new, specialist players to replace one of your journeymen starters. Markers, for example, are a cheap and effective starting point, players who automatically stick close to opposition strikers. To be offered more potent options, you’ll need to accumulate more wins. Tricky players can hurdle tackles; Bargers can smash through opponents, whilst there are players with heightened passing, shot-making and goalkeeping skills too. The class that raises the biggest smile, however, is the Cheat. In an unapologetically tongue-in-cheek nod to the personalities best able to manipulate referees, the Cheat can dive to win dubious free-kicks. It’s not football! But it is funny.
|
|
A password system allows the player not only to record their tournament progress, but also the exact makeup of their team. Longevity is established through the need to work out how best to allocate new specialist players, as well as discovering a dynamic that works with your formation and style of play. Three difficulty levels means less experienced players can get a foothold, though regardless of the setting, the action still becomes fraught towards the latter stages as opposing teams accrue more and more star players.
The game gets a lot of the technical bits right. Penalty shoot-outs are genuinely good fun. You have a fair chance of scoring from free kicks. Pressing the shoot button and then twisting the D-pad allows the player to impart curve on the ball, a tricky skill to master but one that is marvellously implemented, often leading to some spectacular, satisfying strikes. Playing with a friend is a great laugh as well, there’s rarely a dull moment.
The game gets a lot of the technical bits right. Penalty shoot-outs are genuinely good fun. You have a fair chance of scoring from free kicks. Pressing the shoot button and then twisting the D-pad allows the player to impart curve on the ball, a tricky skill to master but one that is marvellously implemented, often leading to some spectacular, satisfying strikes. Playing with a friend is a great laugh as well, there’s rarely a dull moment.
|
|
With its clunky sound effects, wince-inducing voice clips and painful music, Fever Pitch Soccer can’t compete with FIFA Soccer ‘95 in terms of its audio presentation. That said, there’s plenty to appreciate visually, with a clutch of humorous animated stills encapsulating the emotions of goals and bookings (extra points for the enigmatic referee), plus a lovely, colourful array of pitches. Player design is reasonably solid if a little simplistic, with the odd highlight including the little roll competitors take before picking themselves up from a challenge.
There are one or two elements that miss the mark. Corners could have been better: all of the attacking team’s players stand very close to the goal, which creates a couple of problems. A resulting cross tends either to head straight into the keeper’s arms, or behind all of the target players and out for a throw-in. The whole system of headers in Fever Pitch Soccer is strange and looks silly. Goalkeepers sometimes fail to respond if a ball is heading just inside their post, occasionally leading them to concede from entirely speculative, 40-yard efforts, which dribble into the net with no effort made to intercept them. Whilst it appears the referee blows when the exact amount of time for the half (after cumulative stoppages) has elapsed, this can seem frustratingly abrupt, especially when the player is mid-way through a shot or through on goal.
Whilst these may amount to a list of grumbles, they are just that: small aberrations that, individually, were both forgivable and not entirely unusual for the genre at the time. However, the myriad of specialist players and a greater variety of pitch conditions mean that U.S. Gold’s effort arguably offers more variety than almost any other football game of the time, in the long run. If you ever wondered what a Bitmap Brothers’ take on the genre might look like, it would likely have been recognisably similar to Fever Pitch Soccer. High praise, and well deserved: it excels in capturing the fun, energetic spirit of the sport, without taking itself too seriously.
There are one or two elements that miss the mark. Corners could have been better: all of the attacking team’s players stand very close to the goal, which creates a couple of problems. A resulting cross tends either to head straight into the keeper’s arms, or behind all of the target players and out for a throw-in. The whole system of headers in Fever Pitch Soccer is strange and looks silly. Goalkeepers sometimes fail to respond if a ball is heading just inside their post, occasionally leading them to concede from entirely speculative, 40-yard efforts, which dribble into the net with no effort made to intercept them. Whilst it appears the referee blows when the exact amount of time for the half (after cumulative stoppages) has elapsed, this can seem frustratingly abrupt, especially when the player is mid-way through a shot or through on goal.
Whilst these may amount to a list of grumbles, they are just that: small aberrations that, individually, were both forgivable and not entirely unusual for the genre at the time. However, the myriad of specialist players and a greater variety of pitch conditions mean that U.S. Gold’s effort arguably offers more variety than almost any other football game of the time, in the long run. If you ever wondered what a Bitmap Brothers’ take on the genre might look like, it would likely have been recognisably similar to Fever Pitch Soccer. High praise, and well deserved: it excels in capturing the fun, energetic spirit of the sport, without taking itself too seriously.
|
|
VERDICT
"It doesn't quite managed to top FIFA Soccer '95 or Sensible Soccer, but Fever Pitch Soccer fuses many of the best elements of both... it excels in capturing the fun, energetic spirit of the sport, without taking itself too seriously." OVERALL: 8/10 |