Wild Cup Soccer


Title           Wild Cup Soccer
Game Type       Sport
Players		1-2
Compatibility	All
HD Installable	No
Submission      roffey@creteroad.u-net.com

Review
Over the years there have been a great many football games for the Amiga.
Almost without exception they are worthy titles, slavishly observing the
rules and regulations of `the beautiful game`. There is, however an
exception. And it is Wild Cup Soccer.

It is the far future. Owing to all manner of post nuclear mutation
business, an awful lot of wild (i.e. scary jungle type) beasties have
donned the studded boot and taken to kicking a ball around. Being the
future of course, the rules have changed a bit. Actually, the rules have
gone out of the window...

In Wild Cup Soccer, you take on a team comprised of bipedal rhinos,
chimps, lizards and what-have-you, and play against the computer, or a
friend's team for the eponymous trophy. The object is to score more goals
than the opposition (!) - or decapitate enough of them to force their
retirement. Ahh yes, the decapitations - in fact, this game is a cross
between a footie sim and a beat-`em-up. As you progress through the
league, you can spend your earnings on a variety of weapons, from the puny
short sword to the truly worrying missile launcher, assisting greatly in
the maiming that is the core of the game. Additional assistance is
provided by the referee, who will happily take backhanders in exchange for
a host of bizarre and entertaining pick-ups, such as the `cannon` ball and
`fire` ball which will do unto your foe considerable GBH, and the
`ball-with-legs` which is downright odd, as well as `free-kicks` - your
player is suddenly the ony one who can move, which assists greatly when
attemping to score.

Wild Cup Soccer is highly entertaining to watch, and certainly a good
alternative to the more traditional post-pub Worms tournament. Playability
though is a little disappointing. The playfield is false-isometric, the
graphics attractive  and the players well animated. In common with all
football games, the player closest to the ball is the one you control,
although in common with many good looking games you may not always have
this impression - with several players on screen the game tends to slow
down, and the joystick feels unresponsive much of the time. Using the
projectile weapons is something of an art, though the random ease with
which you can inadvertantly dispatch members of your own team adds to the
air of black humour.

Although not (currently) HD  installable it will run without problems on
an 040 or 060, though with little noticable speed improvement. An
additional floppy drive is a must for the second disk, the more exotic
varieties of drive accepting it without complaint. Additional graphics are
revealed if 2 meg or more memory is found, although the game runs with
just one - like treacle I should imagine...

This is not a game you will find easilly - released back in `94 by
Millenium Interactive and Teque it is long out of print, and I have no
record of how it was received at the time by the press - It`s no classic,
but it`s no disgace either.

Should it  be condemned for risibly portraying pitch violence as big,
clever, hard and interesting? Is it to be lauded as a daring and
courageous satire on the corruption inherent in modern football? Naah...
it`s only a game, Brian!

Short version? Good looking, nearly playable `no-brow` entertainment for
the Loaded generation. Morally bankrupt and sick as a parrot  but then
what isn`t? Original and worth a punt. 3 out of 5.


Category list.

Alphabetical list.