Retro football for the masses
Format: Xbox 360 Dev: Codemasters Pub: Codemasters Out: 19/12/07
Players: 1-2, 2 online
For anyone born in the early to mid 80s, SWOS was most likely the first football game you played. In the days before PES and even before FIFA, it was the king of video game football – free flowing and easy to pick up, but near impossible to put down. The game was a mainstay of early consoles like the Master System and it took several years for FIFA to take its place, despite its graphical enhancements and improved technology.
This brings us to 2008 and the release of the downloadable version of SWOS… and it’s brilliant, that’s the only word for it. Amazingly simple, using just the d-pad and two buttons but still just as addictive. Little has changed, including squads with luminaries such as Andy Hinchcliffe available. It looks a bit prettier, runs a bit smoother and supports online play, but otherwise it’s the same old classic and, unlike most retro games, you don’t need rose-tinted glasses to appreciate it. Still one of the most enjoyable football games out there and that includes PES. Get yourself involved and remember the days when, as a student in Nottingham, you could actually watch a Premier League match in your city.
James Ding
[This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Platform Magazine - Volume 16, Issue 8]
Tags: codemasters, download, football, sensible soccer, Sports
