Game Name: FIFA International Soccer
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: Extended Play Productions and The Creative Assembly (MS-DOS)
Release Date: December 15, 1993
Platform: 3DO, Commodore Amiga, MS-DOS, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Introduction
I have always been a soccer game enthusiast. From Soccer on MS-DOS to the current FIFA games, I always found enjoyment with these sports games.
I personally initially played it on the SEGA Genesis. However, with the years, I was able to pick this game up for the Super NES. This is the reason why I am reviewing this on the Super Nintendo system.
Let us see if like other EA sports games, this sport game holds up.
Gameplay
If you are not familiar with soccer, the rules are pretty simple. You have 11 players on each team. The goal is to score as many goals as possible in the allotted amount of time.
This game was pretty impressive at the time. For one thing, you could choose one of 48 teams. The list of teams is as follows:
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China PR
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Netherlands
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iraq
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast
Japan
Luxembourg
Mexico
Morocco
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Ireland
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
Ukraine
Uruguay
Wales
This is one impressive list. Back in the day, this was unheard of, especially on console. Once you chose your team, you played an international tournament.
Another aspect of the game which was different, was the viewpoint. Unlike most games that I remember, where the view was either from the sideline or from the sky, this game had an isometric view. It gave it the appearance like you were watching on TV. This is what made these early EA games so great. They made the games feel real for the time.
The controls are pretty standard. The D-Pad was used for your movements and you had a kick button and a pass button. If you pressed the kick button just a little, it would push the ball a little further so that you can run to it and give you a little edge in terms of speed.
FIFA International Soccer (SNES) - Sample Gameplay
Bottomline
Is this game still good after all these years? My answer is yes. The gameplay is very arcade like. It has that perfect balance of arcade and realism. Like many other modern sports games, with the years, soccer games have gone for realism over arcade like play. This is a shame as I am sure there is a market for arcade soccer games.
Even today, the game controls very well and it is fun. I especially love the fan noise. It sounded so realistic back then. It felt like I was playing in a real soccer game.
I think that many players that play it today would complain, that it lacks many features that we are accustomed to today. These are the manager modes and league modes. I think that this is not a bug but a feature. This is what makes this game amazing.
I like it because I can pick up a controller, play a few games and put it down. I do not feel like I need to invest my life to the game.
Playing one on one against my brother is always fun. The original couch multiplayer. So many hours had been spent playing sports games on a couch.
What do you think? Did you like the game?
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