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> Results: World Tour Soccer '06
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Fans of virtual soccer know there are two main seriesï¾—Konami's superior Winning Eleven and EA Sports' popular FIFA Soccer. Nevertheless, Sony continues to release its own World Tour Soccer titles, and while the PlayStation 2 version is pretty forgettable, this PlayStation Portable game is quite good.
Rather than try and compete with the established game mechanics or licensed club teams of its competitors, World Tour Soccer 06 carves out a niche by way of a wide variety of novelty game modes. You choose a team from any of 71 real international sides and set off around the world to prove that your country has the skills that pay the bills. While you play straight soccer some of the time, most of your matches have certain special rules, such as only allowing goals scored after every player on your team has touched the ball, or increasing the number of points you get depending on what area of the field you're in. In all modes, you gain points by performing skill moves, shooting on target, or scoring goals. You lose points for bad tackles or when the other team scores. Earn enough and you are awarded a medal. As you can see, this total game performance scoring makes for more of an arcade game than accurate sports sim. Loading a match takes a little longer than I'd like, but once you're in the game, there's no slow-down or pauses. Graphics are good enough for you to recognize many famous players, although the animations aren't always smooth. The audio is good, with play-by-play that rarely slinks into nonsensical rambling like some sports games do. Wi-Fi multiplayer is available over the internet, but you'll be hard pressed to find an opponent (I had trouble just getting connected most of the time). That's a shame since collecting medals, working my way up the ranks, and "just one more game" moments kept me entertained. I'm sure human opponents would be even more satisfying. If you're looking for an arcade soccer game you won't be disappointed, but if the next Winning Eleven or FIFA game includes a few novelty modes, World Tour Soccer will become irrelevant.  
As an E-rated sports game, it is appropriate for all ages, although the usual caveats apply if you go online. One disappointing feature of the game is it allows you to fake a foul, acting as if you're injured in order to win a free kick or penalty kick. Cheating like this made the last World Cup a miserable affair, and I'd hate to see the practice encouraged in a videogame. Teach your kids fair play!
This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "world tour soccer" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: World Tour Soccer '06 |
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