The football game that defined the 1990s (apologies to Kick-Off), 1992's offering from Sensible Software is a cult classic that remains playable to this day.
Sensible Soccer ended up being incredibly popular and spawned a multitude of sequels and enhancement packs.
The game soon became known in the gaming circles as 'Sensi', and even those of us that were not huge fans of football ended up enjoying the playing experience.
So let's take a look back at the original version of Sensible Soccer which ended up founding a miniature dynasty in art of simulating the beautiful game.
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| Sensible Soccer on the Commodore Amiga |
With a vast number of international teams to pick from (all of which featured accurate player names at the time) you could customise your favourite team by swapping substitutes in and out prior to playing a match.
Each team was also designated with star players and it was wise to keep them in your starting line-up. You could also view the first and second kits for your team and alter these to suit yourself too!
Being able to 'pick' your team like this was a lot of fun and added depth to the game before a ball was kicked.
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| Sensible Soccer on the Amiga allowed you to select your players and kit |
What was good about the game was the control you could exert over the football.
Kick Off 2 had allowed for the gamer to exert swerve and power when kicking the ball, and Sensi managed to make this type of ball control fast and fluid.
The hardest part for me was learning how to run with the ball and keep it under control; but once this was mastered you were able to go on mazy runs, weaving through three of four opposition players before threading the ball through to your forward player to finish it off nicely.
Passing (both short and long), shooting and tackling were all intuitive and easy enough to pick up. The fire-button was used to accomplish everything and it worked superbly.
The real trick to winning was applying the right amount of power and swerve to your shots to out-fox the goal keeper.
It must be said that the computer controlled goalkeepers were sometimes capable of herculean and almost superhuman reflexes in keeping your shots out of the old onion bag. For me this was the only downside to the game as you unleashed a shot directly into the top corner only for the keeper to somehow keep it out.
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| Sensible Soccer Amiga pre-match screen |
The miniature team members did not distract from the game-play at all; in fact they were all quite highly detailled and you could easily make out different hair styles and skin tone.
Plenty of character and charm oozed from the little men as they dashed around the screen at breakneck speed.
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| Sensible Soccer on the Commodore Amiga |
If both players were proficient it was easy to rack up double scores, especially if you were playing a longer match.
All in all everything about this game was brilliant. The intro-music, the in-game sound effects (the thud of the ball being booted around the pitch, the crowd chants and the cheering as a goal went in), the control you could exert on the ball, the slide tackling....
Sensible Soccer is a classic game and for me is one of the greatest football games ever.
We recommend getting hold of the real Amiga hardware - but if not then download an Amiga emulator and download Sensible Soccer. Alternatively you could try and play it online.
Please see our other Amiga Game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys
GENRE: Arcade Game / Sports
RELEASE DATE: 1992
RELEASED BY: Sensible Software / Ocean Software
DEVELOPER(S): Jon Hare, Chris Chapman, Chris Yates, Dave Korn
PRICE: £25.99
Classic Arcade Action
Classic Games, Arcade Games and Amiga Games
