Dear Future Gamer

Is it just me or are reviewers unable to review football games properly? Typical comments include how many teams the game has, whether or not you can design your own strips and slavering over the amount of cups and leagues, etc.

I've never seen a discussion on why so much of the gameplay in football games is 'on rails', why radar displays are useless or why the modern equivalents of Kick-Off and Sensi have yet to be made.

More pertinently, why has no-one designed a system of analogue passing and shooting which would take football to a far more realistic level? While I love ISS Pro to bits, it's frustrating lofting long passes which always travel a set distance, or only being able to connect to through passes if the defenders are a certain distance away.

Consequently I never take the word of reviewers regarding football games. It's only when I hire them that the usual flaws are discovered, presented in only a slightly different way from the last game. Even with a genuinely good effort like ISS Pro, it's interesting that no-one mentioned how few options it had compared to the N64 version - no manual replays and no precise control of formations to mention but two things (great fun when your sweeper is sent off and you can't move someone there to replace him). And when will we be able to save highlights to memory card? You could do that in Sensi and how long ago was that?

Mpie

FG: The job of a review isn't to cover all bases and eventualities. Ideally, a review should give you an informed overview of what the game's like to play and whether it's worth buying. Football games aren't perfect but they're getting better and even great games like ISS Pro are being improved all the time (witness ISS Pro Evolution). A lot of decisions made when creating a game - like should there be analogue passing and shooting - are purely based on gameplay compromises. Analogue passing and shooting might be very realistic but it may make the game a complete dog to play. Realism doesn't always equal a better gaming experience.