Sunday 28 September 2014

The Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever!

Sunday, September 28, 2014  , ,  No comments

Way back in August 2012, on our second ever podcast, we covered the subject of football computer games and it was a whole heap of fun!

Chris and I were discussing the subject again recently while also observing it's been a while since we had a decent vote-off here in the Attic. Put 2 and 2 together and you get 4... which is a nice bit of maths for you, but nothing really to do with computer games... To that end, we decided we simply had to decide once and for all which retro football computer game is the best ever!

Now, that word 'retro' is there for a very important reason and not just because we happen to be a nostalgia website. No, it's there so we can apply some kind of cut-off in history, lest the poll be overwhelmed with embryos who never got to experience the thrill of three minutes of gameplay after half an hour of epileptic-fit inducing load screens, and for whom the best game ever just depends on which version of 'FIFA' we're on.

For us, to make the cut, the games have to have a large degree of unrealism! 'FIFA' may have realistic player faces (and indeed names) and may look so real as to be almost indistinguishable from a match on TV, but we don't care about that! Where's the charm in realism versus the delights of a blocky sprite going by the name of Alun She-Ra? It's all very well being able to score a screaming volley and watch it back from 30 different angles, but don't we all pine for a simpler time, when goals could only be scored one of two different ways? No? Oh ok... maybe not that last one!

My own personal journey through retro video games starts with one of the worst ever... Arctic Software's 'World Cup'; a truly awful game, but it makes the cut because it's my first... and we're running the poll ;-)

So what else makes the list? Well, that's where you come in... We want your suggestions and if you feel so inclined, a justification of why you think your nomination deserves a chance. And you don't have to limit yourself to your favourite as that's what the vote-off's for. You can nominate any game you've ever played... once we've got a good list, we'll set up the vote-off and let the games begin!

Right - as hinted at, there are some rules... not many though.

1)  The cut-off point - we had to pick a point in time to decide between retro and modern and the point we've chosen is right before the PS2 was released. Why? The PS2 introduced the first batch of almost-realistic games. Sure, the PS1 had 'FIFA' and Actua Soccer which were almost there, but they're blocky enough to shade that degree of unrealism.

2)  That's about it...

So, get nominating on the form below... and keep an eye on the list of games on the Vote-Off Candidates page.

Enjoy!

Rich (& Chris).




 See also:
Our video game reviews...

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