Dearest readers, I have a confession to make. With the exception of a brief gander at the abomination that was Sensible Soccer 2006, I haven’t played a football game with intent since, well since Sensible Soccer on the Amiga. Even then, it was under duress.
You see, I’m not the best person to point at a football game for serious detailed analysis of just how good it is.
Looking back over my many gaming years, the only football game I spent any amount of serious time on was John Ritman’s Match Day 2. Yes, yes, I know – I’m old and out of touch. The thing is, with not especially caring for football as a sport I also find it hard to care for football as a computer game. I couldn’t tell you the names of any players bar the ones who sneak their mugs into the newspapers for whatever sordid or stupid act they’ve pulled, I couldn’t explain the offside rule to a goat and I most certainly don’t have the ability to kick a ball in a straight line either.
So it was with much trepidation I loaded up Fitba, fearing the worst.
First impressions weren’t great. It’s not the prettiest game on the planet and wait, what’s this? None of the players have any arms or legs? I’m going to be having nightmares for weeks, I tell you. Initial controls seem a bit, I dunno – different. They’re not wrong, but there’s something niggly here. But then a few minutes into the game pass and I’m having fun. Me? Fun? With a football game? What is this world coming to? I’ve long stopped worrying about what button does what and settled into a nice groove of passing back and forth, sliding tackling a random passer by purely because I’m a child at heart and still find kicking people over funny and trying to get my ball past the aggressive looking goalkeeper the opposite team appear to have employed.
Perhaps it’s because I can just pick it up, play it and not have to worry about knowing the detailed ins and outs, perhaps it’s the glorious sense of regional pride the game carries, perhaps it’s the fact that the game doesn’t really care about bogging you down with peripheries or perhaps it really is just plain fun. I don’t know.
It’s not perfect and on looks alone it may put off a lot of potential players, but yes sir, I enjoyed Fitba. It’s jumpers for goalposts against FIFA’s premier league, sure, but since when is different a bad thing? With a few of the bugs and glitches tidied up (is it normal to be allowed to run into the spectator stalls then off the screen?) it could earn itself a promotion.
No related posts.
Recent Comments