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After playing football games through the years we've all seen improvements in graphics and of course gameplay, but even now - where is the real football atmosphere !!!???
Some improvements have been made to this in This Is Football 2002 on the PS2, but overall, once you get past the actual match, the atmosphere ends there. Sometimes the match atmosphere could be better too. Commentators tend to be the most boring people in the world on these games, especially when compared to what they are actually like on tv.
Whenever I win the World Cup or Euro Trophy in a game, I really don't blame myself or others for feeling like we've just won some pub trophy, there is no atmosphere whatsoever. The endings to these games have to be the worst in the industry, which makes it even more frustrating when you've been playing a league for hours. Obviously knowone is expecting some kind of "you've just saved the world" kind of ending but come on, surely anyone can think of a better ending than a few players running round with their arms up or some little team photo like scene. Thankfully the playability tends to be really good nowadays, but thats not what I'm bringing this all up about. With all the power games systems and PC's have now, there really isn't any reason why games companies can't sit down and really look into accurately recreating a football atmosphere.
Now before people rip into me, I have just bought This Is Football 2002 on PS2 and it is a really good game and the creators have really taken a step forward when it comes to the atmosphere, but honestly its all great having Peter Druey shouting Owen's name anticipating a goal, but to then say "England have won the world cup" like its just an everyday thing really brings things back to square one. I think games really need to have more passionate commentary in them. I think capturing the true atmosphere in a football game would really help its longevity. What I mean by that is that when your playing match after match, especially in major tournaments, you want to feel the progress your making in them. If you reach the semi final of the World Cup, wouldn't it be great to have an ecstatic commentator going on about it like they would in real life ?
Especially if it is a commentator such as Jonathan Pierce.
And for god sake - sort these damn endings out ! Dunno about other people but I'm sick of playing a long league only to find the usual bad ending. Its a case of a couple of players running around (with the trophy in hand if your lucky) and yet another boring commentator line of "well done, you've won the premiership".
Games such as This Is Football 2002 and ISS have done a great job as far as playability goes (although one on one isn't a good idea in TIF 2002). But even with this, without atmosphere, a football game can become boring pretty quickly. Even when your winning major trophies, you don't really feel a sense of reward. True that to produce this atmosphere would no doubt cost more. But football games sell well and if someone could mix Iss / TIF 2002 style playability with an accurate football atmosphere, it would no doubt become the best selling football game ever !
Heres some ideas I can think of straight from the top of my head, maybe some of you have others to add.....
Better commentary. Possibly different commentators to choose from. Maybe the list of commentators can change depending on what language you select at the beginning of the game. Also, if you have a commentator and you achieve big wins in international matches with the country they are from, lets hear some excitement ! And lets not hear people such as Peter Druey say things like "what a wonderful start to the match !" when Germany smash an early goal into the England net !
Well known songs and chants. TIF 2002 has done well here with things such as the great escape for England. But it would be nice to see songs such as "you'll never walk alone" when Liverpool are playing along with favourites of other clubs when they are on the field. Maybe some anti ref songs could be thrown in when a player gets away with a deliberate dive. If theres a worry with swearing there are still chants such as "you don't know what your doing !".
Decent endings to tournaments and major matches. If its internationals then the commentator can be ecstatic when his country wins. If you play as England and go out in the semi finals then the commentator could be downbeat and depressed (providing the commentator is English of course - but this is used to represent any commentator with their own country). As well as the players going mental you could have scenes of fans celebrating, maybe in real time so it is easier to change shirts for the winning teams.
Player celebrations. In TIF 2002 i noticed the goal celebrations were very "individual". Sometimes another player will join him, but a lot of the time the scoring player would run off on his own. Maybe there could be small celebrations for usual goals while match winning goals, match turning goals and international goals can be celebrated with the scoring player being mobbed by his team mates and maybe a quick flash of the keeper celebrating at the other end.
When you win a league with a club team, maybe effects such as scarves being thrown onto the pitch can be added, along with players collecting medals and the trophy. This can then be used for club cup competitions too. It could end with the players opening and spraying champagne over eachother with a board in front of them showing the name of the competition won. Fans celebrating can also be added in, as i mentioned earlier in real time so its easier to add the winning teams colours to scarves and shirts.
Also, it'd be nice to see other divisions added in. TIF 2002 has added in division 1 along with the Premiership so its possible to get relegated and promoted. I think it'd be really good if the 2nd and 3rd divisions could be added in too. Could be pretty fun taking a team such as Southend from division 3 all the way to the premiership.
Anyway, those are the ideas that spring to mind straight away for me, other of you may have more ;-)
Some improvements have been made to this in This Is Football 2002 on the PS2, but overall, once you get past the actual match, the atmosphere ends there. Sometimes the match atmosphere could be better too. Commentators tend to be the most boring people in the world on these games, especially when compared to what they are actually like on tv.
Whenever I win the World Cup or Euro Trophy in a game, I really don't blame myself or others for feeling like we've just won some pub trophy, there is no atmosphere whatsoever. The endings to these games have to be the worst in the industry, which makes it even more frustrating when you've been playing a league for hours. Obviously knowone is expecting some kind of "you've just saved the world" kind of ending but come on, surely anyone can think of a better ending than a few players running round with their arms up or some little team photo like scene. Thankfully the playability tends to be really good nowadays, but thats not what I'm bringing this all up about. With all the power games systems and PC's have now, there really isn't any reason why games companies can't sit down and really look into accurately recreating a football atmosphere.
Now before people rip into me, I have just bought This Is Football 2002 on PS2 and it is a really good game and the creators have really taken a step forward when it comes to the atmosphere, but honestly its all great having Peter Druey shouting Owen's name anticipating a goal, but to then say "England have won the world cup" like its just an everyday thing really brings things back to square one. I think games really need to have more passionate commentary in them. I think capturing the true atmosphere in a football game would really help its longevity. What I mean by that is that when your playing match after match, especially in major tournaments, you want to feel the progress your making in them. If you reach the semi final of the World Cup, wouldn't it be great to have an ecstatic commentator going on about it like they would in real life ?
Especially if it is a commentator such as Jonathan Pierce.
And for god sake - sort these damn endings out ! Dunno about other people but I'm sick of playing a long league only to find the usual bad ending. Its a case of a couple of players running around (with the trophy in hand if your lucky) and yet another boring commentator line of "well done, you've won the premiership".
Games such as This Is Football 2002 and ISS have done a great job as far as playability goes (although one on one isn't a good idea in TIF 2002). But even with this, without atmosphere, a football game can become boring pretty quickly. Even when your winning major trophies, you don't really feel a sense of reward. True that to produce this atmosphere would no doubt cost more. But football games sell well and if someone could mix Iss / TIF 2002 style playability with an accurate football atmosphere, it would no doubt become the best selling football game ever !
Heres some ideas I can think of straight from the top of my head, maybe some of you have others to add.....
Better commentary. Possibly different commentators to choose from. Maybe the list of commentators can change depending on what language you select at the beginning of the game. Also, if you have a commentator and you achieve big wins in international matches with the country they are from, lets hear some excitement ! And lets not hear people such as Peter Druey say things like "what a wonderful start to the match !" when Germany smash an early goal into the England net !
Well known songs and chants. TIF 2002 has done well here with things such as the great escape for England. But it would be nice to see songs such as "you'll never walk alone" when Liverpool are playing along with favourites of other clubs when they are on the field. Maybe some anti ref songs could be thrown in when a player gets away with a deliberate dive. If theres a worry with swearing there are still chants such as "you don't know what your doing !".
Decent endings to tournaments and major matches. If its internationals then the commentator can be ecstatic when his country wins. If you play as England and go out in the semi finals then the commentator could be downbeat and depressed (providing the commentator is English of course - but this is used to represent any commentator with their own country). As well as the players going mental you could have scenes of fans celebrating, maybe in real time so it is easier to change shirts for the winning teams.
Player celebrations. In TIF 2002 i noticed the goal celebrations were very "individual". Sometimes another player will join him, but a lot of the time the scoring player would run off on his own. Maybe there could be small celebrations for usual goals while match winning goals, match turning goals and international goals can be celebrated with the scoring player being mobbed by his team mates and maybe a quick flash of the keeper celebrating at the other end.
When you win a league with a club team, maybe effects such as scarves being thrown onto the pitch can be added, along with players collecting medals and the trophy. This can then be used for club cup competitions too. It could end with the players opening and spraying champagne over eachother with a board in front of them showing the name of the competition won. Fans celebrating can also be added in, as i mentioned earlier in real time so its easier to add the winning teams colours to scarves and shirts.
Also, it'd be nice to see other divisions added in. TIF 2002 has added in division 1 along with the Premiership so its possible to get relegated and promoted. I think it'd be really good if the 2nd and 3rd divisions could be added in too. Could be pretty fun taking a team such as Southend from division 3 all the way to the premiership.
Anyway, those are the ideas that spring to mind straight away for me, other of you may have more ;-)
You know when you have reached a decent point of realism when while playing you notice the crowd chant come on you reds when the gunners get a corner at home, or before the match you see the mascots trying to get the crowd going
(in southends case elvis the eel and sammy the shrimp)
but there will be limits such as you wont see the police rush out of their positions when things start to get a little hairy when the ref send off one of the home side or the resulting chants aimed at the ref refering to the quality of his eyesight, the marital state of his parents when he was born or any chants about the ref likes to pleasure himself.
(in southends case elvis the eel and sammy the shrimp)
but there will be limits such as you wont see the police rush out of their positions when things start to get a little hairy when the ref send off one of the home side or the resulting chants aimed at the ref refering to the quality of his eyesight, the marital state of his parents when he was born or any chants about the ref likes to pleasure himself.
Hey! Game! Wake up! Don't you realise that the ISS series is probably the most realistic for all platforms nowadays. Fifa has become too repetitive.
When I heard and saw previews of Fifa 2001 for the PS2, just after the launch of the PS2, I was looking forward to a newly improved version from the original Psone and PC versions, which I got, but in only two ways. The Graphics and the commentary.
The gameplay was exactly the same. In fact it was nearly the same as the PC version. For instance the crowds are absolutely pathetic. They have no detail, their sounds are repetitive and all they do is bob up and down. It had the same shooting and passing schemes just like the original Fifa's and after a few plays I got totally bored.
Another flaw about this game is that its just too easy!!! The controls are too easy. Tackling, shooting, passing and doing skills are all a doddle. Games that are too easy get very boring very quickly because you already know, before you're about to play a match again, that you've won.
One thing that I didn't quite think was right was the realism of the shots. Your player could take shots even when his back is turned to the goal and still manage to score. The power of the shots was another thing that was unrealistic about this game. They just simply seemed fake.
Overall the feel of Fifa games so far have been very repetitive and disappointing. You would think that as time goes by and technology moves on, the makers would have found some new features to add in their games to make it more interesting. There is a very poor atmosphere in Fifa 2001, which just adds to the list of flaws in the game.
What people want from football games these days is realism. They want realistic graphics, realistic gameplay and a realistic atmosphere in their football games. Although ISS for the PS2 was quite disappointing compared to its previous predeccessors, it still plays a fine game of football.
Its not as easy as Fifa which is better because you have more of a challenge of figuring out decent ways of playing the game. The first thing I noticed when I played ISS was that it was quite hard to play. This made me persevere in playing it and I gradually got the hang of it.
The atmosphere of this game is great. It gives an international feel of excitement when you play it. Although it has iffy commentary and it doesn't have all the real player names, it still plays a better game than Fifa. It is a very addictive game which has many skills hidden up its sleeves. You could just pass a ball to your team mate and press a direction to turn your player and all of a sudden you skin the player with something worth watching the replay over. This is what ISS delivers. It has many tricks up its sleeves and it has great gameplay.
The next ISS ('Pro Evolution Soccer') is set to be released sometime in November and from what I've seen and heard about it I know its going to smash Fifa 2002 and the previous ISS.
Basically ISS games are the best football games that is worth spending money on. The producers seem to put a lot more effort into their football games and they seem to know what football gaming fans want from their footy games.
When I heard and saw previews of Fifa 2001 for the PS2, just after the launch of the PS2, I was looking forward to a newly improved version from the original Psone and PC versions, which I got, but in only two ways. The Graphics and the commentary.
The gameplay was exactly the same. In fact it was nearly the same as the PC version. For instance the crowds are absolutely pathetic. They have no detail, their sounds are repetitive and all they do is bob up and down. It had the same shooting and passing schemes just like the original Fifa's and after a few plays I got totally bored.
Another flaw about this game is that its just too easy!!! The controls are too easy. Tackling, shooting, passing and doing skills are all a doddle. Games that are too easy get very boring very quickly because you already know, before you're about to play a match again, that you've won.
One thing that I didn't quite think was right was the realism of the shots. Your player could take shots even when his back is turned to the goal and still manage to score. The power of the shots was another thing that was unrealistic about this game. They just simply seemed fake.
Overall the feel of Fifa games so far have been very repetitive and disappointing. You would think that as time goes by and technology moves on, the makers would have found some new features to add in their games to make it more interesting. There is a very poor atmosphere in Fifa 2001, which just adds to the list of flaws in the game.
What people want from football games these days is realism. They want realistic graphics, realistic gameplay and a realistic atmosphere in their football games. Although ISS for the PS2 was quite disappointing compared to its previous predeccessors, it still plays a fine game of football.
Its not as easy as Fifa which is better because you have more of a challenge of figuring out decent ways of playing the game. The first thing I noticed when I played ISS was that it was quite hard to play. This made me persevere in playing it and I gradually got the hang of it.
The atmosphere of this game is great. It gives an international feel of excitement when you play it. Although it has iffy commentary and it doesn't have all the real player names, it still plays a better game than Fifa. It is a very addictive game which has many skills hidden up its sleeves. You could just pass a ball to your team mate and press a direction to turn your player and all of a sudden you skin the player with something worth watching the replay over. This is what ISS delivers. It has many tricks up its sleeves and it has great gameplay.
The next ISS ('Pro Evolution Soccer') is set to be released sometime in November and from what I've seen and heard about it I know its going to smash Fifa 2002 and the previous ISS.
Basically ISS games are the best football games that is worth spending money on. The producers seem to put a lot more effort into their football games and they seem to know what football gaming fans want from their footy games.
TREKSTAR
"Beware"
Hey! Game! Wake up! Don't you realise that the ISS series is probably the most realistic for all platforms nowadays. Fifa has become too repetitive.
When I heard and saw previews of Fifa 2001 for the PS2, just after the launch of the PS2, I was looking forward to a newly improved version from the original Psone and PC versions, which I got, but in only two ways. The Graphics and the commentary.
The gameplay was exactly the same. In fact it was nearly the same as the PC version. For instance the crowds are absolutely pathetic. They have no detail, their sounds are repetitive and all they do is bob up and down. It had the same shooting and passing schemes just like the original Fifa's and after a few plays I got totally bored.
Another flaw about this game is that its just too easy!!! The controls are too easy. Tackling, shooting, passing and doing skills are all a doddle. Games that are too easy get very boring very quickly because you already know, before you're about to play a match again, that you've won.
One thing that I didn't quite think was right was the realism of the shots. Your player could take shots even when his back is turned to the goal and still manage to score. The power of the shots was another thing that was unrealistic about this game. They just simply seemed fake.
Overall the feel of Fifa games so far have been very repetitive and disappointing. You would think that as time goes by and technology moves on, the makers would have found some new features to add in their games to make it more interesting. There is a very poor atmosphere in Fifa 2001, which just adds to the list of flaws in the game.
What people want from football games these days is realism. They want realistic graphics, realistic gameplay and a realistic atmosphere in their football games. Although ISS for the PS2 was quite disappointing compared to its previous predeccessors, it still plays a fine game of football.
Its not as easy as Fifa which is better because you have more of a challenge of figuring out decent ways of playing the game. The first thing I noticed when I played ISS was that it was quite hard to play. This made me persevere in playing it and I gradually got the hang of it.
The atmosphere of this game is great. It gives an international feel of excitement when you play it. Although it has iffy commentary and it doesn't have all the real player names, it still plays a better game than Fifa. It is a very addictive game which has many skills hidden up its sleeves. You could just pass a ball to your team mate and press a direction to turn your player and all of a sudden you skin the player with something worth watching the replay over. This is what ISS delivers. It has many tricks up its sleeves and it has great gameplay.
The next ISS ('Pro Evolution Soccer') is set to be released sometime in November and from what I've seen and heard about it I know its going to smash Fifa 2002 and the previous ISS.
Basically ISS games are the best football games that is worth spending money on. The producers seem to put a lot more effort into their football games and they seem to know what football gaming fans want from their footy games.
"Beware"
Hey! Game! Wake up! Don't you realise that the ISS series is probably the most realistic for all platforms nowadays. Fifa has become too repetitive.
When I heard and saw previews of Fifa 2001 for the PS2, just after the launch of the PS2, I was looking forward to a newly improved version from the original Psone and PC versions, which I got, but in only two ways. The Graphics and the commentary.
The gameplay was exactly the same. In fact it was nearly the same as the PC version. For instance the crowds are absolutely pathetic. They have no detail, their sounds are repetitive and all they do is bob up and down. It had the same shooting and passing schemes just like the original Fifa's and after a few plays I got totally bored.
Another flaw about this game is that its just too easy!!! The controls are too easy. Tackling, shooting, passing and doing skills are all a doddle. Games that are too easy get very boring very quickly because you already know, before you're about to play a match again, that you've won.
One thing that I didn't quite think was right was the realism of the shots. Your player could take shots even when his back is turned to the goal and still manage to score. The power of the shots was another thing that was unrealistic about this game. They just simply seemed fake.
Overall the feel of Fifa games so far have been very repetitive and disappointing. You would think that as time goes by and technology moves on, the makers would have found some new features to add in their games to make it more interesting. There is a very poor atmosphere in Fifa 2001, which just adds to the list of flaws in the game.
What people want from football games these days is realism. They want realistic graphics, realistic gameplay and a realistic atmosphere in their football games. Although ISS for the PS2 was quite disappointing compared to its previous predeccessors, it still plays a fine game of football.
Its not as easy as Fifa which is better because you have more of a challenge of figuring out decent ways of playing the game. The first thing I noticed when I played ISS was that it was quite hard to play. This made me persevere in playing it and I gradually got the hang of it.
The atmosphere of this game is great. It gives an international feel of excitement when you play it. Although it has iffy commentary and it doesn't have all the real player names, it still plays a better game than Fifa. It is a very addictive game which has many skills hidden up its sleeves. You could just pass a ball to your team mate and press a direction to turn your player and all of a sudden you skin the player with something worth watching the replay over. This is what ISS delivers. It has many tricks up its sleeves and it has great gameplay.
The next ISS ('Pro Evolution Soccer') is set to be released sometime in November and from what I've seen and heard about it I know its going to smash Fifa 2002 and the previous ISS.
Basically ISS games are the best football games that is worth spending money on. The producers seem to put a lot more effort into their football games and they seem to know what football gaming fans want from their footy games.
Thing is though Game - with Fifa, it becomes boring pretty quickly because it ends up being the same game everytime. Run up the wing, cross the ball into the box, score everytime with a bicycle kick.
Yes its quick to pick up and play but it only ends up being a good multiplayer with a weak 1 player. As for putting together unrealistic matches like Barcelona against West Bromich, isn't that the whole idea of videogames ? They let you do things that you can't usually do. For fans of clubs like West Bromich Albion, its nice because they aren't left in the shadow of the Premiership teams. Mind you that tends to be the case more often than not. Its not often you get to play as lower division teams.
Overall, I think its better to release more realistic football games (as in style of play) over arcade style ones like Fifa. People who don't understand football or dislike it tend to steer clear anyway. Its like American football games such as Madden, or Baseball games, not understanding the rules, a lot of us tend to shy away. I like American football quite a lot, I learned the majority of the rules and stuff to it in the U.S thanks to my girlfriend's brothers. So when I got back I was able to easily play videogames of the sport. But hand me a Baseball game and within like 10 minutes it'll be back in its box, mainly because I don't know a lot about the game. Hand me a load of Baseball stats and I'll no doubt give off this Tim Nice But Dim expression. Thing is with Madden, it recreates the sport really well, its like being at a game or watching one on tv - without the 5 minute advert breaks every 2 minutes ! But with our football, its a different atmosphere because its a lot more passionate. The countries that tend to make football games such as the U.S tend to fail on recreating the atmosphere probably because they don't have it there.
Even their favourite sports have this "its only a game" atmosphere whereas over here results are like life and death ! I think because the games creators share this attitude, its very difficult to get the real football atmosphere. With EA this works for Madden because its a proper U.S crowd that will act in the same way in real life. Unfortunatly, we are getting that same U.S crowd for England vs Germany games. Not digging at America or anything, they just have a different attitude towards their nations favourite sport than us.
Yes its quick to pick up and play but it only ends up being a good multiplayer with a weak 1 player. As for putting together unrealistic matches like Barcelona against West Bromich, isn't that the whole idea of videogames ? They let you do things that you can't usually do. For fans of clubs like West Bromich Albion, its nice because they aren't left in the shadow of the Premiership teams. Mind you that tends to be the case more often than not. Its not often you get to play as lower division teams.
Overall, I think its better to release more realistic football games (as in style of play) over arcade style ones like Fifa. People who don't understand football or dislike it tend to steer clear anyway. Its like American football games such as Madden, or Baseball games, not understanding the rules, a lot of us tend to shy away. I like American football quite a lot, I learned the majority of the rules and stuff to it in the U.S thanks to my girlfriend's brothers. So when I got back I was able to easily play videogames of the sport. But hand me a Baseball game and within like 10 minutes it'll be back in its box, mainly because I don't know a lot about the game. Hand me a load of Baseball stats and I'll no doubt give off this Tim Nice But Dim expression. Thing is with Madden, it recreates the sport really well, its like being at a game or watching one on tv - without the 5 minute advert breaks every 2 minutes ! But with our football, its a different atmosphere because its a lot more passionate. The countries that tend to make football games such as the U.S tend to fail on recreating the atmosphere probably because they don't have it there.
Even their favourite sports have this "its only a game" atmosphere whereas over here results are like life and death ! I think because the games creators share this attitude, its very difficult to get the real football atmosphere. With EA this works for Madden because its a proper U.S crowd that will act in the same way in real life. Unfortunatly, we are getting that same U.S crowd for England vs Germany games. Not digging at America or anything, they just have a different attitude towards their nations favourite sport than us.
How about scenes of the team parading the trophy on an open topped bus, and out in a club with a bunch of strippers?
How about the dreaded "Only one team will win this now" from Kevin Keegan, before the other team goes into top gear to prove him wrong?
How about Ron Atkinson talking rubbish about 'onion bags' and channels, and other such terms that no one remembers?
How about the dreaded "Only one team will win this now" from Kevin Keegan, before the other team goes into top gear to prove him wrong?
How about Ron Atkinson talking rubbish about 'onion bags' and channels, and other such terms that no one remembers?
Many football fanatics believe that ISS is much better than Fifa. I have no real favourite, but here's why I think Fifa is good.
Like Mario 64 and WWF No Mercy, etc you can just pick it up and play... okay so the way things work get a bit of getting used to, but the game's interface and whole setup seem so much more appealing than that of ISS.
The real names are in the game, which I believe is a big asset to any game... having names like John Palbo Angle in the game don't have quite the same effect as the real thing. (Juan Pablo Angel)
Also with Fifa, the unrealistic ball physics make for quite easy play... okay, so after a couple of months of playing you can take out Milan on 'Hard' with a couple of goals to spare, but this doesn't matter... I doubt you'll be able to do it with Grimsby Town anytime soon.
What I think is lacking in football games is quite a big aspect of realism... Okay, so the players look fine, and the crowds are improving, but the fact that you can just setup a match: Barcalona Vs West Bromwich Albion is stupid... you think Barca would agree to that?! I think not!
Also, I think football games should incorporate other things, pitch invasions and streakers... female of course... :D Maybe a couple of males for the like of Bonus and his Sailor friends...
Well, there we go....
Game
Like Mario 64 and WWF No Mercy, etc you can just pick it up and play... okay so the way things work get a bit of getting used to, but the game's interface and whole setup seem so much more appealing than that of ISS.
The real names are in the game, which I believe is a big asset to any game... having names like John Palbo Angle in the game don't have quite the same effect as the real thing. (Juan Pablo Angel)
Also with Fifa, the unrealistic ball physics make for quite easy play... okay, so after a couple of months of playing you can take out Milan on 'Hard' with a couple of goals to spare, but this doesn't matter... I doubt you'll be able to do it with Grimsby Town anytime soon.
What I think is lacking in football games is quite a big aspect of realism... Okay, so the players look fine, and the crowds are improving, but the fact that you can just setup a match: Barcalona Vs West Bromwich Albion is stupid... you think Barca would agree to that?! I think not!
Also, I think football games should incorporate other things, pitch invasions and streakers... female of course... :D Maybe a couple of males for the like of Bonus and his Sailor friends...
Well, there we go....
Game
After playing football games through the years we've all seen improvements in graphics and of course gameplay, but even now - where is the real football atmosphere !!!???
Some improvements have been made to this in This Is Football 2002 on the PS2, but overall, once you get past the actual match, the atmosphere ends there. Sometimes the match atmosphere could be better too. Commentators tend to be the most boring people in the world on these games, especially when compared to what they are actually like on tv.
Whenever I win the World Cup or Euro Trophy in a game, I really don't blame myself or others for feeling like we've just won some pub trophy, there is no atmosphere whatsoever. The endings to these games have to be the worst in the industry, which makes it even more frustrating when you've been playing a league for hours. Obviously knowone is expecting some kind of "you've just saved the world" kind of ending but come on, surely anyone can think of a better ending than a few players running round with their arms up or some little team photo like scene. Thankfully the playability tends to be really good nowadays, but thats not what I'm bringing this all up about. With all the power games systems and PC's have now, there really isn't any reason why games companies can't sit down and really look into accurately recreating a football atmosphere.
Now before people rip into me, I have just bought This Is Football 2002 on PS2 and it is a really good game and the creators have really taken a step forward when it comes to the atmosphere, but honestly its all great having Peter Druey shouting Owen's name anticipating a goal, but to then say "England have won the world cup" like its just an everyday thing really brings things back to square one. I think games really need to have more passionate commentary in them. I think capturing the true atmosphere in a football game would really help its longevity. What I mean by that is that when your playing match after match, especially in major tournaments, you want to feel the progress your making in them. If you reach the semi final of the World Cup, wouldn't it be great to have an ecstatic commentator going on about it like they would in real life ?
Especially if it is a commentator such as Jonathan Pierce.
And for god sake - sort these damn endings out ! Dunno about other people but I'm sick of playing a long league only to find the usual bad ending. Its a case of a couple of players running around (with the trophy in hand if your lucky) and yet another boring commentator line of "well done, you've won the premiership".
Games such as This Is Football 2002 and ISS have done a great job as far as playability goes (although one on one isn't a good idea in TIF 2002). But even with this, without atmosphere, a football game can become boring pretty quickly. Even when your winning major trophies, you don't really feel a sense of reward. True that to produce this atmosphere would no doubt cost more. But football games sell well and if someone could mix Iss / TIF 2002 style playability with an accurate football atmosphere, it would no doubt become the best selling football game ever !
Heres some ideas I can think of straight from the top of my head, maybe some of you have others to add.....
Better commentary. Possibly different commentators to choose from. Maybe the list of commentators can change depending on what language you select at the beginning of the game. Also, if you have a commentator and you achieve big wins in international matches with the country they are from, lets hear some excitement ! And lets not hear people such as Peter Druey say things like "what a wonderful start to the match !" when Germany smash an early goal into the England net !
Well known songs and chants. TIF 2002 has done well here with things such as the great escape for England. But it would be nice to see songs such as "you'll never walk alone" when Liverpool are playing along with favourites of other clubs when they are on the field. Maybe some anti ref songs could be thrown in when a player gets away with a deliberate dive. If theres a worry with swearing there are still chants such as "you don't know what your doing !".
Decent endings to tournaments and major matches. If its internationals then the commentator can be ecstatic when his country wins. If you play as England and go out in the semi finals then the commentator could be downbeat and depressed (providing the commentator is English of course - but this is used to represent any commentator with their own country). As well as the players going mental you could have scenes of fans celebrating, maybe in real time so it is easier to change shirts for the winning teams.
Player celebrations. In TIF 2002 i noticed the goal celebrations were very "individual". Sometimes another player will join him, but a lot of the time the scoring player would run off on his own. Maybe there could be small celebrations for usual goals while match winning goals, match turning goals and international goals can be celebrated with the scoring player being mobbed by his team mates and maybe a quick flash of the keeper celebrating at the other end.
When you win a league with a club team, maybe effects such as scarves being thrown onto the pitch can be added, along with players collecting medals and the trophy. This can then be used for club cup competitions too. It could end with the players opening and spraying champagne over eachother with a board in front of them showing the name of the competition won. Fans celebrating can also be added in, as i mentioned earlier in real time so its easier to add the winning teams colours to scarves and shirts.
Also, it'd be nice to see other divisions added in. TIF 2002 has added in division 1 along with the Premiership so its possible to get relegated and promoted. I think it'd be really good if the 2nd and 3rd divisions could be added in too. Could be pretty fun taking a team such as Southend from division 3 all the way to the premiership.
Anyway, those are the ideas that spring to mind straight away for me, other of you may have more ;-)
Some improvements have been made to this in This Is Football 2002 on the PS2, but overall, once you get past the actual match, the atmosphere ends there. Sometimes the match atmosphere could be better too. Commentators tend to be the most boring people in the world on these games, especially when compared to what they are actually like on tv.
Whenever I win the World Cup or Euro Trophy in a game, I really don't blame myself or others for feeling like we've just won some pub trophy, there is no atmosphere whatsoever. The endings to these games have to be the worst in the industry, which makes it even more frustrating when you've been playing a league for hours. Obviously knowone is expecting some kind of "you've just saved the world" kind of ending but come on, surely anyone can think of a better ending than a few players running round with their arms up or some little team photo like scene. Thankfully the playability tends to be really good nowadays, but thats not what I'm bringing this all up about. With all the power games systems and PC's have now, there really isn't any reason why games companies can't sit down and really look into accurately recreating a football atmosphere.
Now before people rip into me, I have just bought This Is Football 2002 on PS2 and it is a really good game and the creators have really taken a step forward when it comes to the atmosphere, but honestly its all great having Peter Druey shouting Owen's name anticipating a goal, but to then say "England have won the world cup" like its just an everyday thing really brings things back to square one. I think games really need to have more passionate commentary in them. I think capturing the true atmosphere in a football game would really help its longevity. What I mean by that is that when your playing match after match, especially in major tournaments, you want to feel the progress your making in them. If you reach the semi final of the World Cup, wouldn't it be great to have an ecstatic commentator going on about it like they would in real life ?
Especially if it is a commentator such as Jonathan Pierce.
And for god sake - sort these damn endings out ! Dunno about other people but I'm sick of playing a long league only to find the usual bad ending. Its a case of a couple of players running around (with the trophy in hand if your lucky) and yet another boring commentator line of "well done, you've won the premiership".
Games such as This Is Football 2002 and ISS have done a great job as far as playability goes (although one on one isn't a good idea in TIF 2002). But even with this, without atmosphere, a football game can become boring pretty quickly. Even when your winning major trophies, you don't really feel a sense of reward. True that to produce this atmosphere would no doubt cost more. But football games sell well and if someone could mix Iss / TIF 2002 style playability with an accurate football atmosphere, it would no doubt become the best selling football game ever !
Heres some ideas I can think of straight from the top of my head, maybe some of you have others to add.....
Better commentary. Possibly different commentators to choose from. Maybe the list of commentators can change depending on what language you select at the beginning of the game. Also, if you have a commentator and you achieve big wins in international matches with the country they are from, lets hear some excitement ! And lets not hear people such as Peter Druey say things like "what a wonderful start to the match !" when Germany smash an early goal into the England net !
Well known songs and chants. TIF 2002 has done well here with things such as the great escape for England. But it would be nice to see songs such as "you'll never walk alone" when Liverpool are playing along with favourites of other clubs when they are on the field. Maybe some anti ref songs could be thrown in when a player gets away with a deliberate dive. If theres a worry with swearing there are still chants such as "you don't know what your doing !".
Decent endings to tournaments and major matches. If its internationals then the commentator can be ecstatic when his country wins. If you play as England and go out in the semi finals then the commentator could be downbeat and depressed (providing the commentator is English of course - but this is used to represent any commentator with their own country). As well as the players going mental you could have scenes of fans celebrating, maybe in real time so it is easier to change shirts for the winning teams.
Player celebrations. In TIF 2002 i noticed the goal celebrations were very "individual". Sometimes another player will join him, but a lot of the time the scoring player would run off on his own. Maybe there could be small celebrations for usual goals while match winning goals, match turning goals and international goals can be celebrated with the scoring player being mobbed by his team mates and maybe a quick flash of the keeper celebrating at the other end.
When you win a league with a club team, maybe effects such as scarves being thrown onto the pitch can be added, along with players collecting medals and the trophy. This can then be used for club cup competitions too. It could end with the players opening and spraying champagne over eachother with a board in front of them showing the name of the competition won. Fans celebrating can also be added in, as i mentioned earlier in real time so its easier to add the winning teams colours to scarves and shirts.
Also, it'd be nice to see other divisions added in. TIF 2002 has added in division 1 along with the Premiership so its possible to get relegated and promoted. I think it'd be really good if the 2nd and 3rd divisions could be added in too. Could be pretty fun taking a team such as Southend from division 3 all the way to the premiership.
Anyway, those are the ideas that spring to mind straight away for me, other of you may have more ;-)