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GAME REVIEWED: Viva Football
RELEASED BY: Virgin Interactive
PRICE: £44.99
REVIEWED BY: Mossy
REVIEW: -
Yes, another football game on the playstation, but this is different from all of your usual football games. Viva is different from the rest of the bunch, because you can play in any of the world cups (1966 anyone?) This dates back to 1958, and goes right up to the 1998 world cup in France. In viva, there are over 1035 teams, and over 16 500 players. As well as just playing in the World Cups, you can also play the qualifiers, to try to re-write the history books.
Viva football makes you think about playing football, not just kicking it up the park, running on to it and then scoring. In this game it is not nearly as easy as that to score. You have to pass around the ball around in order to create chances, and when you do get chances you have to take them. In viva football there are loads of 'skill' moves to pull off. You can do one touch football, which basically allows you to completely take the piss out of the other team. You can pull off first time volleys, or a cheeky little header to beat the keeper. It even allows you to control how hard you want a pass, clearance or shot to be, and this certainly makes the game more professional, and accurate to the real thing.
The graphics in viva football are simply stunning, and you could almost mistake it for watching the real thing on telly! The detail on the strips is simply flabbergasting, and they even change depending on what date you are playing in. When you go to pick your team it is very easy to understand what you are doing, as you get a picture of the world, and it is split up into six sections: UEFA, AFC, OFC, CONCACAF, CANMEBOL and LAF. As you select your team it brings up up a list of years. This indicates which players will be playing. For example, if you choose the 1994 Iltalian side, then you would get the actual players that played for Italy in the 1994 world cup. This is great as you can try to change history, and it certainly makes it a lot more fun, and gives you more scope than your usual footy games.
The only thing that lets this game down is the gameplay. The game is far too slow and unrealistic. Probably the best example of this is that you can clear it from your 18 yard box and still score! As you pass the ball it is always either too short or too long, and the opposition almost always nips in and steals the ball. While playing a game, when you score a goal, and a player is offside but absoloutly nowhere near the play, and so was not interfearing in any way, the goal will still be disallowed. This obvuiously can be incredably annoying at times pf great stress, and can lead to numerous broken control pads. In addition to this, the referees are a bit harsh, and will not hesitate to show you the red card for the slightest offence.
Viva has some good aspects, such as while you are playing in the world cup or the qualifiers you get the latest scores appearing at the top of your screen. Viva footballs main selling point is its graphics. And lets not mess around: They really are quite simply superb, and easily the best I have ever seen on any Playstation football game. I am left feeling however, that Virgin have missed out on a chance to beat the all conquering FIFA 99. All they needed to do was make the gameplay a bit more realistic then they would have a spectacular game. Unfortunately, they have not, but do not think that this means that viva is a rubbish game. It is still an excellent game, but it just isn't as good as it could have been.
SCORE:
84%
LINKS: www.virgin.com