Top 5 Football Games

Yes it's nearly World Cup 2018 this month, we all know football theses days are the most popular sports activity where we all go out and play football with friends on the playgrounds, stadiums, parks, clubs, homes and other public places. It is also popularised with sports TV and live stadiums where everyone starts watching the latest matches through friendly matches, premier leagues and of course cup matches which made live football becoming the most watched sports TV in around the world. The success of football has spread with many of merchandises, t-shirts, and of course video game based on football.

Playing football on video game can be really fun back in days because it giving us many of childhood nostalgia due to excellent champion modes, great multiplayer matches, and addicting gameplay style with the use of skills and tactics that made the game so much entertaining to play. I've played several of football titles from the past from 90's to 2000's and I decided to make my 5 favourites football games that I really love playing the most and give reasons to recommended to all gamers out there who loves playing type of sports games. These are my top 5 Football games. 



5 - Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Wii)

 



















Konami was known for earlier football titles from the mid-90's such as International Superstar Soccer series which regarded as being the greatest football games titles in 90's and being a great rivalry to other successful football franchises such as EA's FIFA series. Due to success of the franchise has created their own spin-offs called Pro Evolution Soccer which is a football game series had been a best-selling video game franchises that sold over more than 100 million copies worldwide.

I was a fan of this franchise back in days when I first owned a Nintendo Wii console in 2007, a year before the release of the PES 2008 for Wii in 2008. It's one of the very first PES game being released for Nintendo home consoles that featured the ability of motions controls allowing to control players with the use of Wii remote and nunchunk controller. I finding this version as being one of the best of all consoles platforms regarding with Wii's controls that are easier to play as you use the Wii remote to point cursor at the screen for passing and shooting mechanics, and using nunchunk controller for controlling players that made the game quite playable. This game also added master league mode and online matches is a great edition to the Wii version, so I highly recommended to all Wii owners to pick this game up for super cheap price under £1.



4 - Rocket League (PC, PS4, XBONE, Switch)

        


















Rocket League is a vehicular soccer games for PC, PS4, XBONE and Switch, which both developed and published by Psyonix. It is a sequel to Psyonix's 2008 game called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars for PS3 (via PS Store).

It was first released in 2015 for PS4 and PC, while it was later released the XBONE in 2016 and Switch in 2017. It gained over 18 millions players and sold over 6 million sales after the releases is due to offering titles as free downloadable game for PS Plus members on release date to market the game and it had becoming most popular sport titles for modern gaming.

Rocket League is a fantastic arcade style sports game where you get to play as vehicular players to complete the match against their opponent, so it is a soccer game with vehicles that really got me attention to play because it features excellent gameplay style where you can perform amazing trickstyle to learn and it has playable futuristic sports stadium with addictive game modes to play through exhibition, seasons and online play. You can also customise your own vehicles to make it look edgy, cool and stylish for your own choices. It has arcade style controls, realistic graphics, and more excellent content in the game to keep the game up to date.   

This is definitely must play for the fans of the genres.



3 - Neo Geo Cup 98: The Road To The Victory (Neo Geo)

To all the Neo Geo fans out there, SNK just made their own football titles for the arcade system in 1998 which is Neo Geo Cup 98: The Road To The Victory. It is a re-release version of Super Sidekicks 3 under the licence of FIFA World Cup 1998.

The game features several of the playable teams from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America are aimed to complete with 6 tournaments modes to become a World Cup champion. It also have exhibition modes where you can battle with computer or 2 player through friendly matches. The gameplay is pretty simple to play, so instead of using 4-buttons, it only uses straightforward 3-buttons control that are used for shooting, passing, slide kick, and tackle which worked fluidly well during the matches. It also involves great penalty shootouts and cool quick time events that adds the fun factor of the game. Despite the fluid gameplay, the graphics in the whole game is stunningly amazing with detailed football fields, colourful environments and cool player's animation that made the game look absolutely gorgeous for the Neo Geo system titles.

It is not very easy to own every Neo Geo consoles and games library for everyone due to ridiculously price cost from the online retail stores, unless you're rich video game collectors out there or alternatively try owning the game through emulators. Neo Geo Cup 98: The Road To The Victory is a genuinely solid arcade-sports titles for the Neo Geo library.



2 - Mario Strikers Charged Football (Wii)

           



















Imagine combining Mario franchise with sports genres which turned into Mario Sports series. Back in days where have games like Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Superstars Baseball, but there's one of the game that I really enjoyed the most on the Wii is definitely Mario Strikers Charged Football. It is a sports video game, which was developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo, and it is a sequel to 2005's game Super Mario Strikers for Gamecube. It is one of the first game features Nintendo Wi-Fi connection through online matches and tournaments. The game has improved over the predecessor with multiple gameplay modes and better overall controls. It featured favourite playable rosters and sidekicks such as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, DK, Yoshi, and more.

What really made the game fun is the Striker Cup mode allows the player to compete in matches against the computer to gain rewards, Striker Challenges is where the player has to complete the objectives through seasons, and Domination Mode in which the player faces an opponent of the player's choosing which adds the nice edition of the game. The gameplay is quite similar to the predecessor, but ability to use Wii's controller such as the Wii Remote is used for tackling players and pointing the cursor at the screen for deflecting the ball during the Mega Strike sequences. So far, the game is brutally fun with tons of playable roster and stadiums to choose, it has great power-ups items to impede the opponents, and the skillshot allowing sidekicks to perform really awesome special shot while the captains can perform mega strike up to 6 whomping shot which makes the game quite epic to play which is perfect for online matches and 2-player modes.

If you're into with these kind of sports titles, then it is worth owning for your Wii collection.



1 - SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97

   

















SEGA had several of the football titles from the past such as Virtua Striker, World Championship Soccer and SEGA Soccer Slam. There's one of the football game that caught my attention in my childhood days which is SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97 for the SEGA Saturn, which was created by SEGA Sports. It is sequel to Victory Goal as one of the debut titles of the console, which had an unsuccessful performance critically and commercially, but this game does a better job than the predecessor. During the release of the game, it has met with critical acclaim from the critics calling it best soccer games ever released regarding with smooth player animation, simply easier to learn controls and has the realistic soccer elements that made the game a finest SEGA Saturn's sports titles.

It featured playable international teams and league, several of game modes such as play-off and tournament, exhibition and championship mode, and introducing create a player featuring edit a name of players. What made me liked the game the most is the quality controls of Saturn's gameplay due to reliable players movements and great shooting and passing mechanics makes it very easy to learn, and the graphics in the whole game are by far the best looking sports game for Saturn's titles. The whole soundtrack was made by Jun Senoue, a composer behind Sonic Adventure series, did a fabulous job with the use of hard rock style of original music that fits really well on both game's presentation and in-game matches. So far, I really enjoyed most of the games mode especially with playing on 2-Player matches with friends and family. SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97 are definitely my top favourite football games of all times and for those who are looking for best sports game for the Saturn then this is must own sports game for SEGA Saturn owners.     




Honorable Mention:

International Superstar Soccer 64
Sensible Soccer
Virtua Striker
Captain Tsubasa: Get in the tommorrow
World Cup Italia 90
SEGA Soccer Slam




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