Total Football

STORY / GAMEPLAY
With 50 national teams to select from, Total Football adheres to a strict formula that allows you to alter the length of the matches, the standards of refereeing and the type of pitch (over six available). The joystick controls allow short passing movements, searching through balls with swerve from the after-couch option. At times the action can be particularly slow though, but mixing up the short ball with the long can easily increase the tempo substantially. Yet, the ball fails to stick to the player's feet, a pretty known feature from the Kick Off series and several similar soccer games of the time. The game is missing a couple of features found in the genre. There’s no players substitution and injuries, but it features fouls, penalties and sending off after a particularly unfair attack. But even though there are no injuries, hard tackles may injure a player forcing him to hobble, move at a much slower pace and be less capable in ball controlling. Also, response times are a bit of a problem in such you don't always get an instant response to your commands i.e. when you need to take a quick shot while under pressure. That extra moment often allows the computer to run in and steal the ball. More annoyingly, the game doesn’t allow you to manually switch to the player you want to control while on defense.
Despite its simplistic approach and some frustrating flaws, Total Football is a pretty good soccer game that can easily stand with the (all popular) FIFA World Soccer.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The visuals are crisp and colorful offering enough detail from the pitch and the surroundings. The players are nicely drawn though their animations feel a little stiff. The spectators are also animated, giving an impressive aesthetic. In addition, the ball physics are pretty good, in such that the ball doesn’t just move in straight lines but occasionally has a little swerve in it, and its bouncing feels rather natural. As for the sound, Total Football includes some nice tunes on the main menu and the usual soccer match sound effects like sampled cheering and gasps from the fans.