World Tour Soccer 2006
Written by Phillip Ellis on 4/15/2005 for
PS2
More On:
World Tour Soccer 2006
Talk about someone who has been out of soccer for years. The last soccer game I played religiously was back on Super Nintendo. That was so long ago I cannot even remember the name of the game, simply that Germany was too freaking good on that game to ever be beaten.
Not anymore baby!
Now my beloved Americans are right up there near the top with everyone else. I used to play soccer as a kid. And when I say kid, I mean kid. It wasn’t too long ago, but back when I was about seven or eight years old. It was my first sport. You know, when you’re that young it’s a fun game. Run up and down the field early in the morning and score. So I do have some sort of expertise when talking about soccer. Although I did score ten goals in one game and find myself thinking that should happen in this game sometimes.
World Tour 2006 is very easy to just pick up and play, and I think that is what has made this game enjoyable to me. That, and the fact that it has been many years since I last even tried a soccer game. I see I was missing a whole different world.
World Tour Soccer 2006 is probably the only soccer game with this many licenses around. Winning Eleven works off of no licenses, and Fifa simply runs off of the FIFA License. World Tour 2006 includes many of the world’s greatest players. Over 19,000 real life players are included on this game. Chances are if you watch soccer, your favorite player will be somewhere on this game. The game offers 935 teams. 935. That is a number that is unmatched in any other soccer game to date.
Finally, a PS2 game taking advantage of the Eye Toy. Ever since the release of Eye Toy I have wondered which games would take advantage of it. It is obvious that 989 Sports is attempting to make use of it with their 2006 titles. Use the Eye Toy camera to put yourself into the game. Now, how awesome is that? It’s just one of those cool touches that help make this soccer game even more enjoyable for a casual gamer such as myself.
The game looks and sounds like that of an actual soccer game. The sounds are pretty well done. Every now and then the crowd will chant some stuff, but nothing like that of the Fifa or Winning Eleven games. The crowd does not seem as rowdy as it should be for World Tour Soccer. You see all the time on the news about fights between the fans of soccer crowds, and while I know nobody likes to associate that with the game, it very much is a part of the game. Sony would have been better off here to include a rowdy crowd that makes a lot of noise. Be able to hear the chants clearly, and make them more frequent. The crowd does react to the game in a very good fashion though, and everything looks in place. Graphically the game compares with that of the other games. The faces of the players are very well done and the models of the players look to be very good. Obviously the stadiums look great as Sony takes use of their own graphical capabilities with this one. The creases and folds on the uniforms looks great, and very realistic. All in all the graphics are very capable of getting the job done in this game and seem to pass off as pretty well done.
Now for the biggest part of any sports game on the market. How does the game itself actually play? With my years of experience playing with little kids on the soccer field I’d say this one gives us a pretty good realistic soccer simulation. However, I’m not certain on that as I have not been able to recreate my glory days in which I was scoring ten goals a game. This one has a lot of special moves known only by us former soccer players, even though unfortunately for me I was never able to use any of these. My biggest move is the sprint forward and kick the ball as hard as you can into the net… and well, World Tour Soccer 2006 has that very special move. This game plays a fun game of soccer and one that anyone can enjoy… even the non-soccer freaks.
Career mode is this game’s bread and butter though. I’m not good enough to advance my team past the school clubs yet, because typically I just have ties with people. I’m pretty good defensively at the game, but offensively I’m lacking. The few games where my offense has gone insane, my defense has gone straight down the gutter and I’ve still tied. The fun of career mode is that I was able to create my former little soccer team, and put us all on the field together one last time. Unfortunately I’m too apt to just passing the ball to myself in an attempt to make myself look like a hero.
World Tour Soccer 2006 is one you can definitely pick up and play, even if you are not an avid soccer fan. The game is enjoyable to play and has all the elements to be a good soccer game in the future. If 989 ties up a few loose strings I think it can compete directly with the two major ones. 989 Sports has made the right moves with its other sports franchises here recently and they appear to be heading in the right direction with this one as well. Look for World Tour Soccer 2007 to really step it up, especially if we are playing it on Playstation 3.
Not anymore baby!
Now my beloved Americans are right up there near the top with everyone else. I used to play soccer as a kid. And when I say kid, I mean kid. It wasn’t too long ago, but back when I was about seven or eight years old. It was my first sport. You know, when you’re that young it’s a fun game. Run up and down the field early in the morning and score. So I do have some sort of expertise when talking about soccer. Although I did score ten goals in one game and find myself thinking that should happen in this game sometimes.
World Tour 2006 is very easy to just pick up and play, and I think that is what has made this game enjoyable to me. That, and the fact that it has been many years since I last even tried a soccer game. I see I was missing a whole different world.
World Tour Soccer 2006 is probably the only soccer game with this many licenses around. Winning Eleven works off of no licenses, and Fifa simply runs off of the FIFA License. World Tour 2006 includes many of the world’s greatest players. Over 19,000 real life players are included on this game. Chances are if you watch soccer, your favorite player will be somewhere on this game. The game offers 935 teams. 935. That is a number that is unmatched in any other soccer game to date.
Finally, a PS2 game taking advantage of the Eye Toy. Ever since the release of Eye Toy I have wondered which games would take advantage of it. It is obvious that 989 Sports is attempting to make use of it with their 2006 titles. Use the Eye Toy camera to put yourself into the game. Now, how awesome is that? It’s just one of those cool touches that help make this soccer game even more enjoyable for a casual gamer such as myself.
The game looks and sounds like that of an actual soccer game. The sounds are pretty well done. Every now and then the crowd will chant some stuff, but nothing like that of the Fifa or Winning Eleven games. The crowd does not seem as rowdy as it should be for World Tour Soccer. You see all the time on the news about fights between the fans of soccer crowds, and while I know nobody likes to associate that with the game, it very much is a part of the game. Sony would have been better off here to include a rowdy crowd that makes a lot of noise. Be able to hear the chants clearly, and make them more frequent. The crowd does react to the game in a very good fashion though, and everything looks in place. Graphically the game compares with that of the other games. The faces of the players are very well done and the models of the players look to be very good. Obviously the stadiums look great as Sony takes use of their own graphical capabilities with this one. The creases and folds on the uniforms looks great, and very realistic. All in all the graphics are very capable of getting the job done in this game and seem to pass off as pretty well done.
Now for the biggest part of any sports game on the market. How does the game itself actually play? With my years of experience playing with little kids on the soccer field I’d say this one gives us a pretty good realistic soccer simulation. However, I’m not certain on that as I have not been able to recreate my glory days in which I was scoring ten goals a game. This one has a lot of special moves known only by us former soccer players, even though unfortunately for me I was never able to use any of these. My biggest move is the sprint forward and kick the ball as hard as you can into the net… and well, World Tour Soccer 2006 has that very special move. This game plays a fun game of soccer and one that anyone can enjoy… even the non-soccer freaks.
Career mode is this game’s bread and butter though. I’m not good enough to advance my team past the school clubs yet, because typically I just have ties with people. I’m pretty good defensively at the game, but offensively I’m lacking. The few games where my offense has gone insane, my defense has gone straight down the gutter and I’ve still tied. The fun of career mode is that I was able to create my former little soccer team, and put us all on the field together one last time. Unfortunately I’m too apt to just passing the ball to myself in an attempt to make myself look like a hero.
World Tour Soccer 2006 is one you can definitely pick up and play, even if you are not an avid soccer fan. The game is enjoyable to play and has all the elements to be a good soccer game in the future. If 989 ties up a few loose strings I think it can compete directly with the two major ones. 989 Sports has made the right moves with its other sports franchises here recently and they appear to be heading in the right direction with this one as well. Look for World Tour Soccer 2007 to really step it up, especially if we are playing it on Playstation 3.
An above average soccer game that would be considered great if it wasn’t for the likes of FIFA and Winning Eleven.
Rating: 7.3 Average
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I guess since I am the new guy here I will introduce myself. Name is Phillip, but you can call me Phil, and/or Philly. It makes no difference to me because the girls prefer Philly. I have never been a writer on a review site per say, yet I have reviewed games for various websites over time. I own every console except for Nintendo because I enjoy blowing my money off for no reason. I was perfectly content with my Playstation 2 until one day, I just felt the need for a larger green box. On top of the consoles, I buy a new computer way too often, and probably have way too many. I sometimes believe there is enough technology and stuff in here to launch a nuclear warhead, and I would not doubt it. I currently reside in North Carolina, near Charlotte, with no idea where I will end up in the future!
Currently I am playing NFL Fever (XBox), Full Spectrum Warrior (Xbox), Rainbow Six 3 (Xbox), Fight Night 2004 (Ps2), and Joint Operations Typhoon Rising (PC).
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