World Tour Soccer

 

Also worth mentioning are the game’s detailed options for switching formation, strategy, and player positioning.  Although the game’s pace is far too quick to fully take advantage of such options, World Tour Soccer does include eight different formations.  Individual placements for midfielders, attackers, and defenders can also be modified, so if you’d like your midfielders to form, say, a diamond shape, you can set that up if desired.  Surprisingly, its also possible to choose between one of six team strategies on the fly by pressing the select button mid-match.

 

These different options come in handy when facing off against opponents in the game’s multiplayer mode.  Taking advantage of the PSP’s ability to communicate wirelessly with other units in the vicinity, World Tour Soccer unfortunately lacks a few things that would have made multiplayer matches much more enjoyable.  First of all, only two players are supported.  Second, players itching to take on their friends in the game’s Challenge mode are out of luck, since Exhibitions games are the only match type supported.  Third, the usually smooth framerate has a tendency to stutter and falter during multiplayer matches.  Its not a major problem, but nonetheless it does exists.

 

On the technical side of things, World Tour Soccer suitably displays the graphical muscle behind Sony’s new handheld.  It is by no means the most graphically intense game on the platform, yet it does feature a host of nice touches that elevate it above the few other sports titles currently available.  You’ll immediately notice the consistent framerate and smooth visuals, especially during the brief cut-scenes that play when goals are scored or penalties are incurred.  Player shadows during night-time games are equally as impressive, but the actual player models themselves have a cookie-cutter appearance to them.  Its not uncommon to find three or four players on a team who look exactly the same, and more variety would have done much to spice up the game’s look out on the field.  The audio is a little less impressive, with an announcer that repeats each player’s name as he touches the ball.  Otherwise speaking only in the most general of terms, he’ll never mention specific scores or team names.  On the bright side, the varied team chants and crowd reactions you’ll hear during each match sound lovely.

 

When all is said and done, World Tour Soccer offers a fast, action-packed brand of soccer on Sony’s PSP.  It certainly won’t woo the simulation crowd, nor does it necessarily need to.  While its gameplay could use a fair share of tweaks and the lack of a season mode is disappointing, World Tour Soccer succeeds at being a fun, easy to pick up version of the sport.  However, with EA’s PSP version of FIFA Soccer right around the corner, serious soccer fans might want to wait and see how both games stack up against each other before taking the plunge.