RealSports Soccer

• Release Date: 1983
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Soccer
• Similar Games: World Championship Soccer (Sega Genesis), Soccer Mania (Game Boy), Soccer Kid (3DO), Pelé's Soccer (Atari Video Computer System), Soccer Brawl (Arcade), Soccer Super Stars (Arcade), World Cup '94 (Arcade), World Cup 98 (Nintendo 64), Soccer (Nintendo Entertainment System), World Cup Soccer (Sega Game Gear), World Cup Soccer (Intellivision), Kunio Kun no Nekketsu Soccer League (Nintendo Entertainment System), World Cup Soccer (Sega Genesis), Soccer Brawl (Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System), Soccer (Game Boy), Soccer Boy (Game Boy), World Cup 98 (Game Boy), World Cup 98 (IBM PC Compatible), World Cup USA '94 (IBM PC Compatible), World Cup 98 (PlayStation), Soccer (Arcadia 2001)

Game Description

RealSports Soccer is Atari's second attempt at a soccer game for the Atari 2600. You can choose from one of 12 different games, and play either solo or against a friend as you pass and shoot your way to victory (or defeat).

Each team has three players with a specific area of the field to cover. A game lasts five or nine minutes and can be played on one of three difficulty levels, with each increasing the speed of gameplay and skill of the computer players.

When you don't have control of the ball, you can cycle through your players with the fire button and you steal the ball from an opponent by running into it. On offense, the button controls both passing and shooting.

There is no goalie, out-of-bounds or penalties. Setting the difficulty switch to 'B' allows players without the ball to wraparound the screen.

Roots & Influences

This game is a sequel of sorts to Pele's Soccer and is part of Atari's RealSports line of more advanced sports games.

This game obviously draws its influence from the sport of soccer (known as Football outside of the U.S.), which is played all over the world.

Review: Overall

After seeing what Activision could do, Atari 2600 gamers began to demand more from their cartridges, and games such as RealSports Volleyball and RealSports Baseball satisfied that need. RealSports Soccer unfortunately doesn't live up to the precedent set by the other games in the RealSports series. But then again, Atari didn't have as much of a mess to clean up as it did with its abysmal Home Run and Football. The original Pele's Soccer wasn't a bad effort at all.

RealSports Soccer's gameplay is just downright bad in so many ways. You have three players on your team, but their movement is restricted to horizontal bands across the field, and only one of them has a straight shot at the goal. For some reason, the decision was made not to include a goalie, so don't be surprised if you play a five-minute game on the easy level and lose 17-10. The manual encourages you to play defense, but that's not as easy as it sounds. Intercepting passes is hard given your players' lack of mobility, and stealing the ball doesn't always work. If you fail to steal the ball, you'll find yourself running in the other direction while your opponent has a clear shot at the goal.

Atari tried to compensate for this with the wraparound feature, but who has ever heard of a soccer player running off one side of the field and reappearing on the other? Not that realism was a key factor in creating this game, but the simple addition of a goalie would have negated the need for this silly "feature." If you've played a lot of sports games, you know your first instinct is to always chase the player with the ball, not run in the opposite direction.

The sound effects are mediocre. There is some variation on static, which is supposed to be a crowd cheering. There's also a shrill sound, which is supposed to be a whistle. Too bad they didn't keep the fireworks that went off every time you scored in Pele's Soccer.

The graphics are pretty bad, too. There is no depth to the field, so you can't kick the ball in the air, and the goal is simply a white box at the end of the field. They didn't even bother to try and make the ball look round -- it's just a small white box. The players don't look bad, but they're not groundbreaking either.

If you're looking for a soccer game for the Atari 2600, stick with Pele's Soccer, and give this one a pass.

Review: Enjoyment

Really not a game you'd want to play twice.

Review: Graphics

The players pull this category up, but everything else pulls it way down.

Review: Sound

Variations on static for crowd noise and something approximating a whistle. That's it.

Review: Replay Value

See above.

Review: Documentation

The best part, unfortunately.

Production Credits