Review: Sega Soccer Slam

[bahn]

As if soccer weren't brutal enough, Sega takes the sport and kicks it into overdrive.

Thankfully, I was never the last kid to be picked for grade-school dodgeball teams, but I wasn't exactly first-round draft material either. The one time I managed to get a regulation basketball through a regulation hoop, no one else was around to see it, and not even my friends believed me when I told them.

<p>Sports and I are rarely mentioned in the same sentence, though I do enjoy the occasional arcade sports experience. I have spent some quality time with both <i>All-Star Baseball</i> titles for the NeoGeo and one of the Sega Genesis <i>FIFA</i> soccer games, and, heck, I bought <i>NBA Jam: Tournament Edition</i>, also for the Genesis. So a cartoony, fast-paced soccer game by Sega sounded all right.

<a href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/gamecube/soccerslam" target="top">Catch Nick's review in its entirety, here!</a>

[BioMechanic]

I recently picked up SSS, and despite the fact I already knew how fun it was, I was still floored by the polished attention to detail.

Great review!

One thing that's worth mentioning (I didn't notice it in the review - sorry if I missed it) is that you can adjust the zoom of the in-game camera, which helps tremendously in both single-player (to help keep track of your somewhat overzealous CPU teammates) and multi-player (darn those humans!).

Between Soccer Slam, Super Monkey Ball, and Smash Melee, there's enough multi action on the Cube to last months. And next month Beach Spikers!

Sega has the continuing ability to create games that no one else would think of, but must leave other developers thinking "Why didn't WE think of that??!!??" SSS is the latest.

[Nick]

I'm glad you liked the review. Soccer Slam is a very good game. I picked it up when it first came out a)because there were not that many other GameCube games out, and b) because it was Sega multiplayer. If either of those two elements was not in place, I probably would have skipped it over, and I wonder how many gamers are in fact looking over what is a high-quality, high-fun title.

Interestingly, the first piece of concept art Sega released for this game was a shot of El Diablo, leading many to thing that the then-unnamed project was a wrestling title. If the same development team that made Soccer Slam produced a sequel to Wrestle War on the Cube, I would be first in line to buy it. The inclusion of Wrestle War in the latest version of the Sega Smash Pack leaves me hopeful.

[Reno]

So Nick, are we gonna throw down in SSS at next year's E3? Another game to whoop you in!

[Nick]

Whoop? Me? Whoop me?

Ha.

It's much harder to get last-second, one-point, skin-of-your-nose victories in Soccer Slam, since it is not conducive to button mashing. Maybe you'd rather play me in Tekken or something?

[Reno]

We can play Soul Calibur 1/2, or Virtua Fighter. Or Tekken. Whatever floats your I-just-got-whooped-by-Reno boat

[bahn]

...was that what all those obscenities were about...something about *#@*&# and "cheater", or something. MonkeyBall is the bane of enjoyment...

'Course, I was too busy owning Lawd.

[Nick]

For some reason, I kept letting up on Reno toward the end of each round of Monkey Fight. Maybe it's because he's such a nice guy (unlike the sinister Robert Rence).

In any case, I learned from those minor non-whoopings, so make sure to bring a crying towel next year, Double A.