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IGN Review of Fab 5 Soccer
To produce a new, unbranded soccer title and release it among the wolves that are FIFA and Pro Evolution is gaming suicide, but that's exactly what Destineer's doing with Fab 5 Soccer for the Nintendo DS. Luckily the company's not really attacking the genre in the same way that EA and Konami are – instead, this game's much more of a barebones, pure action game that's meant to appeal to those who don't care about the realistic aspects of the sport. Let it be said: this game's ugly, basic in features and clearly made on a shoestring budget. But the core gameplay mechanics of Fab 5 Soccer at least have an inkling of potential, just enough to squeak the design out of the "bad" category and into "I wouldn't kill the person who gave this B-title to me" territory.
Fab 5 Soccer is, pretty much, attempting to be the NFL Blitz or NBA Jam of soccer. EA Sports has its own version of that idea with FIFA Street, but in Fab 5 Soccer's case the designers went the straightforward approach: no clumsy button inputs to pull off crazy over-the-top moves. It's all about passing, shooting, and tripping up the other player to slam that ball into the other team's goal.
The visual style is the absolute pits. Yes, the game's got favorite soccer personalities that probably less than 1% of the American population's even heard about, but they're now in "hilarious" big headed tiny body models that's meant to emphasize that the creators aren't taking this game all that seriously. Bravo guys. But the visuals are reduced to a blobby mess due to a game engine that can't display any sort of detail, so when the camera pulls back away from these licensed athletes, good luck trying to tell them apart. The animation's not much better – the more you play, the more moves you can unlock for each of the athletes, but they animate so poorly that you'd have a hard time telling what move they pulled off when you saw it.
But believe it or not, there's a somewhat solid and fun game underneath Fab 5's hideousness. Oh, it'll never convince soccer fans that this is the way the sport has to be played, nor can I argue that the game's actually a "good" one. But after you get through the initial "God, this game looks terrible" first impression and start playing it, for all that it is, you can definitely have some fun with it. The action's fast and intense, playing far more like a hockey game than soccer thanks to invisible walls around the pitch, and its huge focus on one-timer passing and shooting.
Unfortunately, the computer AI follows basic routines and is easy to exploit, and it's not long until you'll find tons of scoring options where there shouldn't be: stand in front of the goalkeeper when he's throwing the ball in and you can easily steal the ball and kick it in for an unexpected goal. This game's more for the multiplayer crowd, but you'll need a second copy to really squeeze out the true fun of Fab 5 Soccer since it doesn't support single-cartridge multiplayer. The developer managed to get in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection internet play, though – don't expect any random matches to pop up, but if your buddy across the world gets a copy of the game you'll be able to play him over the internet.
The designers don't do much to keep the action going with tons of features. There's a tournament mode and the ability to earn training points to enhance your athlete's performance, but beyond that there's not much to Fab 5 Soccer.
©2008-04-23, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Fab 5 Soccer is, pretty much, attempting to be the NFL Blitz or NBA Jam of soccer. EA Sports has its own version of that idea with FIFA Street, but in Fab 5 Soccer's case the designers went the straightforward approach: no clumsy button inputs to pull off crazy over-the-top moves. It's all about passing, shooting, and tripping up the other player to slam that ball into the other team's goal.
The visual style is the absolute pits. Yes, the game's got favorite soccer personalities that probably less than 1% of the American population's even heard about, but they're now in "hilarious" big headed tiny body models that's meant to emphasize that the creators aren't taking this game all that seriously. Bravo guys. But the visuals are reduced to a blobby mess due to a game engine that can't display any sort of detail, so when the camera pulls back away from these licensed athletes, good luck trying to tell them apart. The animation's not much better – the more you play, the more moves you can unlock for each of the athletes, but they animate so poorly that you'd have a hard time telling what move they pulled off when you saw it.
But believe it or not, there's a somewhat solid and fun game underneath Fab 5's hideousness. Oh, it'll never convince soccer fans that this is the way the sport has to be played, nor can I argue that the game's actually a "good" one. But after you get through the initial "God, this game looks terrible" first impression and start playing it, for all that it is, you can definitely have some fun with it. The action's fast and intense, playing far more like a hockey game than soccer thanks to invisible walls around the pitch, and its huge focus on one-timer passing and shooting.
Unfortunately, the computer AI follows basic routines and is easy to exploit, and it's not long until you'll find tons of scoring options where there shouldn't be: stand in front of the goalkeeper when he's throwing the ball in and you can easily steal the ball and kick it in for an unexpected goal. This game's more for the multiplayer crowd, but you'll need a second copy to really squeeze out the true fun of Fab 5 Soccer since it doesn't support single-cartridge multiplayer. The developer managed to get in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection internet play, though – don't expect any random matches to pop up, but if your buddy across the world gets a copy of the game you'll be able to play him over the internet.
The designers don't do much to keep the action going with tons of features. There's a tournament mode and the ability to earn training points to enhance your athlete's performance, but beyond that there's not much to Fab 5 Soccer.
©2008-04-23, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved