Soccer Gaming

2011 was a great year for games in general, and Soccer Games are no exception. Following on from the last week’s first half of the Soccer Gaming Awards, here is part 2! Enjoy.

Most Replayable Game

If a game is good, people will praise numerous things about it. One of those things, and indeed a -crucial- thing for a football video game, is replayability. Fortunately, this year has been kind to us with a wide array of games that have kept up their end of the bargain months on… which begs the question as to whether three or four months is long enough to judge replayability. My opinion? No. As such, this award is for football games released in 2010 – which game released in that year is still fun to play today?

Football Manager 2011

This was so easy. Both FIFA and PES are great, but they pale in comparison to a game that can be picked up for £25 on launch day. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail to explain why this game is so good, but it’s probably related to the fact that you have an unlimited career and the ability to manage however many teams you like. Add to that the dynamic regeneration of players and it’s no wonder why this game is so much better than FIFA or PES for replayability.

Honourable Mentions…

Football Manager Handheld (PSP) – In-depth and genius, a really great game that has almost single-handedly added to the life of the console by a year.
Football Manager Handheld (iOS) – A bit of a cop-out to name FMH as both of my honourable mentions, but it’s an important point to distinguish just how much this series has revolutionised taking my life away from me.

Most Original Approach to a Football Game

This is one of the stranger awards that i’m handing out in this feature, but it’s an important one that can really only be taken by one of two games this year – Inazuma Eleven or NSS 5. Both were original, both were wonderful and both made you wonder why they don’t make more games like this… but which one was better?

Inazuma Eleven – DS

Sorry New Star Soccer 5. You were close, but not close enough. Inazuma Eleven combines football and RPG in a way that was previously inconceivable, and the end result is one of the best DS games of all time, let alone DS game of the year. It was so refreshing to be able to play a football game and not be frustrated by the controls, and even more refreshing to be truly sucked in to a narrative surrounding a gorgeous gameplay mechanic. Well played, Level-5. Well played.

Honourable Mention…

New Star Soccer 5 – As previously noted, I loved this game and still urge all readers to get their hands on it. It adds lots of features to make football more realistic, but it couldn’t beat the charm of a DS classic.

Best Effort

It’s the award that we hand to the game that really tried but never quite got it right – or as it’s therefore also known, the Cardiff City Award. Four years of playoffs and yet they’re beaten to the Premiership Punch by rivals Swansea. Still, which game put in the effort, but didn’t reap the rewards?

Premiership Manager 2012 – PS3/PC

Granted I only played this game on the PS3, but I don’t think playing it on a PC would make too much difference. I was always going to expect something quite special when playing a game named after one of my all-time favourites (Premier Manager 98), and this game was a real let-down. It ticked the boxes in almost every area, creating a wicked arcade-y feel, but when it came time to play a match the game fell apart. Matches were long, tedious, impossible things. A simple ‘instant’ option would have made the game brilliant… but without it, it became abysmal. A sterling effort, but one that ultimately leaves a sour taste in the mouths of those that buy the game.

Honourable Mentions…

Football Manager Handheld 2012 (PSP) – I will have more to say about this in my upcoming review, but suffice to say the developers have squeezed everything they can out of the console and it’s basically running on empty. Good try though.
FIFA 12 (Wii) – It’s a game that has never had much success on this console, and despite many attempts at changing the formula this was just another in a sea of let-downs. I really appreciate the effort, but it was never going to win any awards (well, apart from this one!).

Best Multiplayer

The best multiplayer award is handed out to the game that produces the most fun when played with two (or more) people sat next to each other in the same room… as we all know that that’s the only way to play football games against your mates.

FIFA 12 - PS3/Xbox

I really, really, really didn’t want to give FIFA 12 this award after the removal of the wonderful ‘Lounge’ mode that has made previous multiplayer battles such fun. But at the end of the day, the introduction of the slider system to edit match stats is too excellent to not give FIFA the award. I point you towards my FIFA 12 review, where I referred to this as one of the best things to come out of the game this year, and I still hold that to be true. One match goalies are amazing, the next a shot from anywhere on the pitch will go in and it’s football-basketball. Great fun.

Honourable Mentions…

FIFA 12 (Wii) – The street mode is great for a kickabout with mates, as the modifiers really affect the game positively. Small goals, big goals, small players, lobs only… it all makes for a fun game.
Football Manager 2012 – Four people, four laptops, one amazing Boxing Day. Admittedly it’s a rare occurrence that you can have such an epic LAN session with FM2012, but when you get those people together in a room, the banter that springs forth from your mouth is unbelievable.

Overall Best Handheld Soccer Game of the Year

Inazuma Eleven – DS

As I noted in the most original approach award, Inazuma Eleven does a lot of things that other games don’t. And though I would take a random match in PES2012 on the PSP over one here any day of the week, the overall experience of Inazuma Eleven is nothing short of exemplary. This is how DS games should be made, and I can only hope that they make an English language version of the sequel soon so that I can revel in it wherever I am.

Honourable Mentions…

PES 2012 (PSP) – I don’t think I need to spend much more time telling you how much I enjoy this game. If there were more features, I would consider it my favourite. As it is, it’s a close second or third.
FMH 2012 (PSP) – Again, this game is great. A really, really good game to play wherever you are and something that single-handedly makes five-hour train journeys go by in an instant. If only it were more different to the previous incarnation, then it would be the best.

Overall Best PC Soccer Game of the Year

Football Manager 2012

No introduction needed, no explanation needed. Though there were some other games this year that gave a good PC experience, none moreso than this masterclass in game design. FM has and will continue to steal more hours of my life than any other game I know.

Honourable Mentions…

New Star Soccer 5 – A great game, but not great enough. Obviously Sports Interactive have a much bigger team, bigger budget and so on, but on merit this game isn’t bad at all. It just so happens that Football Manager is the greatest PC game available right now, let alone soccer game.
FIFA 12 – Having tried both EA Sports’ and Konami’s attempts to bring their franchises to a PC user-base, I have to say that I enjoyed the port of FIFA 12 more. It just felt more polished than PES, to me at least. Nothing on NSS5 or FM2012.

Overall Best Console Soccer Game of the Year

The final award of this whole award show thing. The overall winner of the Soccer Gaming 2011 Awards is a game that combines all of the top features we look for in a video game, adds many new things to an old formula and (most importantly) creates a fun experience that can be enjoyed over and over again. So, without further ado, here is the Overall Best Console Soccer Game of the Year:

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012

PES or FIFA is a thing of taste. And picking between these two monoliths is a task that really takes a lot of time considering the positives of the two. But I would say that objectively, having played both games for two to three months now, my vote has to go to PES. It may not be the best multiplayer, it may not have the best sound, but when you switch commentary off and play the Master League on your own, you get engulfed into a season mode like none other. You build up imaginary relationships with players for reasons you can’t explain, and end up retraining Nihat to play Centre-Midfield for a team winning the Champions League, despite him being 36 and nowhere near good enough to make the bench, let alone the starting eleven. I don’t build those relationships in FIFA, only in PES… and that is why Pro Evo 2012 is my favourite. That is why it is the best.

Agree? Disagree? Then drop your argument for why i’m right (or wrong) in the comments below and i’ll be sure to join in on the debate. Come on FIFA fans, tell me why I picked the wrong game!