Soccer

I'd like to repeat a little mantra:

Fun first, engine second. Fun first, engine second. Fun first, engine second.

It's not that Soccer isn't fun, it's just that the fun lasts for about two minutes before the tedium sets in. This was a daring attempt at a genre that is probably unworkable in ZZT, and it inevitably falls short. On the bright side, it's unpretentious, it lacks the usual assortment of totally random, theoretically humorous enemies, and it's a nice try for one's coffee break. If better AI were possible, "Soccer" could be a lot of fun.

As it is... well, it was a nice try.

when i first loaded this game, i thought you could choose your team but i was wrong......ok, enough. lets split my list into negative and positive:

negative: * the music is horribly annoying * the tutorial ends your game, damnit. * the football pitch is drawn in an awkward way * the a.i is dumb as a toothpaste * you have so little team members who do nothing * it is impossible to score * graphics??? what graphics????

positive: * atleast snika was brave to try something new * the engine isn't THAT bad * the ball bounces!!!!!! * uhm * not the worst game ever, * try downloading it, it tastes like chicken * goodbye

I was excited to see a soccer game for zzt...

The I ran it...

I thought it was a joke at first... one of those games that mock newbies in stereotypical cliches (bad command endgam).

Then I got to the first level, Pressed "B" because the music made my privates hurt for some ODD reason, and shot a few attempted goals. The engine would be ok if the opponents were a bit smarter...

But maybe they were just random in the first level... maybe there was a bit of structure in later arenas...

I skipped to the end in the editor where a text box came up to tell me what happened to the player and to tell me the game was over. I quit zzt.... with that horrible music still ringing in my ears... (not like I can do better, and WiL's been avoiding me for months...)

Now, It wasn't the worst game I've seen... definately not. The engine was ok like I said, but it could use some work.

Let's do this STEP BY STEP. I started by loading the ZZT world. I was presented with a horribly drawn title screen; on which upon I said 'THAT'S WHAT A SOCCER BALL LOOKS LIKE?' Or, atleast I thought it was a soccer ball. Might have been some creepy face that you would find on the wall of the haunted mansion in disneyland. No matter, let us continue. I pressed P, and was greeted with "SNIKA PRODUCTIONS", which was basically randomly drawn lines put together, and in the middle it said the title of the company. I quickly scuttled to the next board.

The menu system was easy to use, and easily made. Move the cursor UP/DOWN and then pick a target, which the cursor promply shoots it. My first choice was the 'about' section, because that's what it told me to do. I realized there was some music playing. Horrible music, sounded like it was made with a random ZZM creator. Literally, the high notes were very far apart from the low ones, so there were seemingly random "BEEP BEEP"s every now and then. Ok, blahalah, lets talk about the tutorial.

The tutorial made the game seem really, well, NON-SOCCER-BASED. Also, it didn't teach me anything, except how to use ?+K. Lets move on.

The game was OK, even an attempt at a plotline, which you rarely see in sports-style games. I guess I entered a tournament and I was destined to become a soccer champ, or something. So, I enter the brown passage behind the counter, and I get a board with a soccer field on it, and some red/white guys come pouring out. I freaked out, but that wasn't the real game.

The engine was simplistic. Walk up to the ball and it moves away from you. Type ?+K and you have 5 seconds to kick the ball, where it then keeps moving until it is touched again, and that includes bouncing off walls. There was about 10 opponents on the other team, and like, 3 on mine, including me. Since there was no real AI in this game, it is very easy to get the ball away from your goal. Getting it in the other is the hard part. The opponents always seem to take the ball before you can do anything with it, and it got so frustrating I quit the game.

While this is a good attempt at a sports style game, there is much need/room for improvement. Graphics, Music, and Gameplay could seriously be re-made. The real strength here is the game itself, however, because of it's style.