I want
Majesco to succeed. To me, they are the little company that could.
Unfortunately, they just seem to be getting by on the franchises that
they have acquired. They funny thing is that Im sure they dont expect
a whole lot from this game. Americans arent known for their love of
soccer. It requires us to be in much better shape than we are and have
much longer attention spans than our 22 minute sitcoms would allow.
Beckham
soccer will soon be forgotten. Ive only finished playing it a few
minutes ago and Im already starting to forget about the game. I dont
understand celebrities who attach their names to mediocre products. When
you have millions upon millions of dollars, what would posses you to
hock substandard fast food or poor excuses for videogames? Sometimes I
feel like Charlie Sheen confronting Michael Douglas in Wall Street, "How
much is enough? How many boats do you need?" I know Im paraphrasing.
When Tony Hawk lent his name to the Pro Skater series, I like to believe
that he saw some real potential in the franchise and he wanted to lend
his support. I know his motives werent completely altruistic, but I do
like to believe that he wouldnt have endorsed a substandard game. I
want to give Beckham the benefit of the doubt, Im assuming that he
doesnt play videogames and thus has absolutely no idea just how poor a
game his name is attached to. I would counsel him to procure some gaming
flunkies to hang about and tell him when his name is being sullied by a
crappy game. I think all of the big stars need gaming flunkies.
The
graphics are passable for a Gameboy game, the only problem is that the
actual players on the field are so small that it can be a little
confusing at times as to who actually has the ball. There are a lot of
gameplay options, but there just doesnt seem to be any point to it all.
It ends up being the same game any way you play it. Ive been on soccer
fields, and they just seem a whole lot bigger than they do in this game.
Theres very little sense of scope or grandeur to the game. Its not the
Gameboys fault. Ive played games on this system that have felt epic.
This is not one of them.
The
Train with Beckham phase is interesting. I thought it would be an
opportunity to hone my soccer skills, but instead it simply showed me
how the game worked. Its got a very simplistic pass, score set up that
soon grows tiresome.
The
controls are incredibly basic. The game doesnt make any use of the
shoulder buttons. There is a long kick and a short kick with the A and B
buttons. It gets pretty repetitive and tiresome pretty quickly. The
biggest omission this game makes is the lack of a multi-player mode. I
dont understand sporting games that dont have multiplayer. It makes no
sense not to be able to play this game with those you love. However, I
guess if you really loved them you wouldnt force them to endure this
game with you. So maybe the lack of a mult-player is really a blessing
in disguise.
What
David Beckham Soccer lacks in gameplay, it makes up for in savvy PR
marketing. If you get tired of the game and want to get a better
understanding of the man behind the game there is The David Beckham
Story where you can learn that despite all the media attention he and
his wife get, he is at heart a family man. After reading about his
history and his interview, I have to admit that I have a little more
admiration for the man. I wish I could say the same thing about the
game.
In
countries where soccer, or football, reigns supreme, Im sure the
Beckhams name will be more than enough to sell thousands of copies of
the game. I wish that I could get my message out to them. I really dont
have to warn the Americans, but I would like to make at least one
altruistic gesture on a global scale in order to convince people that
people in America do care about people around the world. Im asking
people who speak other languages to translate this review and spread it
around the world. Work with me to help unite the world against our
common foe of mediocre gaming. We cant seem to agree on anything else;
we should be able to agree on this.