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ISSUE 381|COMPUTERSHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019
version of aconsole that
everyone wanted but fewcould
afford (games would set you
back in excess of £200, and
that was in 1991!).
But there’s no denying
that soccer titles todayare a
whole different ball game.
EA’s FIFAisthe Real Madrid
of football franchises, with
260 million copies sold so far.
It has sparkling commentary,
TV-style presentation, realistic
players and stadia –all afar cry
from Sensi, which stood on its
own miniature feet (yet still had
gamers on their toes).
With his new game,Sociable Soccer,
Hare is at least hoping to make an impact,
but it hasn’t proven easy so far. His journey
has been akin to winning the Premiership,
falling through the leagues and having to
prove his worth again –success with Sensi
appeared to count forlittle when an original
punt forSociable on Kickstarter in 2015 was
pulled after £32,498 was pledged,
an amount just over 10 per cent
of his desired sum.
Undeterred, Hare took the
game to Steam as an Early
Access title,before finally
getting enough backing from
Chinese investors to unveil it
on mobile.Atthe time of
writing, he was hoping fora
release this autumn, and it
has become something of a
must-win game.The legacy
of Sensi weighs heavy.
“SWOS remains my
proudest achievement in
gaming to date. It was
played by people all over the world, won
many awards and made me the most
moneyofall my games,”hetells us.
“But, of course,this is adouble-edged
sword when you’re trying to launch anew
game in its own right. European markets saw
it as aretro-remake,and theyusually only
have alifespan of six months or so,whereasanew brand has years ahead of it. It’s why we
didn’t call it Sensible Soccer when we could
so easily have done.Wedecided to make the
conscious decision to use anew name.”SQUEAKYBUMTIME
Hare has been in the situation of trying to
better his football classic before.In1998, the
company behind the game,Sensible Software,
released Sensible Soccer ’98 in 3D,and it was
very much maligned. Fans seized on the fact
that it was quiteunlike the original 1992
version and, by extension, SWOS, agame
that had afew improved iterations during the
mid-1990s that had been largely successful.
It’s amindset Hare is keen to break.
After all, when Sensible Soccer was created
27 years ago,itbroke the mould. Co-created
with Hare’s childhood friend, Chris Yates, it
was as much apassion project as one
earmarked to make alot of money.
Hare and Yates, both of whom were big
football fans, had decided to form Sensible
Software in March 1986 when theyrealised
the company theywere working for–LT⬆The game had loads of options with various cups and leagues available,
and the ability to edit teams, too⬆Different formations could be chosen before agame,and it was also
possible to look at the opposition
⬆Sensible Soccer’s tiny players and the bird’s-eye view allowed much of the
pitch to be viewed on the screen⬆Hare wanted Sensible Soccer to have the same speedy pace as
rival game Kick Off
pul
an
ofgam⬆Kicking offthe design of
agame,this original design
document lays out the way
Sensible Soccer will play