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ISSUE 381|COMPUTERSHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019
market to createyour own team
and a20-season career mode as
aplayer-manager.”
IT’SAGOAL!
Unlike FIFAInternational Soccer
(the debut game in the franchise
launched in 1993), Sensible Soccer
and SWOS did not have an official
licence.But it did have an
encyclopedia of data compiled by
asports journalist called Mike
Hammond, one of the authors of
the stat bibleRothmansFootball
Yearbook.Italso had afun song
calledGoalscoringsuperstarhero,
written by Hare and Richard
Joseph and sung by Jackie Reed.
The use of tiny sprites also became a
trademark forSensible Software.InSWOS,
there were lovely little touches such as stadia
crowds, with art created by Stoo Cambridge,
who also worked on an International Soccer
version of the game forthe Mega Drive and
SNES. In fact, there was so much dedication to
the game,with work long intothe night,
Chapman’s wiferevealed years later that she’d
suspected he was having an affair.
Sensible Soccer and SWOS were very well
received. Notoriously difficult to pleaseAmiga
Powermagazine said the latter was the best
game of all time (“you’ll already know about its
superb passing mode that lets you recreate
free-flowing exciting football. About the clever
wayyou can apply all sorts of aftertouch to
your shots in order to defeat the keeper”) and
tournaments continue to be run today. But is
Hare meddling with awinning formula?
“Sociable Soccer has the same fast intuitive
gameplaywith that ‘just one more game’
quality and ahuge number of teams and
players from all over the world,”Hare
contends of agame that is being pencilled in
forPCand console release next year.
“Of course,modern hardware,modern
gameplaystructure and the internet itself
offer us awhole bunch of things we didn’t
have access to in the 1990s, but Iampretty
sure if we had made Sensible Soccer now it
would have turned out pretty similar to
Sociable Soccer.Ithas definitely been made
with the same approach and sensibility.”
Unlike the previous titles, which worked
solely on the platforms forwhich theywere
made,Sociable Soccer has been designed to be
cross-platform and platform-agnostic.
“It’s versatile,” Hare continues. “You can
playwith atouchscreen, or controllers, or just
set up the team and manage,and you canjump between three control
methods at any time.Ithas more
than athousand teams and
25,000 players from all over the
world, and aunique blend of
arcade sports action. It has three
main game modes, card collecting,
abuild-your-own-team online
league mode,aworld mode with
lots of different present
competitions just like Sensible
Soccer and, of course,lots of
different ways to playfriendlies
along with multiplayer.”TRICK SHOTS
But does the new version lose
some of the magic? Well, the game has a
top-down long-view mode,which invokes a
feeling of Sensible Soccer,but the players are
more lifelike –the tiny sprites are long gone.
It also retains apinball-style of playand the
infamous aftertouch. Hare says it will also be
improved as time goes on, with the staggered
platform releases achance forhis team to
manage development in amuch smoother
and more practical fashion, yielding much
better results in the long term.
“When old Sensible Soccer fans talk about
my new game,theyworry about all sorts of
details like the inability to playitona1990s
controller,for example,which, to be clear,is
not the uppermost thing in the mind of a
mobile games publisher in 2019,” he tells us.
“But as soon as theyactually see the
game,all their fears seem to disappear.
Most people love what we have done with it
and have been very supportive.”NEWCHARITY
FORMEDTO
PRESERVE
CHIPTUNES
Synthesised electronic
music was akey part of
the 8-bit gaming
experience,and it has
given rise to alarge
number of fans. n June,
hundreds turned up to
hear the Hull Philharmonic
Orchestra playarranged versions
of tunes originally composed
using the $ommodore 64’s
celebrated SD chip.And now
the organiser wants them to be
heard farand wide.
$hris Abbott, who runs the
websitec64audio.com,has set
up anew charity called 8-Bit
Symphony to preserve the work
of chiptune musicians such as
RobHubbard and Ben Daglish.
He wants to stage more live
performances, and also intends
to put on museum events, create
orchestral recordings and
produce score books to ensure
the music is not lost to history.
n order to raise moneyfor
the charity,Abbott has first
turned to Kickstarter to record a
double-$D album called8-Bit
SymphonyPro,which will be
performed by the $zech Studio
Orchestra in Prague.Youcan discover more about
the project and the charity at
http://www.8-bit-symphony.com.The site
alsoletsyoucomparetheoriginal
music to the orchestral versions.RETROEVENTRIDES
BACKINTOBLACKPOOL
BilledastheUK’slongest-running
retro show and packed to the
raɗers with old computers, Play
Expo Blackpool returns to the
north-west coast foraninth year
on 12th and 13th October 2019.
Among the guests this time
around will be Shaun Southern
and Andrew Morris, founders
of Magnetic Fields and the
creators of Super $ars and the
Lotus Esprit racing series.
There will also be tournaments,
pinball tables, arcade cabinets
and achance to buy retro
goodies in ashopping hall.The event takes place at
the ãorcalympia Exhibition
$entre,which is part of the
ãorbreck $astle Hotel ̣take a
look on TripAdvisoŗ and tickets
forthe full weekend cost £28
foradults and £16 forchildren.
Youcan find out more
information by going to
http://www.playexpoblackpool.com.ѡSociable Soccer can be played with small players and azoomed-out view,but it’s
much more polished in looks than the old gamesSociable Sbepldwith all pl and med iew bit’