World Tour Soccer 2
PSP
Sony

Jumping on the FIFA World Cup bandwagon, Sony have released 'World Tour Soccer 2' for PSP, just in time for you to realise that the soccer is over and we've probably got another 30 odd years before Australia gets another chance to be denied a place in sporting history by a bunch of primadonnas.

The game tries to differentiate itself from the other soccer games by being much more accessible for all players. Although the game has licensed player names, this is pretty much a fantasy title with no licensed stadiums or strips or any of the usual stuff you find in an EA Sports title. The game is very arcade-y and won't appeal to gamers looking for a detailed soccer game, but may entice those looking for a quick and cheap soccer fix.

The actual gameplay itself is simple. There's a minimum of controls mapped to the buttons - pass, shoot and lob with the ball, and change player, tackle and hard tackle without it. Movement is handled with the d-pad or stick and, whilst you can change formation and tactics and sub people on and off, I never felt any real need or desire to.

The game rewards you for playing well, giving points for nice passes, interceptions, shots on targets and, of course, goals and punishes for slide tackles, dives and bad shots. This is important as the goal is not just to score goals, but to get enough points to win a medal to progress to the next round. On the one hand, this is good because it forces you to play well and maybe FIFA should implement something similar in the real World Cup but, on the other hand, it's frustrating to score a goal or win the match and not progress to the next stage.

Another interesting aspect of the game is the World Challenge-mode where you're given tasks to achieve. You might be a few players down, or you have to shoot goals or make passes from within certain zones, or have a shot clock where you have to score within a certain time. Again, this makes for a much more interesting game but it's just not cricket, nor soccer. In fact, it can be really exasperating, especially when these rules are combined with getting a tremendous point score to progress to the next stage.

Overall, the game is a fun title to tide you over before the big boys of EA and Konami bring out the next issue of their titles. The simplistic gameplay is offset by the frustrating extra rules which wouldn't appear in a real soccer game, but it's just fun enough to keep you wanting to get to the next stage.

Julian Cram