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Being
a World Cup year, it’s no surprise that the world has gone a
little football crazy. Naturally EA have released FIFA: “Insert
generic sub title here” to make the most of  the fever but
Konami are still taking their once a year approach, with Winning
Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 not arriving in the UK until the end of the year. So, if you’ve given
up on FIFA, and you need to play a football game on the beach
in the glorious British summer time, do you still have to rely on
the PSP port
of Pro Evolution Soccer
5, complete
with its horrendous Loading Times? Nope, this summer you can play
SONY Computer Entertainment Europe’s London Studio’s World
Tour Soccer 2, the sequel to the decent PSP launch title; World
Tour Soccer: Challenge Edition – the spiritual successor to the This Is
Football series. A real contender for the cup this time around?
Or a series destined to remain grasping for third place?
World
Tour Soccer 2 is a football game and
as such needs little introduction. The game plays from the
traditional side-view used by it’s peers and features fully
licensed National Teams, although unfortunately no Clubs, Exhibition
Matches, and local or online Multi-Player. Like it’s predecessor, World
Tour Soccer 2 places an emphasis on stylish play in it’s many
Challenge Modes. Passing, scoring goals and successful tackling all
earn the player Points, whereas fouls, conceding goals, losing
possession and  sloppy tackling incur a Penalty. This time around
there are many different Challenge types all built around the Point
System. For instance, The Zone rewards skilful play in certain areas
of the pitch, Totally Outnumbered reduces the number of members in
the player’s team and Shot Clock gives the player only a short
amount of time to score a goal from the player’s team’s first
touch of the ball.
World
Tour Soccer 2 plays very similarly to Pro
Evolution Soccer 5 for the PSP in that its buttons are laid-out
in almost exactly the same fashion. While in possession of the ball
Cross passes, Square shoots toward goal, Circle initiates a long
pass and Triangle passes a through ball, while R causes players to
sprint. While defending Cross changes player, Square slide tackles
and Circle tackles less harshly. As with Pro Evolution Soccer,
this Control System works very well for the PSP and makes the game
fairly easy to pick-up-and-play, exactly as a handheld game should
be.
One
of World Tour Soccer 2’s strongest points is it’s solid
Single-Player game. Instead of the usual Cup and League options, World
Tour Soccer 2 offers the player World Tour Mode and Challenge
Mode in which new Challenges become available as the player wins
Medals in each Mode. For instance, completing a challenge in World
Tour Mode can unlock new Challenges in Challenge Mode and
vice-versa. There are also several awards  possible for particularly
impressive achievements, such as scoring hat-tricks or over five
goals in a match, which should please football loving completists.
Despite
it’s great innovations, World Tour Soccer 2 does have
it’s issues. Although World Tour Soccer occasionally
suffered from over zealous refereeing, World Tour Soccer 2’s
officials could only be described as lethargic. Talking from behind
and pushing seem to incur little penalisation, something that will
certainly cause players to scream the immortal phrase “REFEREE!”
at their SONY portables. There are also occasional A.I. glitches,
such as the goalies apparent inability to chase a loose ball and
infrequent cases of both teams being oblivious to the ball. However,
despite their irritation factor, these incidences are not common.
Although
SCEE London Studios have made a commendable amount of improvements
to the gameplay modes, World Tour Soccer 2 looks no
better than it’s predecessor. Considering the PSP has been out for
almost a year in
Europe
, it seems a little sloppy that a First-Party
production has not improved it’s visuals since it’s originator.
The presentation however is top-notch with easy to use Menus and
reasonably detailed players and  stadiums. As with all football
games, World Tour Soccer 2’s commentary does get
repetitive, but it’s decent for a while and certainly no big
problem. World Tour Soccer 2 does however feature some great
tunes from the likes of Mylo and somehow, the inclusion of licensed
music does give the game some extra credibility.
World
Tour Soccer 2 has it’s issues, and
the mandatory PSP Loading Times are very present, albeit not to the
ridiculous level seen in Pro Evolution Soccer 5, but they are
minor when compared to the pick-up-and-play factor and lengthy
Single-Player. There is no messing about when it comes Multi-Player
either, with the inclusion of wireless online a real plus for
football fanatics. SONY also promises Downloadable Content in the
future too, including new Challenge Modes, so World Tour Soccer 2
does seem a wise football investment for the long term. So come on,
put down Pro Evolution Soccer 5 and give World Tour Soccer
2 a try, because the title of Best Portable Football Game is no
longer a foregone conclusion.
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