Sensible World of Soccer offered one of the most unique gaming experiences for Amiga owners back in 1996 when this game was released. Not only did you have the option of playing your chosen team but also manage it too. This alone made the game exceptional as very few soccer/manager games offered this option.
SWOS 96-97 still has the great game play associated with the previous Sensible soccer games, the cutesy miniature players and soft touch player controls are still a winner for me.
Some people may find the in game controls a little awkward and the overhead in-play view can be an acquired taste compared to other games in the genre.
Player control can take some getting used to as any quick change of direction on your joy pad/joystick will usually result in your player running one way and the ball running in the opposite direction but practice makes perfect and I think most will find it gives more touch and feel in the game and allows you to execute some excellent football moves.
The user interface on the manager option is pretty user friendly plenty of big icons and all the options you would possible need, researching and signing players is very easy to accomplish no complicated bidding involved and transactions are resolved instantly, no waiting for several in-games weeks for players to arrive.
The results generator for games that are not played manually is swift and
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doesn’t require you to sit through endless minutes of watching a coloured bar moving across your screen as in many other manager simulations as such you can complete an entire season very quickly, I have completed one in 1 hour.
However this may not be for everyone as and as game results can be very random losing to a poor team for no reason is not uncommon.
There are plenty of stats to keep you interested but very little in the way of individual player skills and abilities to help define players.
Most of the time you will be signing players based on position and value.
Beware players that do not get played lose their transfer market value very quickly and it can be very slow to build back up, so I would advise against stocking your bench with high value players unless you intend to play them!
These are the only real downsides to the managerial side of the game.
Despite this I would still rate this game highly and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.
