An E-Mail from a very remarkable person ( remember our moto:"Better games for Better Players"!)
Just wanted to drop you a line to give whoever was involved in the development of 1-0 ’96 a big round of applause, a standing ovation, in fact.
My entire life I have searched for a soccer management simulation that captures the essence of on field coaching as well as this game--and there have been none.
The performance of the players as unique individuals throughout the course of a season or their career (as they age) is nothing short of eerie. Some players defy their stats to do what they can be depended on doing in clutch plays (for better or worse).
Rare youth players can be scouted out, and through rigorous effort, groomed into multi-million pound superstars.
Game time action, allows for subtle manipulation of attack and defense (changing a player on the ball to say a "forward mid-fielder w/ quick, long passing) and the intended receiver of the ball to "striker w/ keep ball, short pass) will result in an immediate attempted pass to the desired player as long as no other players on the pitch are left as attackers at the time of the play.
A player on the ball may be urged to shoot on goal (conversion to a "center back" w/ keep ball, short pass) or to cheat a defender by dribbling out to the wing (conversion to a "winger" w/ keep ball, short passing) while another player nearby is converted to a "striker" or "center forward" to draw out the defense while the other player dribbles around the outside and then is either made to pass (see above) or turned into a striker or center forward w/Keep ball and sent in for the goal.
By constant manipulation of player positions during the course of the game, a type of "Total Football" can be achieved where the entire course of play directed by you the coach and carried out (or not) by your players to the best of their current ability.
The game becomes like chess, but without squares, where any game piece can fluidly become any other piece at any given moment! A match between two human opponents who know what they are about and are constantly pausing the game to adjust players to make plays takes easily a full 90 minutes! Moreover, I suggest an official half-time to let tempers cool between halves.
Frankly, graphics would detract from play during the game, but I would ask for the ultimate dream--keep the game mechanics as is, but provide a game replay generator that allows one to go back and watch a CG graphics intensive interpretation of a match. Maybe a highlights editor too, so that the really good spots could be saved to a highlights reel if one didn't want to archive an entire game.
Thanks again!
-Spydre
{see below} because I would be sure that it would do well if they manage to add the few bits and pieces that they missed out on. I rate it about a 7/10 due to its array of stats and its good tactics in all aspects of the game but it loses mark for because of the match engine and the areas that it missed that a basic manager game needs to make it interesting. {Ed. As for the League play that is what Soccer Game II, One-Nil. One-Nil'94, One-nil'95 & Soccer Wizard are all about}.