"Oy! That was my eye, mate!"
Does your favorite soccer team's elimination from the World Cup have you seeing red? Let off some steam with Midway's own extreme-style soccer game, RedCard 20-03.
EA Sports has the exclusive rights to the precious FIFA license, so like other soccer games, Midway's RedCard makes do with national teams and an odd mix of official and fictional players. English star David Beckham is here, for example, but Brazilian players are only identified by their initials. The box cover-guy is U.S. World Cup player Brian McBride.
Clunky navigation of the setup screens makes getting into an actual match unnecessarily tough. For example, Midway took advantage of the disc's big memory to include play-by-play in Spanish, Italian, German and French as well as English. It's a nice feature that adds an international flavor to the game. But for some odd reason, RedCard requires you to select the play-by-play language and the screen-text language on different menus.
Modes
The Finals Mode lets you face 32 teams in a battle for the Cup Championship. In the grueling World Conquest Mode, you play against all 50 national teams and seven fantasy teams. Tournament Mode lets you set up a custom playoff among four, eight or 16 teams. Friendly Mode matches any two teams in an exhibition.
By winning games you earn attribute points, which boost player stats, and unlock additional teams, uniforms, stadiums and modes.
Match Mayhem
For years Midway has purveyed over-the-top sports action, most notoriously with NFL Blitz's bone-cracking pile-ons. Its first foray into the world's most popular team sport proves remarkably tame, though, with flashy touches like forearm shivers and turbo streaks pasted on what is basically a straightforward sim.
Getting within shouting distance of zany arcade action requires turning off referee strictness and offsides, then selecting the Zoom camera. In our opinion, Midway is underselling a solid game engine that makes fine use of the GCN Controller. You can control any player on the field, including the goalie.
RedCard 20-03 boasts plenty of sensational moves, including slide tackles, flips, scissor and bicycle kicks, dekes, jukes and shimmies. Typical of a Midway sports game, player models look pretty much the same. Fortunately, the frame rate is buttery smooth. The well-implemented "time-warp-slow-mo-blur" looks a lot like a similar effect in the midnight racing sequence from Vin Diesel flick The Fast and the Furious.
Team Management
You can create and customize a team based on one of the default teams, but team management options are woefully limited -- you can't adjust team formations or mark rival stars. Instead, customization is limited to rejiggering a handful of attributes for each player.
Bottom Line
RedCard 20-03's hyperaggressive moves and handsome special effects add a touch of the arcade to what is at bottom a solid soccer sim. If multiplayer fun means more to you than team management and official teams, consider taking this disc for a whirl. If you're looking for the real McCoy of cartoony soccer games, though, cast your peepers on our review of Sega Soccer Slam.
RedCard 20-03 is in stores now. This game has been rated "E" (Everyone) by the independent Entertainment Software Rating Board. You will need a Memory Card (not included) to save your progress.
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