History of Games: The story about soccer games

FIFA is the king

The others are a hillside away…

It’s pretty much known to everyone now, that FIFA soccer once again is back on the top when It comes to soccer games. With that in mind, it wasn’t many years ago some other soccergame makers from Japan tried and made it really good. Pro Evolution Soccer was the game. Other games have also tried to bring FIFA down from the top list, but no one has made it. Which one were they again? It’s not going to be a look far back, as we stay as close to the years of the new millennium as possible.

Four great ones: Four of the greatest soccer games in modern times.

Pro Evolution Soccer series

Pro evolution Soccer (PES) is the first soccer game of these on today’s list. Konami was the head behind the game. When it came out in November 1994, it was named International Superstar Soccer. The game featured 26 national teams, all of which based on their real-life counterparts as of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The game went from being a pc game to become console only, before in 2003, when ISS 3 came out. Then it was back on computers. The game had now been known for it’s highly real football physics and was step ahead of FIFA at this time. It was something different about scoring in ISS.

The same year Pro Evolution Soccer 3 was released for PC. The series was also from the beginning a PS2 game. During the next years PES took over the throne from FIFA and during the PES5 and PES6 period, when the game was at its best. PES6 is still my favorite soccer games of all time. The downhill started when they changed game engine and suddenly nothing felt like the old ISS or PES.

The 2008 version of the game was a disaster. The managed to turn the tides the other way around again, but it took a couple of years. When PES 2012 was released last year, we could maybe feel a little of the old Pro Evo, but it’s still not the same. The games speciality has always been gameplay and users doesn’t seem to care that the license for real players didn't where in the game. Lately this has gotten much better, with booth UEFA Champions League and Europa League mode, but it’s never been a problem thanks to patchers and editors. The room between FIFA and PES have maybe not been bigger, so it will be interesting to see what Konami digs up in front of next years release.

Top 3 best PES Games:

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 6

2. Pro Evolution Soccer 5

3. International Superstar Soccer 3

Actua Soccer Series

Actua Soccer came out in 1995 and was made by the British studios Gremlin Interactive. This was their first game to be made in complete 3D and it got som fans from all around the world. It released from 95’ to 99’ and in the meantime they also made the official Euro 96’ soccer game.

The game was loved by many and mostly because of the big number of teams in the game (Actua Soccer 3), aswell as the possibility to edit a lot yourself. Gameplay wise the game wasn’t so bad either and at the time present it was one of the best soccer games out there. Sadly we saw no more to it after Actua Soccer 3, when Gremlin Interactive went defunct and bought up by Infogrames, who also developed UEFA Striker.

Top 3 best Actua Soccer Games: 

1. Actua Soccer 3

2. Actua Soccer

3. Actua Soccer 2

FIFA Series

It was the year 1993 when Electronic Arts finally made their decision to make a soccer game. FIFA International Soccer, or FIFA 94’, if you prefer. The game was praised for its gameplay at the time being. So EA didn’t stop there.

The years went on and EA produced there games, but I think they must have noticed that the competitors, that came one their back, was on to them. So in FIFA 1998: The road to World cup, everything changed. This was the best football game the world had seen, with great graphics, great gameplay and pretty much everything else. Even the music in this game was fantastic. FIFA did also get their licenses about this time and it looked like it would take knockout on the other soccer games.

The years went on and FIFA did still manage to serve games over the expectations of people around the wide world. Around 2002-2003, something that wasn’t in their plan, happened. Pro Evolution Soccer came over and was no side by side with the big soccer giant. A couple of years later, they lost the race to PES 5 and 6’s fantastic gameplay and ball physics.

When Konami then decided to change style completely it was easy for FIFA to take over the throne as the world’s best football game once again. Since FIFA 10, no one has been even close to the series and i think no one ever will be. FIFA is the world’s best football game and this year they really made the topping for the cake, with FIFA 12. They have the licenses, the graphics, the best commentary and no also the gameplay. No one can really take the match against FIFA, except Pro Evo Soccer, since the other games that is being mentioned here is gone. Looking forward to the future games from the EA developers.

Top 3 best FIFA games:

1. FIFA 12

2. FIFA 11

3. FIFA : Road To World Cup 98’

World League Soccer Series (UEFA Champions League 98-02)

WLS was made possible by another British studio, Silicon Dreams. It wasn’t before Silicon Dreams was under Eidos possession that they started to make football games.

The games served some good moments when it got out in 1998 and finished in the years of 2000, but never become nothing much more than extra games in the stores. It was their other series, the official game for the UEFA Champions League, that got most of the eyes.

The game was very good graphic wise and with the licenses of all the UCL teams, it got pretty big. They continued to produce until the 2002 season, after teaming up with Take Two Interactive instead of Eidos. The license then went over in the hands of EA sports, who saw that they might could have a competitor. No one ever heard anything about soccer games from Silicon Dreams again after this.

Top 3 best WLS(UCL)  games

1. UEFA Champions League 99-00

2. World League Soccer 98’

3. UEFA Champions League 98-99