Red Card 20-03
Midway strikes gold with a shallow, but incredibly fun Blitz-like take on soccer.
Published: April 15, 2002
Ah, Midway, purveyors of all things arcade, makers of the xtreem. The house that Mortal Kombat built has all but solidified themselves as the de facto standard for over-the-top sports games, injecting plenty of 'tude and bravado into the familiar videogame territory of the football genre with the Blitz series. Until now, though, the extent of the developer/publisher's pro sports efforts haven't moved beyond football games, instead tweaking and revising the familiar football formula millions have come to love. Some would say, however, that the Blitz series has seen better days, and perhaps it's time to move in new directions with a sport that isn't so easily milked.
Enter Red Card 20-03, Midway's take on soccer, a sport that lends itself so easily to videogame form that's it's amazing we don't see more of them. Of course, a good soccer game must satisfy the exacting demands of those that watch the sport with the fervor and passion usually reserved for cultists or religious zealots. Making a perfect recreation of the sport may be something other developers are striving for, but Midway wisely chose to take the Blitz route and concentrate on what makes the game entertaining, making sure to spice things up with a few very arcade-like tweaks. Lightning seems to have struck twice for the Chicago-based dev house, however, as the game is ridiculously fun and as long as you don't get hung up on the fact that it's not a picture-perfect representation of the sport of soccer, you're bound to find plenty of entertainment.
Red Card plays much like any other soccer game, which is to say it's fast, relatively challenging (especially on the harder difficulty levels), and includes real player names (though not teams beyond country). It's also pretty fun in its own right, even before you introduce all the tweaks Midway tossed into the game. But the tweaks made to the game are indeed good, and manage to keep things balanced while getting about as extreme as possible for a game that still adheres to the basic rules of soccer. It's also ridiculously fun, as any of Midway's sports games are, with a friend or 15. In fact, as fun as the single player game is, you shouldn't even pass judgment on the game until you've had a chance to sit down with a friend (or even better, a couple of 'em) and really go to town.
But this is a Midway game, and tweaks to the familiar soccer formula are at the forefront of the design. Most games are comfortable enough to include the arcade standby of a turbo meter, and Red Card follows suit. Each player has their own turbo meter that can be activated with a press of the R2 button. Holding down the button will slowly deplete the meter, after which point the player will become fatigued and can't run as fast. Turbo can be applied to passes or an extra large boost of speed (yes, in addition to the normally faster running speed of using turbo), with each taking out larger chunks of the meter. By linking the turbo to some of the moves, you actually get a little more strategy than in most games in the genre.
Similarities to other soccer games end there, however, as Midway one-ups other arcade efforts by adding the fantastically well-conceived 1-2-3-4 meter. Every move in Red Card can be boosted with a chunk of the 1-2-3-4 meter, so if that slide tackle just isn't quite hardcore enough, you can make it a little more painful and add some punch with a simple tap of the L2 button. Some moves, like shots on goal can have multiple parts or even the entire meter donated to help kick up the power. When using the full meter, shots can actually get so powerful that they can carry the keeper through the goal along with the ball. It's ridiculously entertaining to blast a shot at the net and watch the poor goalie try to catch it, only to have the ball lift him up and back into the net, sending him tumbling head over heels. If you're seeking a more dramatic effect with shots, you can slow the game down with a Matrix-style effect that really should get annoying but somehow manages to never really feel tired. Because the shot may or may not get stopped by the keeper, there's a bit of suspense as you watch the player set up for the shot. Combine this with absolutely killer keeper-carrying power shot and you have something that had me jumping out of my seat with every shot. Speaking of shots, the right analog stick handles the bulk of your shooting attempts, since you have precise control over where you place the shot by simply flicking the stick in a direction corresponding to a place on the goal (i.e. upper-right to kick the ball to the upper-right corner of the goal). This is invaluable for penalty kicks since you have perfect control over where you want the shot to go when squaring off against a goalie.
As normal controls go, there are plenty of moves at your disposal. X switches players while on defense, and executes a pass (or thru-pass with a double-tap) on offense; square stomps the ball on defense and lobs the shot high into the air while in possession of the ball; circle slide tackles when you don't have the ball, and shoots it when you do; pressing the triangle button while on defense rewards you with an aggressive tackle, a perfect example of the attitude of the game. A quick press of the button rewards you with either a powerful shove or a leg sweep the absolutely levels the recipient. Tack on a 1-2-3-4 boost and you can up the aggressiveness further with a flying double-kick to the face. It's hilarious, it's a little shocking and it's the perfect way to silence a little trash talking from a friend who thinks they're the digital answer to Pele.
There's not much in the way of modes beyond just the game itself. There's limited create-a-player and create-a-team, which is a nice touch, but the likenesses you can choose from are simplistic in nature. There's no franchise mode, but you do have the option of taking a team through an entire season and finally up to the world cup (though the licenses for the world cup and actual teams weren't included, so you'll get player names and locales, but no real team names). For every section of the world (North America, South America, Australia, Europe, etc.) there's also a secret team featuring more outlandish teams. The first one you encounter, the Dolphins are actually dolphins, and the animations are enough to have you on the floor crying with laughter.
Like the latest Blitz game, Red Card uses the RenderWare platform as its base, which is an almost sure-fire guarantee for a nice looking game. There are indeed some nice visuals to behold, particularly in the field, which looks fantastic thanks to some gorgeous high-res texture work. Player models look good, but not incredible. They certainly do the job, but likenesses aren't very close, so you won't be spotting your favorite players at a glance anytime. Even close-ups don't offer a very realistic digital representation. Luckily the rest of the game looks great. Stadiums offer plenty of eye candy like flags waving and confetti on big goals. When kicking into the slo-mo shots, there's a healthy helping of motion blur that actually helps the whole effect -- something that motion blur rarely does. Best of all the game runs at a rock-steady 60 frames a second. Granted, there's not a ton of stuff happening on screen, but that's even more reason for the game to stay solid.
A sports game, even an extreme one, really does benefit from good commentary. There's something about the whole presentation that makes it that much closer to the real game if there's some commentary (expert or… um, Madden's). Red Card does offer some color and running commentary (and with authentic European accents in your choice of plenty of languages too!), though most of it becomes quite repetitive – even within the course of a single game. It does match up with what's happening on screen most of the time, which is nice, but after slide tackling or kicking a shot for the twentieth time, you'll likely have everything the commentators are apt to say on the matter.
Effects are quite well done, with a perfect dull thump of cleat on leather (or synthetic of you prefer) or the light scratch of grass getting kicked up as you slide tackle the holy living crap out of an opponent's shins. Crowd noise is key in any soccer game, and while you won't hear any clear cries from the fans, there's great ambiance, especially after a goal. Horns blare, voices rise in a cacophonous crescendo of noise, and there's plenty of oomph to the audio. The only music you'll hear, as per just about every other sports game, is during the menus. You're treated to a single tune, and it's a tolerable one.
There's a delicious freedom in reviewing an extreme sports game. Certain things are just a given; you'll never have to gripe about specific moves or formations, the lack of a good franchise mode, unrealistic physics or calls from officials. These things just don't factor into a pure arcade sports game most of the time, and to be honest, in most cases they'd interfere with what the game is trying to do: provide a simple, quick, pick-up-a-play gaming experience with enough depth to hook you, but not so much that you forget why you're playing. Red Card does this perfectly, and it's amazing how good their freshman effort was. The game is remarkably solid, and offers plenty of strategy in the way of 1-2-3-4 and turbo meters, and trademark Midway over-the-top moves. Make no mistake, Red Card 20-03 is NOT a soccer sim, though it does a good job of recreating a surface representation of the game. It IS an incredibly fun, addictive and enjoyable experience that could be the perfect catalyst for a night of gaming with a bunch of friends.
Enter Red Card 20-03, Midway's take on soccer, a sport that lends itself so easily to videogame form that's it's amazing we don't see more of them. Of course, a good soccer game must satisfy the exacting demands of those that watch the sport with the fervor and passion usually reserved for cultists or religious zealots. Making a perfect recreation of the sport may be something other developers are striving for, but Midway wisely chose to take the Blitz route and concentrate on what makes the game entertaining, making sure to spice things up with a few very arcade-like tweaks. Lightning seems to have struck twice for the Chicago-based dev house, however, as the game is ridiculously fun and as long as you don't get hung up on the fact that it's not a picture-perfect representation of the sport of soccer, you're bound to find plenty of entertainment.
Red Card plays much like any other soccer game, which is to say it's fast, relatively challenging (especially on the harder difficulty levels), and includes real player names (though not teams beyond country). It's also pretty fun in its own right, even before you introduce all the tweaks Midway tossed into the game. But the tweaks made to the game are indeed good, and manage to keep things balanced while getting about as extreme as possible for a game that still adheres to the basic rules of soccer. It's also ridiculously fun, as any of Midway's sports games are, with a friend or 15. In fact, as fun as the single player game is, you shouldn't even pass judgment on the game until you've had a chance to sit down with a friend (or even better, a couple of 'em) and really go to town.
But this is a Midway game, and tweaks to the familiar soccer formula are at the forefront of the design. Most games are comfortable enough to include the arcade standby of a turbo meter, and Red Card follows suit. Each player has their own turbo meter that can be activated with a press of the R2 button. Holding down the button will slowly deplete the meter, after which point the player will become fatigued and can't run as fast. Turbo can be applied to passes or an extra large boost of speed (yes, in addition to the normally faster running speed of using turbo), with each taking out larger chunks of the meter. By linking the turbo to some of the moves, you actually get a little more strategy than in most games in the genre.
Similarities to other soccer games end there, however, as Midway one-ups other arcade efforts by adding the fantastically well-conceived 1-2-3-4 meter. Every move in Red Card can be boosted with a chunk of the 1-2-3-4 meter, so if that slide tackle just isn't quite hardcore enough, you can make it a little more painful and add some punch with a simple tap of the L2 button. Some moves, like shots on goal can have multiple parts or even the entire meter donated to help kick up the power. When using the full meter, shots can actually get so powerful that they can carry the keeper through the goal along with the ball. It's ridiculously entertaining to blast a shot at the net and watch the poor goalie try to catch it, only to have the ball lift him up and back into the net, sending him tumbling head over heels. If you're seeking a more dramatic effect with shots, you can slow the game down with a Matrix-style effect that really should get annoying but somehow manages to never really feel tired. Because the shot may or may not get stopped by the keeper, there's a bit of suspense as you watch the player set up for the shot. Combine this with absolutely killer keeper-carrying power shot and you have something that had me jumping out of my seat with every shot. Speaking of shots, the right analog stick handles the bulk of your shooting attempts, since you have precise control over where you place the shot by simply flicking the stick in a direction corresponding to a place on the goal (i.e. upper-right to kick the ball to the upper-right corner of the goal). This is invaluable for penalty kicks since you have perfect control over where you want the shot to go when squaring off against a goalie.
As normal controls go, there are plenty of moves at your disposal. X switches players while on defense, and executes a pass (or thru-pass with a double-tap) on offense; square stomps the ball on defense and lobs the shot high into the air while in possession of the ball; circle slide tackles when you don't have the ball, and shoots it when you do; pressing the triangle button while on defense rewards you with an aggressive tackle, a perfect example of the attitude of the game. A quick press of the button rewards you with either a powerful shove or a leg sweep the absolutely levels the recipient. Tack on a 1-2-3-4 boost and you can up the aggressiveness further with a flying double-kick to the face. It's hilarious, it's a little shocking and it's the perfect way to silence a little trash talking from a friend who thinks they're the digital answer to Pele.
There's not much in the way of modes beyond just the game itself. There's limited create-a-player and create-a-team, which is a nice touch, but the likenesses you can choose from are simplistic in nature. There's no franchise mode, but you do have the option of taking a team through an entire season and finally up to the world cup (though the licenses for the world cup and actual teams weren't included, so you'll get player names and locales, but no real team names). For every section of the world (North America, South America, Australia, Europe, etc.) there's also a secret team featuring more outlandish teams. The first one you encounter, the Dolphins are actually dolphins, and the animations are enough to have you on the floor crying with laughter.
Like the latest Blitz game, Red Card uses the RenderWare platform as its base, which is an almost sure-fire guarantee for a nice looking game. There are indeed some nice visuals to behold, particularly in the field, which looks fantastic thanks to some gorgeous high-res texture work. Player models look good, but not incredible. They certainly do the job, but likenesses aren't very close, so you won't be spotting your favorite players at a glance anytime. Even close-ups don't offer a very realistic digital representation. Luckily the rest of the game looks great. Stadiums offer plenty of eye candy like flags waving and confetti on big goals. When kicking into the slo-mo shots, there's a healthy helping of motion blur that actually helps the whole effect -- something that motion blur rarely does. Best of all the game runs at a rock-steady 60 frames a second. Granted, there's not a ton of stuff happening on screen, but that's even more reason for the game to stay solid.
A sports game, even an extreme one, really does benefit from good commentary. There's something about the whole presentation that makes it that much closer to the real game if there's some commentary (expert or… um, Madden's). Red Card does offer some color and running commentary (and with authentic European accents in your choice of plenty of languages too!), though most of it becomes quite repetitive – even within the course of a single game. It does match up with what's happening on screen most of the time, which is nice, but after slide tackling or kicking a shot for the twentieth time, you'll likely have everything the commentators are apt to say on the matter.
Effects are quite well done, with a perfect dull thump of cleat on leather (or synthetic of you prefer) or the light scratch of grass getting kicked up as you slide tackle the holy living crap out of an opponent's shins. Crowd noise is key in any soccer game, and while you won't hear any clear cries from the fans, there's great ambiance, especially after a goal. Horns blare, voices rise in a cacophonous crescendo of noise, and there's plenty of oomph to the audio. The only music you'll hear, as per just about every other sports game, is during the menus. You're treated to a single tune, and it's a tolerable one.
There's a delicious freedom in reviewing an extreme sports game. Certain things are just a given; you'll never have to gripe about specific moves or formations, the lack of a good franchise mode, unrealistic physics or calls from officials. These things just don't factor into a pure arcade sports game most of the time, and to be honest, in most cases they'd interfere with what the game is trying to do: provide a simple, quick, pick-up-a-play gaming experience with enough depth to hook you, but not so much that you forget why you're playing. Red Card does this perfectly, and it's amazing how good their freshman effort was. The game is remarkably solid, and offers plenty of strategy in the way of 1-2-3-4 and turbo meters, and trademark Midway over-the-top moves. Make no mistake, Red Card 20-03 is NOT a soccer sim, though it does a good job of recreating a surface representation of the game. It IS an incredibly fun, addictive and enjoyable experience that could be the perfect catalyst for a night of gaming with a bunch of friends.
