Red Card 20-03

Description

While Midway has been known for making solid action-oriented sports games, it's easy to see the formula that has run throughout most of its games. From the big-head mode to "catching on fire," Midway's sports games, from NBA Jam to NHL Hitz, all have striking similarities that unify them. With Midway expanding its line to include more types of sports, you'd think that the company would just stick to this formula and keep cranking out the games. It would be easy, for example, to imagine a three-on-three soccer game that essentially played identically to NHL Hitz, only with grass replacing ice and a ball replacing the puck. RedCard Soccer 2003, however, strays from the mold that most of Midway's sports games have used. It still takes the same exciting type of "no rules" approach that the previous games have taken, but RedCard resembles the actual sport of soccer far more than, say, a two-on-two basketball game represents actual NBA play.

Up front, RedCard is a very simple game. You can jump into friendly exhibition matches, set up multiplayer tournaments, or jump into the game's "beat every team" conquest mode. Conquest mode pits you against all the other teams, one nation at a time. Playing through conquest mode unlocks new fantasy teams--including dolphins, a swat team, and samurai--and new arenas. Completing conquest mode also unlocks a world finals mode. Teams are broken up by nation, and a handful of the game's teams contain actual players.