Re: What's exactly New then??

The gameplay is like PC, but with the physics of Amiga. It means that it is very easy to get used to it, for both groups, the PC as well as the Amiga players, so it could be the ultimate SWOS to unite all fans to a central system. It is easier to play than Amiga SWOS, if you have good skills in Amiga SWOS, you will play even better on XBLA, because you will be more successful with your actions. Anyway, this is not always a plus, for the same reasons as you like the PC version or not. It seems that every diagonal shot on XBLA is in, but on Amiga SWOS it is not. Against humans I wouldn t care as long almost every online player is able to head all those easy shots away, but as long the headers and tacklings don t work online, it is a funkiller par excellence. Forget the online mode of XBLA, it is a shame and kills the good reputation of this beautiful game. Although it is very nice to play if you just play offline, this cannot be the sense to buy an Xbox 360.

The biggest pro of the XBLA version is that SWOS looks nice with new graphics, especially in 16:9 widescreen, that s what you cannot say about Amiga SWOS. But IMO that was it! In Amiga SWOS you have original names and a smooth netplay. Well, and it s a bit harder to play, which is not always a disadvantage (if you are an Amiga freak). The sound is just better on Amiga, at least the atmosphere in stereo with the chants. In this point the XBLA version just disappoints, I think it s PC sound but without commentary, a bad choice by Codemasters.

Another negative point is the in-game advertising system, which seems to be an experiment and of all things SWOS is the first game for that. The ad-boards are too big, ugly and in wrong perspective, just not integrated into the in-game graphics, just like ad-banners on a website just without the option to click on it. They are able to update the banners over the network, but I didn t recognize a change yet. Anyway, it feels like spyware and kills again a part of the spirit of SWOS. I cannot understand why people moan about EA Sports for their commercial thinking but to accept Codemasters capitalistic methods. EA s products are at least quality, even the game is not exactly what you expect from a football game, but for many other people. They get what they really like, but get we from Codemasters? Unfinished products, full of bugs, without any communication to their consumers and without sense for quality.

They released a SWOS which is a port from older versions with a netplay which is unusable. The player names are faked to save money and additionally they ve added advertising to save just more money but the game still costs 800 MS Points, not really cheap for what you get IMO. Codemasters have some really good developers, see DiRT for example, but as it seems SWOS was a project of trainees without to really care about the result. I wonder why there is a moving train on a pitch where the goal shadow is unfinished. Such things would never happen in a company who care about quality IMO. Important or not, this is just a fact.

So, what can I tell you? Buy or not to buy, that is the question! Buy it and show Codemasters that SWOS is still a game with potential and we may get a new SWOS, with some new features and hopefully a finished product (Jon Hare as quality manager). At least you get a very good (maybe the best if you like PC) SWOS to play it offline, although it is an expensive alternative for an Amiga. Or buy it not to show Codemasters that it is not OK this way. I really don t know. But if you buy it to play online (no one knows if there will be a patch), then you will not have much fun if you are a magician with the ball.

I hope I could animate a bit of your thinking.

BTW check:
community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253135
;D