Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Pure Football is one of the rare breed of arcade football titles to get released on the current generation of consoles. Those of you who had a PS2 might remember EA’s FIFA Street series that saw professional footballers form around the world take part in trick infused matches that were more about flair and skill than tactics, and Pure Football tries its best to recreate that same sort of arcade fun.

Unfortunately you’ll soon come up against your greatest nemesis in the game: the controls. The noticeable delay in your player reacting to your button presses means you’ll soon be grinding your teeth as you try to perform tackles or string a series of passes together to create a scoring chance. At least the AI is forgiving enough that you can overlook the control lag but once you come up against human opposition you’ll have to practice great self control in order to not lose your temper because of it. Whereas in games such as PES and FIFA the control lag might be easier to overlook as those games rely on slow build up play, in an arcade game like Pure Football where it bases its gameplay on speed, it’s a real killer.

When performing any cross, shot or header a power gauge will appear under your player’s feet that will determine whether the action will be successful or not. So stop it in the red zone and you’ll sky the ball into the stratosphere. Hit the green zone and the shot or cross will be on target but might get saved. Hit the white “Pure” zone and you’ll unleash a devastating shot that will almost always score. For successful passes, shots and crosses you’ll also earn Pure Points and fill your Pure meter which when full makes your next shot or cross perfect no matter where you stop the gauge. Defending on the other hand is terribly frustrating as the tackle system is a frustrating affair that sees your opponents barge through your defensive line unless you have have a player with high physical and tackling stats and perfectly time your tackle. Of course, you could also just use slide tackles and scythe down the ball carrier, but each slide tackle fills up a foul meter that once filled rewards a penalty to your opponents no matter where the last foul was committed on the pitch. It’s at least a neat way of preventing players from just spamming slide tackles, but limits your options when defending.

Adding to your woes will be the lack of modes on offer with only exhibition matches, a campaign mode and online play available to you. The campaign sees you creating a player and team from scratch and taking on international teams in a variety of objective based games. For example, you’ll have to be the first team to score 2 goals or you’ll have 3 minutes to win the game. There are also additional objectives that allow you to unlock real players for your created team. At the end of each match you’ll be able to spend the Pure Points earned through out the match and upgrade your custom player’s attributes. Online play is restricted to exhibition matches only, but the real problem comes down to the lack of an online community due to FIFA and PES holding the majority of the football market.

The presentation is let down by the character models which are far from good looking, with broad shoulders and thin legs that make them look like some sort of hybrid of the Incredible Hulk and Twiggy. As expected from an arcade game, matches are played in over the top locations such as giant factories in Milan or on mountain tops in Germany. The sound is made up of a drum and bass track playing in the background of matches and menus, and the voices of your players on the pitch. There aren't any commentators or spectators at any of your matches which leaves your games with little atmosphere. It’s laughable though that all your players will shout with English or Scottish accents, for example you’ll be playing against Fabio Cannavaro only to hear him shout “Och good save laddy!”

Where FIFA Street succeeded all those years ago was in giving us an entertaining game that let us play out our dreams of taking on the world’s elite footballers with outrageous tricks and feints. Pure Football on the other hand fails in nearly all areas, with poor controls, delivery and an all round lack of creativity. This carries through to the longevity of the title, with so few modes on offer meaning that Pure Football will probably be exiled to the bottom of your cupboard within a few weeks.

Pros:

• Good for a few games with your non-football fan friends

Cons:

• Terrible control lag
• Lack of longevity
• Bad sound design

Rating: