Genesis ~ Temco World Cup 92 Review

Overview

After playing the rather unplayable mess that is the official World Cup 1994 game, I was burdened by the sight of Temco World Cup 1992. It's a non-licenced product, there was no World Cup in 1992 and it's a game about a fake World Cup arriving before the EA Sports Fifa series. All negative signs. Deliberate ignorance or arrogance? Whatever it is, it surely ain't an unplayable mess like all the signs pointed to.

Gameplay

The is an arcady soccer game, a lot like the ones in the early 90s arcades. It's played on a sort of side/overhead view, where you can see a lot of players on the screen at once and the view is slightly angled to give a 3D flavour. Unlike many other soccer games on the Genesis like Fifa and World Cup 1994, you can maintain procession of the ball without such a strenuous effort. There are only 2 buttons in this game. Passing or slide tackling; switching players or kicking and shooting the ball. Passing is auto-aimed, meaning passes go to the nearest player you're pointing to. The pace of the game moves along quite slowly, giving you time to see where your players are at. On the easiest difficulty, opponent players freeze when you pass the ball allowing you all the freedom in the world. When it comes to taking shots at goal, the goalie is a tough bugger to beat even on the easiest difficulty. I found the best way to score goals was by doing bicycle kicks and headers by holding the shoot button before the ball gets to your striker.

8.5 out of 10

Graphics

The players all look like big beefy guys who all look the same. If you've ever played Altered Beast, you'll know what I mean. The animation is sort of crusty, not realistic or good-looking, but it gets the job done.

3.75 out of 5

Sound and Music

There are these fast catchy tunes played during matches. Sure it gets repetitive, so you can turn it off? Afraid you can't. The sound effects are OK. They're not realistic, but arcady instead, which is satisfying enough here.

3.5 out of 5

Playability and Versatility

The pace of the game is on the slow side making it more playable for newbies. You can get some smooth flowing football going without much hassle. The 5 levels of difficulty cater for everyone, with the highest difficulty not being overly hard. For the controls, you can only change the buttons around. Seeing there are only two buttons to use in the game, you make use of 3 of them, meaning 2 share the same function. When you're playing just 1-player friendly matches, the game randomly selects your opponent, plus their on-field formation. Lazy programming aye?

4 out of 5

Options

There are a healthy number of countries to play with. There are no real players, but the teams are fairly ranked accordingly based on real life. The only game modes are 1/2 player friendlies, and the Tecmo World Cup. The Tecmo World Cup is nothing special. You know the drill, group stage, knockout stage, yahdeeyahdah. Something special for winning it? I won't spoil it for you. But when you ever get bored, there's always the options menu where you can toy with the music and sound effects.

3.5 out of 5

For: playable, auto-aim passing, colours here and there, great for newbies, 5 levels of difficulty.

Against: players all look the same, can't turn music off, cheap sound effects, not enough game modes.

A much better game than the awful World Cup 1994 that came out after this one. Plus it's much more older and playable than the Genesis EA Sports Fifa series!