Overview

I feel incredibly guilty for not reviewing this game sooner as it really is one of soccer gaming’s hidden gems. A budget title created by a single programmer, Simon Read, New Star Soccer 3 is an arcade-style soccer game that combines equal parts Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga) and Player Manager (Atari ST), then adds a twist of The Sims. The essence of the game has you controlling the career of single player from the lower divisions all the way to the highest echelons of club and international football.

Graphics 70/100

You can see from the screenshots that NSS3 uses a top-down view very similar to Sensible World of Soccer and Kick Off 2. The big difference is that the graphics are far more crisp and there’s more detail. You can actually chose to play the game from a side-view that you’d see in more conventional soccer titles, but I think most will choose the default top-down camera angle.

Even though you see the proceedings from above there are a few different player models that are identifiable, but obviously there’s not enough detail to make out individual superstars. Animations are likewise functional with decent animations for volleys, slide tackles, headers and the like. There are no kit sponsors (what would be the point from these gameplay angles?) but the kit colors for the teams are all spot on and you can select kits/kit clashing before each match.

The pitches and grounds are my favourite part of the graphics with different pitch textures, pitches that can get torn up from slide tackles, good pitch-side details (such as dugouts and various ad boards) and also different stadiums. I also really like the dynamic weather; the actual rain effects are a bit naff but the fact that it can start to rain in a match, or stop raining is something that’s really neat and a feature that’s not present in any of the big-name, big-studio soccer games.

Menu screens aren’t particularly pretty but they are very functional and it’s easy to find the stats or standings you’re looking for. Likewise, the casino and horse-racing mini-games are adequately depicted. There are also lots of pictures for all of the items that you can spend your wages on. The game doesn’t feature proper licenses (this is, after all, made by one fella) but you can easily download user-created team badges which adds an air of authenticity to the game.

Sound N/A

There’s no commentary which is a good thing as this game moves so fast it’d just be silly. There’s also no menu music which is preferable to the ear bleed-inducing menu music in a game like PES 2008. Crowd sounds, however, are appropriate and there are also nice selection of ambient sounds when you’re in training. I also love the “To Meeeee” scream that your player sometimes makes when you call for a pass from your AI teammates.

Options 90/100

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this game has you controlling a single user-created player through the course of his footballing career. The game begins with you creating said player. Right off the bat you get to chose preferred foot, preferred position, body habitus, nationality and the starting division/league you want to play in. You also get a minimal amount of attribute points to add to your newly created player. From there is off to a trial by a club of your choosing – this trial consists of various mini-games such as shooting from distance, knocking down cones with passes, successfully completing headers and so on.

Once you’ve made a team (you can actually fail a trial and not be given a contract!) you play a full league schedule with over FORTY concurrent domestic leagues going on in the background, as well as full continental club competitions, AND internationals.

Between matches you’re given a chance to improve your abilities through a variety of mini-games (such as the ones described above). The training is really a game in and of itself. As your abilities improve new training games come out with greater difficulty levels. For example, your first shooting practice drill involves you putting the ball into an empty net from 20 yards away. Easy peasy. As you progress you may have to score from 40 yards out against a keeper, beat two defenders to score, or even volley the ball past the keeper from 30 yards out! There are drills for tackling, shooting, passing, dribbling, heading and set pieces. The other areas of your attributes (flair, control, both feet, pace, strength, stamina, positioning, and vision) are improved by just selecting one of them.

The rate at which you can improve your player is slowed by the fact that each stat you chose to improve causes a decrease in your energy levels. Therefore, it is possible to increase both your stamina and pace ratings in one training session but you’ll be far too tired for the next game. Likewise, you may not be able to train after a particularly strenuous match. This provides a good balance between having your player continually improve but also making sure that you don’t become Cristiano Ronaldo overnight.

Between matches there are a whole host of off-field activities that you can partake in that actually have an affect on your ratings. The money you make on the field can be used to purchase things like property, vehicles and other material goods (the significance of which will be explained later). It can also be spent on gambling with mini-games for Roulette, Black Jack, Slots and Horse Racing! You can also spend money on booze - have a few drinks and it’ll increase your confidence and flair ratings, but at the expense of your strength. Furthermore, get into the habit of drinking and you can become addicted (don’t worry, you can check yourself into rehab, seriously).

If you’re a fan of Major League Baseball you can also spend some of your money on performance enhancing drugs! Be wary, however, as there are random drug tests after matches and you face a ban if caught juicing!

As your profile improves you can get offers of new contracts, transfer offers from other teams, several different sponsorship offers and a whole host of team and media interaction options. For example, as you move to the higher leagues you may get a chance to ‘speak’ to the press after the match and chose to praise either the fans, the team or your manager. Each choice can have an effect on your relationships with those three entities.

Speaking of relationships, you also have relationship ratings with your family and friends and you can use your hard-earned (well, at least for someone who plays a game for a living) cash on gifts for your loved ones. This can have the effect of improving your confidence ratings.

Finally, along with the club team transfers and tournaments that are on-going, there are also a full slew of international fixtures that occur through the year. If you play well enough you may find yourself being called up for your national team (which, of course, brings the problems of missing club matches or incurring fatigue if your national team plays in a different region than your club team!).

The number of leagues that are present in the game is truly staggering. As I’ve mentioned before there are 43 different countries present and many of these countries have multiple divisions! I also really like the fact that there are many leagues from the Americas so if you wanted to start your career playing for Bella Vista in the Uruguayan Primera Division, you can! The fact that all these leagues are running concurrently means that the sense of immersion in the game is fantastic. In my current career I started off as a striker for Forest Green in the English Conference, helped guide them to promotion to the football league, moved to Sheffield Wednesday and am now playing for Charlton alongside Darren Bent. What’s also neat is that I’ve received 3 caps for Canada and scored a hatrick most recently in their CONCACAF qualifying match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines!

There are no official licenses in the game but real team and league names are present and the player names are pseudo-names – for example, Didier Drogbe and Joe Coli play for Chelsea. Not exactly rocket science to figure out who they are. Since this game came out in 2005 the rosters are a bit dated but its not so long ago that you can’t still enjoy the game.

Gameplay 80/100

The game plays like a good mix of Sensible World of Soccer and Kick Off 2. The controls are very much like S.W.O.S with automatic dribbling (unlike Kick Off 2) and one touch passing if you require but the bigger field makes the play less hectic and slightly more tactical.

Controls are simple with the D-Pad or Analog to control movement, one button for pass, one for shoot and one for lob. All the buttons have their own power-bar to charge them up but if you tap the pass button it’ll do an automatic pass (the accuracy of which depends upon your ratings). In the tradition of both Kick Off 2 and S.W.O.S. shooting and long passes feature exaggerated aftertouch which leads to some spectacular goals and passes.

Teammate AI is solid, they stick to positions nicely and will give you the ball if you’re open and call for it (and sometimes when you don’t call for it). Your AI teammates also do a good job of chipping goals of their own. Opponent AI is simplistic but for an arcade-style game it’s more than sufficient.

Gameplay is fast and furious with lots of goals but not a ridiculous amount (I found average scores were 3-2 or 2-2) and tons of chances on goal. Even though you only control a single player, the arcade-style of the game means that you’re doing your best ‘Roy of The Rovers’ impression and getting stuck-in everywhere on the field. Goals are always accompanied by a sense of satisfaction and the unscripted ball physics mean that there are many different goals that can be scored.

Replay Value/Longevity 90/100

The arcade-style gameplay doesn’t have the depth of a simulation but the incredible sense of immersion from the vast number of concurrent leagues and stats tracking really draws you into the game. New Star Soccer 3 definitely has that “just one more game” feel and you really get drawn into the career of your player.

Overall 90/100

New Star Soccer 3 is a testament to what programming know-how and passion for a sport can do. I’m constantly amazed at the fact that this an ‘indie’ game created by a single programmer. The level of features and number of leagues is easily on par with FIFA and puts Winning Eleven/Pro Evo to shame. In fact, after playing this game it makes Konami’s silly Master League even more galling.

If you’re a fan of old-school Amiga/PC soccer games like Kick Off or Sensible Soccer this is a no-brainer and a decent price at $20! If you didn’t like those games then this isn’t likely to change your mind about arcade soccer. Either way, you can’t lose by trying out the 10 game playable demo – be warned though, it’s seriously addictive!

Lavan Chandran
11/6/2007

Screenshots from www.newstarsoccer.com

Overview

I feel incredibly guilty for not reviewing this game sooner as it really is one of soccer gaming’s hidden gems. A budget title created by a single programmer, Simon Read, New Star Soccer 3 is an arcade-style soccer game that combines equal parts Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga) and Player Manager (Atari ST), then adds a twist of The Sims. The essence of the game has you controlling the career of single player from the lower divisions all the way to the highest echelons of club and international football.

Graphics 70/100

You can see from the screenshots that NSS3 uses a top-down view very similar to Sensible World of Soccer and Kick Off 2. The big difference is that the graphics are far more crisp and there’s more detail. You can actually chose to play the game from a side-view that you’d see in more conventional soccer titles, but I think most will choose the default top-down camera angle.

Even though you see the proceedings from above there are a few different player models that are identifiable, but obviously there’s not enough detail to make out individual superstars. Animations are likewise functional with decent animations for volleys, slide tackles, headers and the like. There are no kit sponsors (what would be the point from these gameplay angles?) but the kit colors for the teams are all spot on and you can select kits/kit clashing before each match.

The pitches and grounds are my favourite part of the graphics with different pitch textures, pitches that can get torn up from slide tackles, good pitch-side details (such as dugouts and various ad boards) and also different stadiums. I also really like the dynamic weather; the actual rain effects are a bit naff but the fact that it can start to rain in a match, or stop raining is something that’s really neat and a feature that’s not present in any of the big-name, big-studio soccer games.

Menu screens aren’t particularly pretty but they are very functional and it’s easy to find the stats or standings you’re looking for. Likewise, the casino and horse-racing mini-games are adequately depicted. There are also lots of pictures for all of the items that you can spend your wages on. The game doesn’t feature proper licenses (this is, after all, made by one fella) but you can easily download user-created team badges which adds an air of authenticity to the game.

Sound N/A

There’s no commentary which is a good thing as this game moves so fast it’d just be silly. There’s also no menu music which is preferable to the ear bleed-inducing menu music in a game like PES 2008. Crowd sounds, however, are appropriate and there are also nice selection of ambient sounds when you’re in training. I also love the “To Meeeee” scream that your player sometimes makes when you call for a pass from your AI teammates.

Options 90/100

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this game has you controlling a single user-created player through the course of his footballing career. The game begins with you creating said player. Right off the bat you get to chose preferred foot, preferred position, body habitus, nationality and the starting division/league you want to play in. You also get a minimal amount of attribute points to add to your newly created player. From there is off to a trial by a club of your choosing – this trial consists of various mini-games such as shooting from distance, knocking down cones with passes, successfully completing headers and so on.

Once you’ve made a team (you can actually fail a trial and not be given a contract!) you play a full league schedule with over FORTY concurrent domestic leagues going on in the background, as well as full continental club competitions, AND internationals.

Between matches you’re given a chance to improve your abilities through a variety of mini-games (such as the ones described above). The training is really a game in and of itself. As your abilities improve new training games come out with greater difficulty levels. For example, your first shooting practice drill involves you putting the ball into an empty net from 20 yards away. Easy peasy. As you progress you may have to score from 40 yards out against a keeper, beat two defenders to score, or even volley the ball past the keeper from 30 yards out! There are drills for tackling, shooting, passing, dribbling, heading and set pieces. The other areas of your attributes (flair, control, both feet, pace, strength, stamina, positioning, and vision) are improved by just selecting one of them.

The rate at which you can improve your player is slowed by the fact that each stat you chose to improve causes a decrease in your energy levels. Therefore, it is possible to increase both your stamina and pace ratings in one training session but you’ll be far too tired for the next game. Likewise, you may not be able to train after a particularly strenuous match. This provides a good balance between having your player continually improve but also making sure that you don’t become Cristiano Ronaldo overnight.

Between matches there are a whole host of off-field activities that you can partake in that actually have an affect on your ratings. The money you make on the field can be used to purchase things like property, vehicles and other material goods (the significance of which will be explained later). It can also be spent on gambling with mini-games for Roulette, Black Jack, Slots and Horse Racing! You can also spend money on booze - have a few drinks and it’ll increase your confidence and flair ratings, but at the expense of your strength. Furthermore, get into the habit of drinking and you can become addicted (don’t worry, you can check yourself into rehab, seriously).

If you’re a fan of Major League Baseball you can also spend some of your money on performance enhancing drugs! Be wary, however, as there are random drug tests after matches and you face a ban if caught juicing!

As your profile improves you can get offers of new contracts, transfer offers from other teams, several different sponsorship offers and a whole host of team and media interaction options. For example, as you move to the higher leagues you may get a chance to ‘speak’ to the press after the match and chose to praise either the fans, the team or your manager. Each choice can have an effect on your relationships with those three entities.

Speaking of relationships, you also have relationship ratings with your family and friends and you can use your hard-earned (well, at least for someone who plays a game for a living) cash on gifts for your loved ones. This can have the effect of improving your confidence ratings.

Finally, along with the club team transfers and tournaments that are on-going, there are also a full slew of international fixtures that occur through the year. If you play well enough you may find yourself being called up for your national team (which, of course, brings the problems of missing club matches or incurring fatigue if your national team plays in a different region than your club team!).

The number of leagues that are present in the game is truly staggering. As I’ve mentioned before there are 43 different countries present and many of these countries have multiple divisions! I also really like the fact that there are many leagues from the Americas so if you wanted to start your career playing for Bella Vista in the Uruguayan Primera Division, you can! The fact that all these leagues are running concurrently means that the sense of immersion in the game is fantastic. In my current career I started off as a striker for Forest Green in the English Conference, helped guide them to promotion to the football league, moved to Sheffield Wednesday and am now playing for Charlton alongside Darren Bent. What’s also neat is that I’ve received 3 caps for Canada and scored a hatrick most recently in their CONCACAF qualifying match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines!

There are no official licenses in the game but real team and league names are present and the player names are pseudo-names – for example, Didier Drogbe and Joe Coli play for Chelsea. Not exactly rocket science to figure out who they are. Since this game came out in 2005 the rosters are a bit dated but its not so long ago that you can’t still enjoy the game.

Gameplay 80/100

The game plays like a good mix of Sensible World of Soccer and Kick Off 2. The controls are very much like S.W.O.S with automatic dribbling (unlike Kick Off 2) and one touch passing if you require but the bigger field makes the play less hectic and slightly more tactical.

Controls are simple with the D-Pad or Analog to control movement, one button for pass, one for shoot and one for lob. All the buttons have their own power-bar to charge them up but if you tap the pass button it’ll do an automatic pass (the accuracy of which depends upon your ratings). In the tradition of both Kick Off 2 and S.W.O.S. shooting and long passes feature exaggerated aftertouch which leads to some spectacular goals and passes.

Teammate AI is solid, they stick to positions nicely and will give you the ball if you’re open and call for it (and sometimes when you don’t call for it). Your AI teammates also do a good job of chipping goals of their own. Opponent AI is simplistic but for an arcade-style game it’s more than sufficient.

Gameplay is fast and furious with lots of goals but not a ridiculous amount (I found average scores were 3-2 or 2-2) and tons of chances on goal. Even though you only control a single player, the arcade-style of the game means that you’re doing your best ‘Roy of The Rovers’ impression and getting stuck-in everywhere on the field. Goals are always accompanied by a sense of satisfaction and the unscripted ball physics mean that there are many different goals that can be scored.

Replay Value/Longevity 90/100

The arcade-style gameplay doesn’t have the depth of a simulation but the incredible sense of immersion from the vast number of concurrent leagues and stats tracking really draws you into the game. New Star Soccer 3 definitely has that “just one more game” feel and you really get drawn into the career of your player.

Overall 90/100

New Star Soccer 3 is a testament to what programming know-how and passion for a sport can do. I’m constantly amazed at the fact that this an ‘indie’ game created by a single programmer. The level of features and number of leagues is easily on par with FIFA and puts Winning Eleven/Pro Evo to shame. In fact, after playing this game it makes Konami’s silly Master League even more galling.

If you’re a fan of old-school Amiga/PC soccer games like Kick Off or Sensible Soccer this is a no-brainer and a decent price at $20! If you didn’t like those games then this isn’t likely to change your mind about arcade soccer. Either way, you can’t lose by trying out the 10 game playable demo – be warned though, it’s seriously addictive!

Lavan Chandran
11/6/2007

Screenshots from www.newstarsoccer.com