14 DAY TRIAL // 
Do you ever remember those little electronic games we used to play when we were kids? The ones with the chef and the pies and the one with the falling eggs? Those were the consoles back then. The younger readers must understand that computer years are passing much faster than dog years, which, in terms, are passing 7 times faster than human years. So you see, everyone that has been in contact with a computer for a relative short amount of time, will see this evolution like a train rushing by. My point is that games today (and the respective platforms) develop at a much higher rate than 15 years ago.
So I'm sitting comfortable in my chair playing Fifa 2006 and This is Footbal (not at the same time obviously), chilling, like some might say. I get a little bored by the same repetitive action and I decide to give this one a go. I hope you still have in your head, for those with this kind of memories, the image of eggs falling rapidly on a monochrome screen and then try to picture the image of Fifa, Pes and "This is football", with the same amount of details, transferred on a small PSP screen. My tongue was hanging out. I thought I already gotten used to good looking games on this console, but lately, every game I'm trying is pushing that barrier a little more.
Story
I hope you weren't expecting to read anything here. Sport is one of the few genres that don't need a story to get you going. The pure adrenaline and the specie's inherent, violent and instinctual, desire to win and assume the first place on the food chain will prevail on any wish for a flimsy story, hence the lack of it.
Concept
I was under the impression that the game of soccer was invented by the British, or so I heard. Fear not, I'm not going to take it so far back in time nor will I explain the rules of the game, because I'm almost certain that, with very few exceptions, soccer means football and everyone knows this is the reigning sport.
But there are some exceptions to the rules we all know, in this game I mean. They will be explained in the gameplay chapter because the basics remain the same: 22 men run endlessly for 90 minutes after an air balloon just to get it to enter in some big fishing-like net. I know I'm being a little mean, but you get my point. The differences are in the approach of championships and what really matters in a football game, more than goals itself: the points we all are getting used to seeing in any arcade game. This is a step backwards, at least for a soccer simulator. We care about the goals and not freaking points. We want to see blood and guts, broken tibias and tears of joy, t-shirts with babies faces hidden under the national kit and stupid dances after a goal at the corner. Somewhere along the fine line of marketing, the real meaning of the sport and its finals purpose of finding the better humans in our species (that deserve to wear custom Nike shoes) has been lost.
Gameplay
As I was saying before, the game is lacking touch with reality in most compartments and by that, I mean it's football but without any of the important competitions; in fact, it lacks any cognoscible cup. Sony thought that it might raise the interest with continental cups that unveil themselves in order of difficulty. The first is Africa, the second Asia and Oceania, the third North America, the fourth South America and finally, the best in this sport and the residence of Softpedia, Europe.
What you must understand is that qualifying through these continents is not done in a usual manner, meaning there aren't any groups and qualifying rounds and everything has been stripped to 4-5 matches with the most powerful representatives on each continent (by who's standards is unclear). If this wasn't enough, the goals you score in a match are more or less important. Stage right: the "Points" enter.
At first, scoring points is easy because the game's level is flimsy at best and you don't really have a clue of what you are supposed to do. Each pass is worth 20 points and each interception is 20 points; each loss is -20 points. Depending on the zone, the interception value may vary and the more passes you make, the better the score. In the first stages, the goals weigh a lot and with 400-500 points each, you'll begin to believe that it's a walk in the park and frankly, the African teams don't pose too much of a threat. After passing to the second realm, sorry, continent, in Asia, the strategic value of game modes start having a much bigger impact on the final outcome of the game. I forgot to mention that you have to obtain one of the three medals in order to progress; each medal has a correspondent in points and I hope you like bronze a lot because you're going to see it all the time, at least after the third territory (I'm running out of synonyms here).
A good way to get the freaking points is to actually follow what the producers intended in the first place. All the games in the "World Tour Soccer" mode have distinct rules to follow for gathering points. One is to stick to some parts of the terrain that act as multipliers. For example, if I score a goal from the right side, I might get a few hundred points, but if I follow the rules (of that specific match) and score from the left side, I'll get the points multiplied by 4. All actions on that side of the field will get the same treatment. Another fine example is the obligation, in some games, to score in a given amount of time, usually 10-15 seconds from gaining possession. The examples can go on and they do throughout the game as this kind of challenges keep surfacing.
The game presents a lot of different minigames and the possibility of a quick match. Unfortunately, none of these options will even come close of replacing a real-life championship. The answer is that the project doesn't justify the licenses needed for a full experience. Until the PSP will become a platform that has at least half of the circulation of PS 2, we won't see any complete football games.
Another problem that will start bothering anyone as soon as you get used of beating the crap of the computer is that he suddenly becomes extremely lucky, if you get my meaning. Almost any shoot, from any distance, is defended by the goalkeeper or some defender pops his leg in front of the ball like a magical special ability. After the player reaches a certain level of difficulty, the only way to score some goals are from a cross, corner or by mistakenly bouncing the ball from some poor bastard. In any case, I would have preferred to enhance the AI in a more subtle manner and not by reducing me to a mechanical response robot.
Graphics
Fortunately, "World Tour Soccer" comes with state of the art, as much as possible, graphics the likes of you have never seen. I know it sounds corny and stereotyped, but the truth is that video quality is the savior, at least in this case. The players have weight, ball physics is a little exaggerated and the grass has a friction coefficient. Even so, this aspect will get you thinking right from the start, making you believe that you have stumbled upon a great game. After playing for a couple of hours, the wonder of shaders will no longer present any interest and the gameplay certainly can't fill in this void.
Sound
I guess I haven't really thought about the sound. There isn't much you can hear even with the headset on. I liked the galleries and the commentators' voices, but only in the beginning. Playing a couple of hours and hearing the same phrases over and over again is not my idea of fun. In any case, this chapter is modest and in the same time it manages to stay out of the critic's way by being alright.
Multiplayer
The game improved a lot over the previous title and now, up to four players can play over a local connection or over the internet, in the EU Universe. The game is making a lot more sense here than single player and this is by far its strongest point. Humans make mistakes; they are frustrated when they loose and their moral will affect the gameplay. It's almost making us wish that the game should be entirely multiplayer based, although we are a long way from such an achievement on the PSP.
Conclusion
I know I've been bad-mouthing the game a lot but I'm sure that with a little more effort, we could have had a great football game. This is not the case here as "World Tour Soccer 2" is at best not-that-bad. Maybe the third version will be better or maybe it will be worse, but I know one thing. Give this game a real challenge and there will be fights in the stores because the potential exists and I, for one, would be very satisfied to win the Champions League or at least the World Cup. Until then, I'll be practicing my point making special magical ability.
