A’ight, time for another wall of text, I’m adding a TL;DR since no one has time to read all this stuff anyway.
TL;DR
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
FIFA 2002
FIFA 2002 World Cup
FIFA 2003
Championship Manager: Season 03/04
Restaurant Empire (just started)
Ever since our last thread I’ve been on a journey. A journey through various, mostly sport themed, titles from early 2000’s. It’s not that I’m a huge fan of sports game but for one reason or another I became curious how some of these games hold up in this day and age.
My first choice was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, partially due to the recent announcement of the 3+4 remaster (rip campaign mode from 4) but also because I was listening to some old soundtracks and got in the mood to check it out.
What can I say… game is fun. While I’m not some crazy pro, able to string combos into millions I was able to complete all the goals so far without frustration or huge issues. Game oozes a specific atmosphere that’s hard to be mad at (even if a lot of the humour does feel outdated). I can safely say I’ll play it to completion and then some.
Next was FIFA 2002. Kinda.
See, I started with 2002, played it for a bit and now can’t launch it again. What I did manage to experience felt pretty enjoyable if a little stiff in the controls department at times.
One thing I was surprised by however was the options menu, or rather how sparse it was. I didn’t expect to see a full suite of graphical settings available in today’s titles but man was it a disappointment (resolution can be changed outside the game at least).
I really wanted to try this one out for a bit longer but alas it was not meant to be.
Since that didn’t work out as well as I hoped I decided to continue with the series - this time choosing FIFA 2002 World Cup. This one feels like a mix of the base 2002 and 2003 version.
It’s fun even if the “power shots” are a bit of a goofy addition for an official World Cup game. I can’t say I’m as interested in this title as in the others since this game is focused sorely on national teams (well, obviously) which your choice by a lot. Still, it was enjoyable enough for what it is.
As you can probably guess, I didn’t stop there. I decided to play FIFA 2003 as well to kind of complete the transition between the old and updated gameplay styles (which started from 2003 onwards I believe).
After playing it for a bit I have to say I’m a bit mixed on this release. On one hand the gameplay (mainly movement) is smoother and more polished compared to the other two. On the other, the whole game feels a bit… soulless? Corporate? I know this is a funny thing to say about a flagship EA title but the UI style, the lack of music in menus and various other small things all build up to an experience that seems rather “empty”.
The whole thing actually made me curious about going a bit further with the games to see if this keeps up with the future entries or if this was just a one time dud (within the “classic” titles at least). I’m not sure if I’ll follow through (and even if I do it won’t be much further) but I’ll post about it next week if it happens.
After playing all of the above my mind went to wondering about trying things out on the other side, i.e. as a manager. The choice for this theme landed on Championship Manager: Season 03/04.
I’d be lying if I said I had no issues getting my head wrapped around all the tactical and managerial stuff since my passion for the sport waned a good few years ago but this state of confusion didn’t stick for long. I’ve been launching the game for a match or two whenever I have some free time and nothing better to do so I guess it did click with me to an extent.
We’ll see how long I’ll stick with it.
Last but not least, there’s Restaurant Empire, a restaurant management game from 2003.
I don’t have much to write about this one yet as I just started but the amount of customisation and the general vibe seem promising. I hope it’s fun.
That’s neat, this is why I love niche game communities.
I w went with 03/04 mainly due to the newer looking UI and being unsure whether I’ll be able to get into it. I’ll keep this in mind if I ever check out this version.
That said, I do feel like some of the charm comes from being able to look at the specific period of time with all that entails (characters, or people in this case, references, important events at the time etc.), at least early on. When you play these games for years having such updates is definitely an amazing way to keep things fresh and interesting.
I never got much into FIFA, I’m more of a hockey fan, but your comment makes me want to go back and revisit the old NHL games. I’ve got most of them from that era, on the original Xbox.
A’ight, time for another wall of text, I’m adding a TL;DR since no one has time to read all this stuff anyway.
TL;DR
Ever since our last thread I’ve been on a journey. A journey through various, mostly sport themed, titles from early 2000’s. It’s not that I’m a huge fan of sports game but for one reason or another I became curious how some of these games hold up in this day and age.
My first choice was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, partially due to the recent announcement of the 3+4 remaster (rip campaign mode from 4) but also because I was listening to some old soundtracks and got in the mood to check it out.
What can I say… game is fun. While I’m not some crazy pro, able to string combos into millions I was able to complete all the goals so far without frustration or huge issues. Game oozes a specific atmosphere that’s hard to be mad at (even if a lot of the humour does feel outdated). I can safely say I’ll play it to completion and then some.
Next was FIFA 2002. Kinda.
See, I started with 2002, played it for a bit and now can’t launch it again. What I did manage to experience felt pretty enjoyable if a little stiff in the controls department at times.
One thing I was surprised by however was the options menu, or rather how sparse it was. I didn’t expect to see a full suite of graphical settings available in today’s titles but man was it a disappointment (resolution can be changed outside the game at least).
I really wanted to try this one out for a bit longer but alas it was not meant to be.
Since that didn’t work out as well as I hoped I decided to continue with the series - this time choosing FIFA 2002 World Cup. This one feels like a mix of the base 2002 and 2003 version.
It’s fun even if the “power shots” are a bit of a goofy addition for an official World Cup game. I can’t say I’m as interested in this title as in the others since this game is focused sorely on national teams (well, obviously) which your choice by a lot. Still, it was enjoyable enough for what it is.
As you can probably guess, I didn’t stop there. I decided to play FIFA 2003 as well to kind of complete the transition between the old and updated gameplay styles (which started from 2003 onwards I believe).
After playing it for a bit I have to say I’m a bit mixed on this release. On one hand the gameplay (mainly movement) is smoother and more polished compared to the other two. On the other, the whole game feels a bit… soulless? Corporate? I know this is a funny thing to say about a flagship EA title but the UI style, the lack of music in menus and various other small things all build up to an experience that seems rather “empty”.
The whole thing actually made me curious about going a bit further with the games to see if this keeps up with the future entries or if this was just a one time dud (within the “classic” titles at least). I’m not sure if I’ll follow through (and even if I do it won’t be much further) but I’ll post about it next week if it happens.
After playing all of the above my mind went to wondering about trying things out on the other side, i.e. as a manager. The choice for this theme landed on Championship Manager: Season 03/04.
I’d be lying if I said I had no issues getting my head wrapped around all the tactical and managerial stuff since my passion for the sport waned a good few years ago but this state of confusion didn’t stick for long. I’ve been launching the game for a match or two whenever I have some free time and nothing better to do so I guess it did click with me to an extent.
We’ll see how long I’ll stick with it.
Last but not least, there’s Restaurant Empire, a restaurant management game from 2003.
I don’t have much to write about this one yet as I just started but the amount of customisation and the general vibe seem promising. I hope it’s fun.
I didn’t expect to see Championship Manager mentioned here, or anywhere.
Championship Manager 01/02 actually still gets data updates if you want to play something old but new.
https://champman0102.net/viewforum.php?f=33&sid=423e6891d605295c152b5eee930e9a3c
That’s neat, this is why I love niche game communities.
I w went with 03/04 mainly due to the newer looking UI and being unsure whether I’ll be able to get into it. I’ll keep this in mind if I ever check out this version.
That said, I do feel like some of the charm comes from being able to look at the specific period of time with all that entails (characters, or people in this case, references, important events at the time etc.), at least early on. When you play these games for years having such updates is definitely an amazing way to keep things fresh and interesting.
Once again, thanks for letting me know!
I know what you mean. Updates are good but I still play Football Manager 2012 as it is the best year for my team.
I always look forward to reading your posts.
I never got much into FIFA, I’m more of a hockey fan, but your comment makes me want to go back and revisit the old NHL games. I’ve got most of them from that era, on the original Xbox.
In that case I’m glad my ramblings don’t go to waste.
Your comment reminded me I was going to try NHL 99 and 2001 as well (didn’t have time to do so yet). Guess I know what I’m doing this week.
I look forward to reading about it next week