Could this game be any harder to find? I called every store in the greater Los Angeles area for days until I stumbled upon it in a tiny out of the way shop. They only received 3 copies and had 1 left. It seems even Sega doesn’t realize what a hit they have on their hands.

I anxiously threw the disc in and was initially quite bummed at the overall graphics. The menu seems to have the anti-aliasing turned off. The characters have jaggies, and it looks rather PS2-ish. Once I got into the game though, I was completely blown away. From the cut scenes to the actual in-game play – this SCREAMS next-generation. I own a 61” HDTV and in progressive scan mode it’s literally jaw dropping. I felt like I was in Gameworks and expected to swipe my card after each game.

First of all, the crowds are almost all polygons. It’s about damn time. Yeah, their polygon count is probably 10 – but it does make a difference. I’m so sick of the 2 frame sprite animations in most games. The crowds and backgrounds have a distinct style that’s hard to put your finger on. It’s like Jet-Grind Radio meets NFL Blitz. Very nice. As far as I’m concerned they outdid themselves on the originality and look of the stadiums, but one thing irked me to no end. 3 of the 6 hidden “team” stadiums have a “jungle” feel. El Fuego should’ve been in some LAVA hell pit as they have a fire theme. But that’s just me…

As you’ve seen in the pics and videos, the characters look great and animate beautifully. Though it’s to be expected by this generation’s games, it is no less astounding. There’s more character in the players than in most platformers released in recent memory. Jak & Daxter, eat your heart out. Graphically, there’s obviously some room for improvement (some characters still seem pretty blocky), but the fact that they’re so detailed, move so quickly, and there’s 8 on-screen at once with no slowdown – it’s commendable. And again, as to be expected, it runs at 60fps. Beautiful, beautiful game.

The gameplay is standard fare for this genre. In the spirit of NBA Jam and NFL Blitz, be ready to beat the ever-lovin’ hell out of everyone with no fear of penalties. No rules whatsoever. As well, there’s ways to “power-up” your shots to give you the advantage over the opponent. Spotlights appear on the field, and if you shoot right on them, it’ll go into a “Matrix” style, slo-mo shot that’s extremely powerful. Power is important for more reasons than simply making a goal. Hitting the goalie makes his armor fall off, leaving him susceptible to other shots by tiring him. There’s also a “Killer Kick” which becomes available when you’ve basically “razzle-dazzled” the computer enough to earn some points on your meter at the bottom of the screen. This allows you to set-up your own “Matrix” styled shot without running after spotlights on the field. Either way you cut it, these babies look amazing, and are incredibly satisfying if you pull one off. Hats off to Sega for putting a wrinkle in the “power-ups” and taking them up a level. There’s a few more specialties – but I’ll let you figure ‘em out on your own, ‘cause you WILL be buying this game. Onto the “Quest” Mode…

Much like Virtua Tennis, in the “Quest” Mode you play games, get money, buy clothing, art, and upgrade your skills. In between there’s challenges in which you can gain even more money. It’s fun once, even twice, but then unfortunately – it gets FREAKIN’ old. You basically have to win the quest mode one and a half times with each team to unlock everything. Pretty uneven. It lead me to find some faster ways to do this (basically forfeiting games, but still getting to the end), just so I could get the arenas. I then figured out a trick in one of the challenges to get $1700 in 30 seconds, and got the remainder of the art for all the teams. This was actually pretty disappointing in my opinion. Since the difficulty never goes up, unless you manually do it out of boredom, it’s just repetitive as hell. I realize the “Quest” Mode was an “extra” but it seems incredibly rushed. Especially since you can’t unlock everything in one quest. One and a half? Strange. Oh well. I got everything unlocked in about a day, and was ready for some multiplayer action.

And as you’d expect, this is where Soccer Slam shines. It’s everything that was fresh and inventive about NBA Jam and NFL Blitz translated to soccer. You can pick it up and play, as well as learn the fine points of the game and KILL those who just pick it up and play. If you’re reading this review, you know exactly what to expect from this part of the game. It’s one area in which the pics and videos do it justice. Fast, furious and outrageously fun.

All in all, this is easily the beginning of a great franchise for Sega. Expect to see not only a sequel to Soccer Slam, but a Football Slam, Basketball Slam, and Baseball Slam can’t be far behind. Even though the one player mode got boring very quickly, and 6 teams is a little skimpy, the overall gameplay MORE than makes up for it. Don’t rent this game, BUY it.