Review: Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer
Score:
80%
Version Reviewed: 1.00
Buy Link | Download / Information Link
Good points - It's not FIFA 2004
Bad points - It's not FIFA 2004
To make life nice and simple we'll call this game MDF because Ewan can't spell Marcel Desailly, and for everyone but a few North Americans (and some Victorian Aussies, garn you Lions!) Soccer is Football.
MDF is unlike FIFA 2004, now being unlike FIFA might be a problem for some people, but MDF brings some more depth than FIFA and for me that's a good thing. The general concensus amongst the people I know who've played both is that FIFA is more of an arcade game, and MDF is real football. I'd agree with that, the instant pick up and play appeal of FIFA is missing, but in its place is a richer and potentially more interesting game.
Now, look at that selection of control keys, isn't that the sort of thing that's going to keep your mind and fingers occupied during a game? It sure has with me, and whilst one can get by with the trusty 5 and 7 keys, you'll get thrashed on the harder levels. It'll be interesting to see how this plays on the N-Gage QD with the more cramped keypad.
I'm trying to avoid this review being a comparison of FIFA and MDF, and I'm not succeeding too well, but given that many of you will have seen or played FIFA, some basic comparisons are useful to establish baselines. The graphics are different, the p
layers are bigger in MDF and so player movements are more visible, you almost get to see expressions, and I love the sliding tackles, even if the effect in my hands is more Chelsea legend Ron "Chopper" Harris than the silky skills of Marcel himself. The sounds are good in MDF, semi-realistic crowd noise and some not too irritating background music provide a good atmosphere.
So onto the gameplay, what can we do? First off we have 4 choices of game style; friendly, cup, league, and career. 
Friendly gives you a chance to play a match, have a penalty competition or play 2 player over Bluetooth with a friend - with the usual N-Gage proviso that your friend has to have an N-Gage and a copy of MDF too. Cup gives you the choice of three formats, international, championship and classic. There's not much difference between the three, except international limits one to using national teams and is only one legged, and championship is for club teams and you have a home and away leg. With classic you get to choose.
For the league you choose an international or club team then play a series of games against other clubs/countries, and career is very similar. In all of the formats one gets 4 choices of difficulty; Junior, amateur, Semi-pro and Pro. I find Junior rather amusing because your team mates do tend to follow the ball about a little like a pack of schoolboys. There are 6 stadiums in which one can play, all major stadia such as the San Ciro or Old Trafford. There are 32 national sides covering much of the globe, the only British nation represented is England, there are also 31 top European sides (plus Leeds United) to choose from in the club competition. With every team you get to choose formation and players - most of whom are dyslexically familiar sounding :-)
What would make it better? A simpler beginner's mode would get over the initial hurdle, because it isn't as much of an instant hit as FIFA, and the impatient player won't play enough to begin to enjoy the game. More teams and stadiums would provide a little more flavour, but in reality would make little difference to the gameplay. Lastly change that icon, I thought it was something to do with Red Nose Day!
So final score, a distinguished 80%. The lack of a massive instant pick and play urge on first acquaintance may reduce its value in some people's eyes, but it plays very well and the league and career modes are great for losing hours.
Reviewed by Jim Hughes at