Sega Soccer Slam Xbox

Falling somewhere between the extreme sports genre and the loud, brash arcade style seen in motorway service stations up and down the country, Sega Soccer Slam thrusts its way onto Xbox. A big, bolshy game for a big black console, Microsoft's mammoth suits Soccer Slam perfectly: the visuals are warm and vivid, and the sound may well rattle your eardrums. Approach Soccer Slam with caution or you might end up with egg on your face. Before getting stuck into a match, our advice is to go to the practice option. There are 16 moves to perfect in Sega Soccer Slam, from the simplest pass along the turf to the 'deke', a fancy little move that we can only describe as an extreme form of the 'step-over' you'll see in any other football game. Also in Practice mode, you'll discover that this particular game of soccer is quite the opposite of a non-contact sport. In a title populated with players with the most unusual powers and the smallest of playing areas, with the ball only going dead when a goal is scored, there's bound to be some physical element to the game. The fact that there is no referee in sight also encourages a few over-the-top challenges. Arcade mode is the quickest way to get into a game. What you make up in speed of access to the game, you lose in choice of venue and playing conditions, all of which are randomly selected. Quest mode invites you to try for the Continental Cup. You compete in a multi-round competition for soccer glory. Along the way, you'll earn prize money to buy the equipment that will help you through subsequent matches. Challenge mode invites you to create custom teams and enter into a series of matches where, if successful, you will be able to unlock secret characters. Tourney mode is where you enter a round-robin tournament in which each team takes on every other team once in the hunt for the Tourney Championship. Players can control up to six teams and take part in all 15 games, just to see with which of the teams your loyalty lies! Sega Soccer Slam features a couple of mini-game