ESPN MLS Extratime 2002
Score: 80% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Konami Developer: ESPN - The Games Media: GCD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: Of all the Konami games I've had to play, I was most impressed with the look of ESPN MLS Extratime 2002. The player models are much more realistic looking, especially with the animations. Nothing appears choppy, and I found no collision-detection flaws. Not to be outdone, but the stadiums accurately depict their real-life counterparts. The crowd looks like it would in real life, with fans waving their flags and jumping up and down. Another thing that really impressed me was the TV-style presentation that mimics ESPN. You have two choices of language when you listen to the commentary of Extratime: Jack Edwards (English) or Luis Tapia (Spanish). Both call the game extremely well, but I found it to be a real treat to listen to Tapia, who goes nuts when a goal is scored. Besides the commentary, the rest of the sound effects put you right in the game. The crowd sings O le, o le o le o le, among other soccer chants, and lets out enormous roars when someone scores.
Gameplay: Extratime 2002 is the perfect blend of an actual soccer match and video game, all rolled into one. The gameplay forces you to strategize your game plan the same way an actual soccer coach would, but also speeds up the match, allowing you to score more than just one goal a game. Even if you're not the biggest soccer fan (like me), you'll really enjoy the fast-paced game. And believe me, you might have to catch yourself from ripping your shirt off and sliding belly first onto the carpet should you score the golden goal to win the game. ESPN MLS 2002 has plenty of different modes to increase the replay ability tenfold. Match is much like an Exhibition, so I don't need to explain that anymore. With the MLS mode, you play up to five seasons with one team, while dealing with retirements, trades, and drafts. In the League mode, you and 15 other teams square off in a round-robin series until there is an eventual winner. The same can be used to describe Cup mode, only you're instead playing for several different cups, like the International, European, African, American, Asian and Open. My favorite mode was Scenario. Konami put together ten different objectives that you need to complete. Scenarios can start with you down by a goal with only ten minutes left in the game, and so on. Another little added bonus is the Edit feature, where you can create your own soccer God, or edit an existing team.
Difficulty: There is one other mode I neglected to mention, because I think it falls better under this category: Training mode. This mode allows you to practice up on your shooting, free kicks, set plays, and other soccer skills. There are also three different levels of difficulty for MLS 2002: Amateur, Pro, and All-Star. The higher the level, it will be that much harder to score against the computer, and vice versa when it comes to defending against your opponent's offense.
Game Mechanics: My major beef comes in this department. I really like the analog control and controller configuration for ESPN MLS Extratime 2002, but should you not, you can always change it to your liking. The loading time was also non-existent. However, plan on using up one whole memory card for this game, because it will need 54 blocks. I'm still scratching my head at why it takes up so much memory usage, but it does. Another thing that chapped my hide was the fact that you can't simulate through any games during the MLS Season. You are forced to play through every game, which can be a little tiring when you have to play those meaningless teams. Like I said before, even if you're not a big soccer fan, you still might get a "kick" out of ESPN MLS Extratime 2002.
-Red Dawg, GameVortex Communications AKA Alex Redmann
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