Red Card 20-03

Posted May 31, 2002 by TBO.com

Updated Sep 11, 2007 at 01:53 PM

System: Sony PlayStation 2

Publisher: Midway

Reviewer’s rating: B

ESRB rating: Everyone

Game type: Soccer

Kind of like: “2002 FIFA World Cup”

Best feature: You can unlock a team of ninjas, and the only thing cooler than a ninja is a soccer-playing ninja.

Worst feature: The button-down commentary of the British announcers (ubiquitous in soccer video games) sets a decidedly lugubrious tone for the proceedings.

The bottom line: Midway’s high-energy, no-rules versions of football (“NFL Blitz”), basketball (“NBA Hoopz”) and hockey (“NHL Hitz”) bore only a passing resemblence to the real thing. By comparison, “Red Card 20-03” is straight-up soccer.

The gameplay is still exceptionally aggresive, fouls are rarely called and players have the ability to perform outrageous moves that defy conventional laws of physics.

But skill and strategy still come into play, and the 50 international teams (many of them including actual players) keep things real.