Developer: Silicon Dreams Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Released: November 10, 2000 Rated: E 4/10
This tagalong addition to round out the soccer selection on the N64 can’t make much claim to anything. It’s nowhere near the accessibility of Konami’s International Superstar Soccer, nor the flashiness and brand recognition of EA’s FIFA. In fact, lack of brand recognition might be the most notable thing about Mia Hamm Soccer 64, as the novelty of a women’s soccer title meant to capitalize on one of the United States’ only footholds for the sport to catch on in the region. Mia Hamm had become one of the most prolific and marketable female athletes in the country, having just led the US national team to a World Cup victory in 1999. Elsewhere, this title was a utility player, with three other uniquely-named releases across three European countries, making a bit of an oddity, if nothing else, as it served as the third and final entry in the Michael Owen World League Soccer franchise in the UK.
It’s good to find something quirky to discuss about with Mia Hamm Soccer 64, because even as far as soccer titles go, there’s just not much to make this worth looking at, even for fans of the sport. Even when it comes to bad examples of soccer titles on the N64, Silicon Dreams’ footy-of-the-many-names doesn’t even reach the bottom of the barrel to earn itself an accolade. It’s not utterly broken, slow, and unresponsive like the pitiful FIFA 64. It’s certainly an ugly game, there’s no doubt, but at least the players — all slightly reskinned from other versions to look like women — respond to your button presses. They just don’t have a lot they can do, with the control scheme as a whole lacking much intricacy. Dribbling and footwork is left only to pushing the control stick, and sometimes changing direction hard enough to do a step-over. Defending is limited to almost nothing but hard-looking tackles. And the only way you’ll ever really outrun anybody while dribbling is by putting the ball way out in front of you and basically leaving it up for grabs anyway,
I want to at least be able to tell you that the pace of play is decently fast, but I think I might be chalking that up to the default clock settings, which I certainly never changed to make play last longer after my first couple matches. The ball can get across the pitch pretty fast when you want it to, but with so few options to control it with — and the in-game tips certainly not helping, even if they literally only seem to address offensive play — it’s as stifling and weak near the goal mouth as it is anywhere else on the field. The only place I could score consistently was actually in penalty kicks, which are actually even worse than the rest of the package in spite of this. In fact, it’s so poorly programmed here it’s actually difficult not to score. With no indicator of power or direction other than where your control stick is pointed, and feeling slowed down (either a pitiful technical hiccup or the only way the developers could think to make things fair). When the ball starts heading towards the goal, the keeper is asked to make their bid for a save like a bodyguard going for a bullet without being sure they’ll actually take it. The bar is incredibly high for the precision needed to make the save, and you’ll likely end the game trying to choreograph your shot to the AI just so you can call it a day.
Really, the only thing Mia Hamm Soccer 64 has going for it at all is its presentation, which is still equal parts hit and miss. The novelty of the game only featuring women — and let’s be honest, with only one actual licensed player, that’s all it really is — loses some of its luster, for example, when the available teams are just names, whether they come from the US league or international play. There are a nice variety of stadiums and kits, even if none of them end up looking very good with the blocky and low-textured graphics. The use of a female commentator is a nice idea as well, and Wendy Gebauer does just fine with her energy levels and delivery, but as is often the case with the N64, there’s not enough variety in her lines for the commentary to be a true plus. Game modes are alright, with both the World Cup as well a proper mode for both a regular US league similar to what Hamm herself would help establish shortly after, but so much about even the menus and gameplay options are either lacking or just awkward.
Even without being a fan of the game, I can confidently put each of the North American-released soccer titles firmly in the camp of being hood or bad. And whichever region you reside in and which iteration of this game you have available to you, there are so many better options. I don’t think even SouthPeak Interactive (the same folks who though a two year old winter sports title was worth localizing) would have bothered to release this mighty subpar effort stateside if they hadn’t found the Mia Hamm angle to make it feel worth it.
Continuing Legacy
The most recent entries of EA’s NHL series and Take Two’s NBA 2K series have each featured their sport’s most prolific female teams as playable options. NBA 2K even releases WNBA editions with special cover art. It’s just nice to see these organizations made valid inclusions in what are supposed to be the be all, end all adaptations of their respective sports.
Additional Information
Saves: Controller Pak
Compatible With: Rumble Pak
Players: 4
Print Guides: None
Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 57.00%, based on 2 reviews
Other Releases: EU, November 10, 2000, as Michael Owens WLS 2000 in UK, as RTL WLS in Germany, and as Telefoot Soccer 2000 in France
