It is still the greatest playable football computer game ever made. It wasn't just sensible, it was amazing.
And the legendary Sensible Soccer is making a comeback for 2015 with the news that the man behind it, Jon Hare, is creating a 'spiritual successor' to the 1990s game for which the mere mention can reduce thirty-something men to tears of joy.
He has set up - appropriately enough - a Kickstarter, to raise £300,000 to create Sociable Soccer, which will be "crafted with the same meticulous attention to detail as the very finest Sensible Software titles, to deliver a peerless gameplay experience across all platforms." In addition, "Sociable Soccer’s gameplay is designed to be smooth and fast, intuitively simple yet infinitely complex, featuring the same quick passing, precise aftertouch and bone crunching slide tackles that are a hallmark of all Jon Hare’s football games."
It promises to bring "fast-paced, arcade-style football games up to date with online multiplayer mode, customisable player avatars and 'clan'-based online leagues".
However, it won't exclusively be the old top-down view of yesteryear.
"Sociable Soccer will offer a wide variety of camera viewpoints, including the zoomed-out, overhead viewpoints familiar to Sensible Soccer players and the dynamic pitchside cameras familiar to fans of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. Along with a wide variety of control options, every player will quickly be able to tailor the game to their own preferences."
Jon himself is quoted as saying: "For years I have been planning the spiritual successor to Sensible Soccer. Competing with FIFA and PES requires much more than just a remake, it needs a different take on football games altogether, blending the instant playability of yesteryear with the power of modern technology... A community of approximately 20 million fans worldwide have played the football games I have designed. I'm thrilled to return to the genre and look forward to delivering a football game which once again raises the bar."
What's perhaps most exciting is that the famous theme music Goalscoringsuperstarhero, originally written by Hare, has been remixed by the producer Sami Arola, and will feature as the title track for Sociable Soccer - it's pretty much worth pledging £20 now just to get that.
Expected to arrive December 2016, you can pledge £12 to get the game once it's done - head here, you know it's the sensible choice.
