Backyard Soccer

Backyard Soccer, known in Europe as Backyard Football (PC)[1] or Junior Sports Football (PlayStation) and in Australia as Junior Sports Soccer, is an association football video game in the Backyard Sports series, developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames. It was first released in September 1998 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows,[2] in 2001 for the PlayStation, and in 2008 for iOS. The PC and PlayStation versions of the game, alongside the PlayStation 2 version of Backyard Basketball, were the only Backyard Sports titles released in Europe.

Not to be confused with Backyard Football, a game about American football.
Backyard Soccer
North American cover art for the PlayStation version
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 2]
SeriesBackyard Sports
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation, iOS
ReleasePC
  • NA: September 26, 1998
  • EU: 1999
PlayStation
  • NA: September 28, 2001
  • EU: November 2, 2001
iOS
  • NA: October 31, 2008
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

Gameplay

The player selects a team, aiming to win promotion from the "B" Division, to the "A" and then Premier Division. If in the top four by mid-season in any division, the player's team will be invited to the Off-The-Wall Indoor Invitational. After winning the Premier Division, the player's team will be invited to represent the United States in the Astonishingly Shiny Cup of All Cups Tournament (a spoof of the FIFA World Cup). Regardless of the tournament's outcome, the player's team will be placed back in the Premier Division for another chance at the Cup.

There are several power-ups that a team can use. To activate a power-up, the player has to click on the opponent's goal:

  • Cannon - the player launches a fast and powerful shot.
  • Underground - the ball goes underground and pops up in a random place.
  • Bowling Ball - the ball transforms into a giant bowling ball knocking over any opposing players.
  • Tracer - the ball is controlled using the cursor and the players click where they want the ball to go.

Reception

Backyard Soccer received moderate reviews. Its gameplay was criticized for the hard-to-use controls for the PC version and long loading time, while its graphics were praised on all platforms.[3][4][5][6] Brad Cook of Allgame was critical to the controls for PC version.[3]

References
  1. "Junior Sports Backyard Football Game : Amazon.co.uk: Software". Amazon UK.
  2. "Contact: Mike Salvadore, Communications Manager". Archived from the original on 1998-05-25. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  3. Cook, Brad. "Backyard Soccer (PC)". Allgame. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  4. Beam, Jennifer. "Backyard Soccer (PS)". Allgame. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  5. "Backyard Soccer MLS Edition - PC - Review". GameZone. 25 October 2000. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. "Backyard Soccer - PSX - Review". 28 October 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  7. "Backyard Soccer for PS". GameRankings. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. Junior Sports Football game review, Official UK PlayStation Magazine, Future Publishing issue 80
  1. Ported to the PlayStation by Runecraft.
  2. The MLS Edition and the PlayStation version were published by Infogrames.
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