It shouldn't come as a massive shock to learn that football (or soccer, depending on where you are in the world) is one of the most popular (and longest-running) topics for video games. Like tennis, the sport lends itself brilliantly to the realm of competitive interactive entertainment, and we've seen countless video game interpretations of it over the decades.
What's really odd is that today, the field of video game football is dominated by EA Sports FC (the artist formerly known as FIFA) and Konami's eFootball (once known as Pro Evolution Soccer). While there are some minor challengers – such as Sociable Soccer – the footballing landscape is shocking barren today, especially when compared to the '80s, '90s and 2000s, which spawned a dazzling array of options.
Bitmap Books' A Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games attempts to uncover this rich heritage. Running for a staggering 628 pages and covering four decades of sporting achievement, author Richard Moss crams in an astonishing amount of information on what, at one point, was one of the most oversaturated genres in the world of gaming.
Starting in the '80s, we see how the humble football video game evolved over the years. Early hits such as Kick Off, Match Day and Sensible Soccer became massively popular, only to be overtaken by FIFA and PES – the two dominant franchises during most of the 2000s and 2010s.
However, it's what falls between the cracks which is perhaps the most interesting; A Tale of Two Halves leaves no stone unturned when it comes to investigating the rich tapestry of this genre, calling to mind lesser-known titles such as Hat Trick Hero, Victory Goal, This is Football, Sega Worldwide Soccer, Three Lions, Fever Pitch Soccer and LiberoGrande – the latter being notable for only giving you control of one player, rather than the entire team.
It doesn't stop there, though; Moss also devotes plenty of space to the flood of Japanese football games in the early '90s (a by-product of the foundation of the J-League) that gave us the likes of Perfect Eleven, J.League Eleven Beat 1997, J-League Excite Stage and many, many more – some of which were of questionable quality, while others (such as the peerless J-League Perfect Striker, which was released as ISS 64 in the West) were quite simply some of the best football games on the planet at one point.
Space is also devoted to the football management simulations of the past few years, such as Championship Manager, Premier Manager and Football Manager (both the old and new versions). Even though these titles lack any real-time control over the action, they've proven to be addictive to the point of obsession for millions of players over the years.
Boasting interviews with Jim Bagley (Striker), Kevin Toms (Football Manager), Marc Aubanel (FIFA International Soccer), Matt Furniss (Soccer Kid) and Simon Prytherch (LMA Manager) – as well as many others – A Tale of Two Halves delves into the process of making these games, too, as well as investigating the impact their success has had on the people behind them. The text is supported by some amazing bespoke sprite work by 8-Bit Football, while chapters are split up with examples from James Reynolds’ ‘Unlicensed FC’ project – which displays some of PES' amusing semi-fictional takes on player monikers before the series was able to use their real names.
Like so many of Bitmap Books' products, there's a level of detail and love here that simply can't be found elsewhere – heck, there's even a pair of laces attached to the book that act as bookmark ribbons. If you're a fan of footy video games and yearn for the good old days when each week seemed to see the release of a new interactive take on the sport, then you'll absolutely love this; Moss' accessible, knowledgeable but often amusing prose is a joy to read, and brings to life one of the most exciting periods in video game history – an era we're unlikely to ever see again.
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