| Sensi 98 Tips |
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Welcome to the as-yet-incomplete Sensi 98 ECE tips page, maintained by Ross and myself. If anyone wants us to cover anything not yet mentioned here, just send us a mail at [email protected], and we'll see what we can do.
Scoring goals
This is incredibly easy, mainly due to weak keeper AI, but also because you can bang them in from virtually anywhere less than forty yards out. Be sure to exploit this and the superb aftertouch in the game to keep the opposition keeper on his toes.
Where Sensi beats FIFA hands-down is the ability to actually beat the keeper from further out than point-blank range, although as in Actua Soccer 3, this is far too easy. If you take possession near the halfway line to the side of the centre circle, and run straight towards the opposition penalty area, you can score by letting fly when about 40 yards out and curling it high over the keeper into the far corner.
By far the easiest way to score from close range is to smack it high into the roof of the net from about ten yards out, either straight at the goal, or from 45 degrees - the keeper can't really cope with this at all.
When taking corners, make sure that you have specified at least six players to come up for the corner (I usually have my entire attack and midfield, plus the two centre backs). Swing the corner high towards the far post - it should find the heads of one of your attackers as it sails across the goalmouth.
With practice, you can shoot across the goal from the edge of the area, keeping it low and curling it into the bottom far corner.
Aftertouch is a powerful weapon in this game - be sure to spend lots of time experimenting with it, and you'll be able to hit the target from virtually anywhere.
Tactics
Be sure to take time before the start of a match to set up your tactics. Although not boasting the depth of the SWOS tactical editor, this can make a real difference.
You need to make sure that you have enough players defending set pieces - usually i have my defence and central midfield back as cover. Don't pull everyone back or you'll never catch anyone on the break.
Make sure you specify set piece takers properly - wingers/wide players taking corners, midfielders taking free kicks and attackers taking penalties. As well as making sense, this also ensures that you don't pull players out of position, which would reduce your set piece effectiveness and leave gaps that an opposition counter attack could exploit.
Take time to tweak formations to your advantage - the width and bias of the formation can be changed to suit your style of play. I use a 4-4-2 diamond with the forwards pushed right up, and the full-backs and wingers pulled towards the centre slightly, but feel free to experiment.
When playing the ball around, try and put the ball where one of your players can run onto them, rather than straight at them. This cuts down the time required to break and push forward.
Defending
This is probably the weakest aspect of Sensi, as the keepers are very poor - the most obvious thing to say is DON'T LET THE OPPOSITION SHOOT.
Make sure that you always have some defensive cover - use the tactics editor to ensure there are at least two players kept back. I found that the full backs tend to stay out wide and don't move to intercept attackers running down the centre of the pitch, so you might want to bring them into a more central position to circumvent this.
Get the balance right between the sliding tackles (button one) and block tackles (button two). If you can get close enough, a block tackle is pretty much 100% effective and rarely concedes a foul. Slide tackles are only really necessary as a last-ditch measure to stop attackers from going clean through, but they're also excellent for intercepting through passes.