SWOS 2000 Campaign

Sensible World of Soccer (SWOS) took Sensible Soccer to new heights, allowing you to take control of virtually any team in the world as either manager or player-manager - a feat unsurpassed in computer gaming. It comes as a shock that nobody else has tried to emulate it - we have multitudes of management games and likewise straightforward action games, but no-one has combined the two together. The FIFA games feature a piffling amount of teams when compared to SWOS, which goes some way towards explaining their limited shelf-life (let us not forget the mediocre, repetitive gameplay and awful data research). Likewise, even the infallible Championship Manager series has limited appeal - although a masterpiece, it's complexity demands large amounts of time. Where SWOS succeeds is in combining the best elements of both to create a game which is fun and instantly accessible; simple to pick up and with enough depth and variation to keep even the most ardent football fans coming back for more.

Since the release of Sensi 98, many true Sensi fans have waited in earnest for a new version of SWOS, which has become known as SWOS 2000. When the game didn't appear, enquiries were made by various people, and it was learned that Sensible Software was in financial trouble. Codemasters bought the remains of the company, but did not specify if they were going to continue the Sensi franchise. As people have pointed out, Codemasters does not currently have a football licence, and as they have just purchased the rights to the greatest football game of all time, it would be madness for them not to release a new Sensi title. At the beginning of the year, in response to a bombardment of questions from Sensi fans, Codemasters stated that such a game was currently not in production, but was not ruled out. Since then, very little has happened, although Sensi 98 supremo Jon Hare was rumoured to have produced a prototype game for Codemasters. Dissatisfied with the recent lull in activity, I have taken it upon myself to badger an answer out of someone - I recently emailed Codemasters, enquiring into the current fate of Sensi, and outlining the main advantages of them producing a new Sensi game. I also mentioned their previous statement, so that they would be less likely to fob me off with the same reply. Less than 24 hours later I received the following reply:

"We are currently working on a soccer action game at the moment, although no details are available at present."

Sounds pretty suspicious, doesn't it? Over the next few weeks, I'll be trying to piece together some more information. In the meantime, do your bit to help ensure that SWOS 2000 becomes a reality by signing the SWOS 2000 campaign board, accessible by clicking on the banner below:

Towards the end of November 2001, some three months after my initial enquiry, I emailed Codemasters again asking if any more information was available, citing my last enquiry. This time their response was less encouraging:

"Unfortunately we are still not ready to release any details as plans are at a very early stage and, indeed, I cannot say for certain that we will release a new soccer game. At the time we responded - as now - it is a project which we are considering."

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Well, this is what you get for having faith in people - Codies latest reply is far from encouraging...

"Due to the popularity of Football action games we would never rule out the possibility of a new football game. However we have no plans to release any new game with the sensible title or produce anything that resembles the sensible soccer game."

C***s.