The sport of soccer is definitely gaining momentum in the United States with the US having successfully taken its team to the World Cup in 2002 and certainly the video game industry has been caught up by this sport.  Joining the ranks of this year’s soccer releases, Soccer Mania is geared towards the much younger gamer using the LEGO license.

In Soccer Mania, the game of soccer is modified to spark the interests of youngsters while remaining true to the sport.  All the basic elements of the sport are here but instead of frustrating the young gamers with countless rules you would normally find they opted to do away with certain rules.  Here each team has six players and there are no offsides, free kicks,  throw-ins or even corner kicks.  A plasma wall also surrounds the entire field so the ball can bounce off it and never interrupt the flow of the game.

There are five modes to take your LEGO team through and each is unique in its own way.  Quick Start has gamers playing a quick match while Quick Start gives you some options to choose from.  Story mode has you playing through a few matches that suddenly becomes a chase to recover the Qualifying Cup from a thief known as the Brickster.  Skill Zones takes you through a few challenges and teaches the gamer such skill as how to dribble or make passes. And finally the LEGO Cup has you choosing from thirty-two different countries to play through a sort of World Cup event.

The game runs smoothly (despite the really long load times) and the controls are thankfully simple in its design--although you can change the control configuration to one that best suits each gamer.  Your LEGO players can run and make sliding tackles and do a little footwork as you make it across the field to make a pass or shoot a goal.  Yet gamers will notice a few items that spawn onto the field.  These are the Power-Ups that range from Strong Man (a force field surrounds your player) to Steal The Ball (teleports the ball away from your opponent to one of your players).

Soccer Mania’s difficulty level is not that hard, in fact, it’s one of the most simplistic engines so young gamers won’t have a hard time learning the basics.  This isn’t a hard game to pick up, especially a game that offers a multiplayer mode so the gamer could include their friends right away.  Up to four players can play the game (using Multitap) and kids will have a great time getting together with a group of friends to play as any of the many teams available.

The LEGO players themselves look good since they look exactly like the like the toys with their little square bodies and the oddly round shaped heads with the painted-on expressions.  They look especially good during goal animations and somewhat decent during a match.  But the backgrounds could have been done better, in fact, they should have been done as LEGO backgrounds since they do have certain recognizable things such as the vehicles and the LEGO horses. 

Sound-wise the game offers a number of tunes that seem to repeat themselves in a constant cycle.  Each location has its own soundtrack that should match the theme--the medieval realm has a Celtic sound to it but it’s the cartoon version of Celtic.  The sound effects come from the Power-Ups such as explosions or the swooshing sound of the ball turning into a rocket.  Story mode has a brief newscaster voice acting that would have been nice to hear during the game or throughout the entire Story mode experience.

Soccer Mania is loads of fun and a good way to introduce the sport to the younger crowd this title was intended for but older kids will find the fun runs out pretty quick.  This is a great game to pick up as a rental to play with a group of friends just itching for a little soccer fun.

Gameplay: 5.8
Thankfully the game’s controls are simple and the much younger gamer will find no trouble getting into the game.  Running, tackling, making quick shots to the goal are easy to do and keeps the game from being as complex as the soccer titles geared towards the older gamers. 

All the elements of a genuine soccer game are present, although much of it is mutated to fit the age of the gamer.  Gamers are given three minutes of play, a half time and then another three minutes.  Ties lead to a sudden death match and if no goals are scored the game goes into the Penalty Shoot Out to determine a winner.

Graphics: 5.5
Soccer Mania does a good job of representing the LEGO toys since they look like the actual toys down to their little square feet.  The character animation, although repetitive, is nicely done and will no doubt amuse the littlest of gamers. 

Yet my biggest gripe is the backgrounds that are wholly disappointing since there are dozens of interesting locations such as an Old West background and a lush tropical paradise.  It would have been more befitting to the game if the buildings were made of LEGO blocks like the vehicles that move around in the background. 

Sound: 5.3
The uninspiring tunes played throughout the game become so repetitive to the point that it resembles an endless loop and this is really disappointing.  Sometimes the tunes don’t really make sense when played in certain locales or timelines.  A soccer match in the Old West against a team of Indians, for example, would have the tribal rhythms interrupted by snippets of Yankee Doodle.

The sound effects in the game aren’t any better either.  When a team scores a goal, the players jovially yodel or offer an unsettling laugh that is repeated over and over during the Replay.  There are also a number of other sound effects that accompany the many Power-Ups in the game such as when the ball turns into a shooting rocket or the ticking of a time bomb ball.

Difficulty: Easy
Not only are the controls easy to get into but so is the rest of the game . . . especially the computer-controlled opponent.  The opponent AI is not the sharpest in terms of intelligence, although the opponent goalkeeper can put up a decent struggle at times.  The opponents can also use the Power-Ups to their advantage and they do use them often but even with this they are easy to beat.

Concept: 5.7
There are plenty of different modes and mini games to keep young gamers from getting bored with the usual offering of Quick Game and Exhibition matches.  The Skill Zones mode, for example, offers six diverse challenges that a pretty fun to play.  There are also a number of characters to unlock in this mode and others throughout the game.  If you defeat a team using a customizable team, you can exchange one player for any team member in any team.

The game is also filled with hundreds of characters with cute names such as Nigel Nutmeg or Steve Saloon and watching them kick one another for poor defense or watch them spin and dance after making a goal is comical. 

Multiplayer: 5.9
Up to four players (using the Multitap) can join in the fun and play through any of the available modes except for Story mode or the Skill Zones events.  Gamers can use any of the teams or characters unlocked from previous modes and kids will have fun choosing from pirates, cowboys, knights and even Indians just to name a few of the many colorful characters.  And the game is filled with dozens of playing environments.

Overall: 5.8
While there are plenty of modes and funny LEGO characters, Soccer Mania runs out of steam pretty quickly.  Still, kids eight and under will definitely have fun with it and what a better way to introduce the game of soccer than through a much loved franchise.