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A matter of life and death?
By strawdonkey
World Championship Club Football, or WCCF for short, is something you’ll find in a few arcades dotted around the country - basically a trading card game and football management crossover. Unlike most games of this ilk, like the MTG Online series where your cards are all virtual, WCCF requires that you buy a starter pack .This itself contains your club card and 11 player cards - which are actually made out of plasticy card rather than being something you see on screen only.
Where's the fire button?
From here, you lay your players out on the pitch - that green bit on the console - in formation, do a few training sessions and then hit a match proper. This is where it gets really mental - to alter your formation in-game you actually move the cards around. Want to push a winger up the field into a useful crossing position? Slide his card upwards. Want to alter your formation from a 4-4-2 to a 5-3-2 by moving one of your midfielders into Central Defence? Move your four existing defenders out a bit and slide his card into the centre of them. Bonkers.
Card scorer?
Shooting and basic goalie actions are also controlled by you - tapping the appropriate button when you want to shoot, for instance. In-game you also have basic tactical choices, from what direction to attack and whether to counter etc. All very strange at first sight but would see me traipsing to Meadowhall (my nearest machine) every weekend were it not for one slight issue...
Definitions of 'free' may vary.
A managerial contract lasts for 100 games at one game per credit. But here's the rub - each credit will set you back a rather hefty £2 a time. You might well get one whole free card after every game, but are they having a laugh? £2 a credit? For the mathematically challenged, that's in excess of £200 for a full season (once you take into account the starter pack cost) - it's almost cheaper to get on a plane to Hong Kong and play there, and that way you get a free holiday out of the experience. I mean, really, £2 a credit?
August 2006
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