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TOTAL SOCCER(c)
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GENERAL FAQ. by madmanpete (iajanus@hotmail.com)
version 0.5
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CONTENTS
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1. Introduction
2. Revision History
3. General Info.
4. Difficulty
a)General
b)Keepers
5. Tactics
a)Defence
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
b)Midfield
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
c)Offence
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
6. Set plays
a)Corners
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
b)Throw-ins
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
c)Penalties
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
d)Goal-Kicks
i)With Ball
ii)Without Ball
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1.INTRODUCTION
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Total Soccer for GBA was one of the first GBA soccer games to appear on the
market. As an avid follower of soccer, I needed a quick fix before FIFA arrived
(and am still waiting as of 4/4/03 for a FIFA game in Australia :( ). What was
at first a frustrating football sim slowly but surely grew on me until I
realised that I played the damn thing for two hours a day travelling back and
forth to university :). It even took pride of place from games such as Zelda
and Mario! It is a very difficult game that requires a good knowledge of the AI
to even compete against, and, just like in the real game, luck can be as
integral to success as skill (though without skill you are doomed...). I tried
to find help for thi game on the web, to find that Google had never heard of
it! So it was with a sense of responsibility that I decided to write my own FAQ
for it, and as such, help anyone else who may have found this game out. Enjoy!
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2. REVISION HISTORY
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version 1.0 - finished!
version 0.5 - tactics done, started on set pieces.
version 0.4 - wrote more stuff in tactics. submitted to gamefaqs...
version 0.2 - wrote Intro, some tactics, general info, difficulty info
version 0.1 - put in headings...
version 0.0 - Started.
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3.GENERAL INFO
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All of teams in this game feature real names, and the players look and perform
vaguely like their real counterparts. So if you have some idea of the good
players in the team you want to play as, they'll probably be good in the game.
Check, however, as you'll usually have really good players just sitting on the
bench, doing nothing...
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4. DIFFICULTY
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The difficulty in TS can be broken down into two completely seperate sub topics
- the general difficulty and the Keeper difficulty. These can be independently
adjusted (between Easy, Normal, Hard, and Super) so as to account for a variety
of tastes. This allows you to 'train' on the harder keepers with easier
opposition, or vice versa.
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4.a) GENERAL
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This difficulty setting refers to the general difficulty of your opponents, and
how your team rates against them. On Easy, your team will have speed and
tackling bonuses, and your opponents will be very slow, easy to strip of
possession, and completely uncoordinated in front of goal. You should have no
trouble stealing the ball off the enemy by merely walking up to them, and can
work the ball into a scoring position by simply belting the ball up the pitch
and outrunning them. On Normal, you don't have the speed bonus, and the enemy
moves nearly as fast as you. They are also a little harder to gain the ball
off. On Hard, the enemy can outrun you, and will be fairly difficult to rob.
They will also be able to shoot and they will gain the ability to curl the
ball. On Super, the enemy is much faster than you, and is almost impossible to
rob. The easiest way of gaining possession is to intercept passes with A, and
hope. By the way, don't let a Super team loose in front of goal, or you won't
be level for long...
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4.b) KEEPERS
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The Keeper difficulty is an interesting concept. It allows you to completely
change the way the game plays by making it wither easy or impossible to score,
and it also has an interesting ramification. You see, not only are yu choosing
the skill of your enemies' keeper, but also your own. So on Easy, you should be
able to score at will, but so can a skillful enough opponent (prepare for
'first to 21' games :) ). On Super however, neither team will be able to score,
which balances out the game dramatically by making it that even the top
computer will have trouble beating you one on one.
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5. TACTICS
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5.a) DEFENCE
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When the ball is in your defensive third, there really isn't much variation in
my suggested tactics. The only thing you'll be wanting to do (especially on the
harder difficulties) is to belt it out as fast as possible, to allow your
midfield to get to work.
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5.a)i)WITH BALL
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You should basically never have any time to think the thought "I have the ball
in my defensive third, what next?". The only thing you'll ever want to do is to
kick it out as far as possible towards the opponents goal. There are no
benefits of passing the ball around near your goal, as the top teams will
simply wait for you to slip and then pounce. Don't try to waste time protecting
a one goal lead by back passing, you're only asking for trouble...
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5.a)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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SLIDE TACLE!!! This is what this move was created for. Don't worry about giving
away penalties, if the enemy's on goal you're doomed anyway (plus the fact that
saving penalties in TS is ridiculously easy!). Just take him own and if you're
lucky you'll save an otherwise certain goal. If you can't get a player near the
ball, just let the goalie deal with the ball-carrier and try to block any
possible pass options. The computer really likes to kick little back passes at
the last minute to draw your keeper into a rash diving save, and the computer
won't miss an open goal (except on Easy, where it'll have trouble in any case).
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5.b) MIDFIELD
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The midfield is the place where matches in Total Soccer are won and lost (not
counting in the goal mouths, that's playing semantics...). If you can stop the
computer completing its passes, and make enough of your own, you'll have little
trouble putting goals into the back of the net. Fail to stop the computer
controlling the paddock, and you'll be in humiliation mode faster than you can
say "What th...".
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5.b)i)WITH BALL
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Don't try to pass the ball around too much, you're just inviting the computer
to steal it. Try to play on the wings, passing across from one to another until
you can release a player upfield. Then, when you have someone running upfield
past the last defender, just blast it up to one of the corners, ready for a
good attack. Remember to chase the ball with your nearest player, or you'll end
up gaining nothing.
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5.b)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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As with defence, the slide tackle is really useful. However, you can also get
away with just running beside and eventually in front of your opponents to take
the ball. Don't be to worried about knocking the ball into touch, as there
really aren't any problems with doing so. Just don't let the computer pass too
much, or it'll slip a man through and you'll have to rely on your keeper to
save another one-on-one... (remember there are no offsides in TS!).
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5.c) OFFENCE
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When attacking, you basically have to contend with the keeper. On Easy you can
just drift shots from one post to another to get him to fall over, but on
harder levels you'll need to do a little more work...
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5.c)i)WITH BALL
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This is where the game gets interesting. Don't forget to curve the ball as much
as possible - you'll never beat the harder keepers without doing so. Also,
sometimes a long shot can have good results - the computer might misjudge it
and let it slip under the crossbar, or it might just spill the ball, which
leads to the next tactic - always follow up your shots! The computer is prone
to dropping the ball, and if you can grab it when it does, you can knock it in
the far corner while the goalie stands up. The goalie will always trail after
your player (until you get near the edge of the box) so use this to your
advantage to lure him out, pass to a teammate and then drill a shot in the far
post. This is the most effective tactic in the game. It is also good if you are
in one of the corners to drill in a shot close to the net and high. You can
then try to body-check the ball in with A past the flailing keeper.
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5.c)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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Try to intercept the short passes the computer loves to try. Otherwise, there's
little you can do as normally it'll just knock it into midfield.
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6. SET PLAYS
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6.a) CORNERS
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6.a)i)WITH BALL
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You really have two choices - cross or pass. If you cross it, try to get at
least two men running the ball into the net. Hopefully at least one of them
will connect and then it's good night. If you pass, try to lure the keeper off
his line and then pass around him and then shoot while you have an open goal.
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6.a)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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The computer usually just tries an inneffective pass towards yuor near post -
just run a player and kick a long clearance. Don't let the computer regather as
the spot the ball goes to is one of the "magic" spots that your keeper will be
unable to save at any time...
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6.b) THROW-INS
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6.b)i)WITH BALL
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Just try to direct it to a spot where you can get a pleyer before the computer
does...
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6.b)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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Intercept the pass, like any other...
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6.c) PENALTIES
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6.c)i)WITH BALL
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Pick a direction and hope...
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6.c)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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Just sit back and watch your keeper save it, he'll very rarely miss and if he
does then you're screwed anyway...
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6.d) GOAL-KICKS
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6.d)i)WITH BALL
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Just blast it up the park, using curve to guide it away from enemies.
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6.d)ii)WITHOUT BALL
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Attempt to get a player on the end of it, as it'll otherwise be a perfect setup
for a computer goal.
