Software:Urban Freestyle Soccer

From HandWiki
Urban Freestyle Soccer
Developer(s)Gusto Games
Publisher(s)Acclaim Entertainment
Platform(s)Mobile, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
ReleaseMobile
17 August 2003
Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube
  • NA: 27 January 2004 (Xbox)[2]
  • NA: 12 February 2004 (GC)[1]
  • EU: 13 February 2004
  • EU: 5 March 2004 (GC)
Microsoft Windows
  • EU: 6 February 2004
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Urban Freestyle Soccer (known as Freestyle Street Soccer outside Europe) is a sports video game developed by British studio Gusto Games, a company announced in 2003, made up from eleven former employees of Silicon Dreams Studio, the game's original developer, which closed down in September that year. The game was published by Acclaim Entertainment and released for mobile phones, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, between August 2003 and March 2004.

Gameplay

Urban Freestyle Soccer is rather simple to play, as most sport-typed video games are. The player navigates his teammates via keyboard or controller/joypad, passing the ball, dribbling the opponents, and even playing dirty here and there. The player can clash at opposing teammates, knocking them down with kicks and punches, and can also use the objects from the environment of the playing field to throw at the opponents (like trash cans).

The game itself offers a number of types of games to play, from classical Freestyle matches up to the rather longer Street Challenge mode. The Turf Wars mode offers a player to pick a team (if you are playing for the first time, you'll be able to choose between the Skater Boys, Hardcore Honeys, Shakedown or Tagging Crew), and begin a Turf War, challenging other teams into playing on their home pitches. Each team has a specific, personally themed playing area (from obvious things like a skate park to warehouses, highschool pitches etc.). After each game is finished, depending on the outcome of it, the player obtains a certain number of skill points, which they can use the improve the statistics of their own team.

The campaign here is partially linear, giving the player options on which location/turf they will attack by using a map of the city. After defeating all of the "rival gangs" the Home Turf mode will become active. In this mode, the player is tasked with exactly the opposite of the Turf Wars mode. Here, the opposing teams keep attacking your own turf, and you are tasked to defend it by winning matches on it (your home turf). However, if you lose at any point during the Home Turf mode, you will have to start over from scratch again, unlike the Turf Wars mode where a defeat would just push you back from the turf of the opponent that defeated you. Once the Home Turf is completed, the final Street Challenge mode is unlocked, where a player plays through a league, combining points via scored goals, numbers of victories etc. The VS Mode and Freestyle are simple, one-on-one matches.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GCPCPS2Xbox
Eurogamer4/10[3]N/A4/10[3]4/10[3]
Game InformerN/AN/AN/A4/10[4]
GameSpot3.8/10[5]N/AN/A3.8/10[6]
IGN4.5/10[1]N/AN/AN/A
NGC Magazine17%[7]N/AN/AN/A
Nintendo Power2.6/5[8]N/AN/AN/A
OXM (UK)N/AN/AN/A2/10[10]
OXM (US)N/AN/AN/A4.7/10[9]
PC ZoneN/A54%[11]N/AN/A
X-PlayN/AN/AN/AStarStar[12]
Maxim4/10[13]N/AN/A4/10[13]
Aggregate score
Metacritic48/100[14]N/A40/100[15]40/100[16]

The GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions received "generally unfavourable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[14][15][16] Official Xbox Magazine gave the latter console version a negative review about a month before its U.S. release date.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Irwin, Mary Jane (11 February 2004). "Freestyle Street Soccer (GCN)". Ziff Davis. http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/02/12/freestyle-street-soccer. 
  2. ↑ "Freestyle Street Soccer News, Previews, Articles - Xbox". Ziff Davis. http://www.ign.com/articles/games/freestyle-street-soccer/xbox-498521. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bramwell, Tom (28 January 2004). "Urban Freestyle Soccer (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)". Gamer Network. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_urbanfreestylesoccer_ps2. 
  4. ↑ "Freestyle Street Soccer (Xbox)". Game Informer (GameStop) (130): 109. February 2004. 
  5. ↑ Navarro, Alex (9 June 2004). "Freestyle Street Soccer Review (GC)". CBS Interactive. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/freestyle-street-soccer-review/1900-6100308/. 
  6. ↑ Navarro, Alex (21 May 2004). "Freestyle Street Soccer Review (Xbox)". CBS Interactive. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/freestyle-street-soccer-review/1900-6099026/. 
  7. ↑ "Urban Freestyle Soccer". NGC Magazine (Future plc). March 2004. 
  8. ↑ "Freestyle Street Soccer". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) 178: 122. April 2004. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Egger, Dan (January 2004). "Freestyle Street Soccer". Official Xbox Magazine (Future US) (27): 73. https://archive.org/stream/OXM_2004_01-web#page/n29/mode/2up. 
  10. ↑ "Urban Freestyle Soccer". Official Xbox Magazine UK (Future plc). March 2004. 
  11. ↑ PC Zone staff (17 April 2004). "PC Review: Urtban Freestyle Soccer". Future plc. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=103268. 
  12. ↑ D'Aprile, Jason (2 February 2004). "'Freestyle Street Soccer' (Xbox) Review". TechTV. http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3601860,00.html. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Porter, Alex (18 February 2004). "Freestyle Street Soccer (GC, Xbox)". Biglari Holdings. http://www.maximonline.com/entertainment/reviews/review_games_6938.html. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Freestyle Street Soccer for GameCube Reviews". CBS Interactive. https://www.metacritic.com/game/freestyle-street-soccer/critic-reviews/?platform=gamecube. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Urban Freestyle Soccer (ps2: 2004): Reviews". CBS Interactive. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/urbanfreestylesoccer. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Freestyle Street Soccer for Xbox Reviews". CBS Interactive. https://www.metacritic.com/game/freestyle-street-soccer/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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