This Is Football (video game)

This Is Football is a 1999 association football video game developed by Team Soho and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The first instalment of the This Is Football series, it was only released in Europe. The game carries a licence from FIFPro allowing the inclusion of 30,000 real-life players and features English-language commentary from Clive Tyldesley.

Gameplay

The player takes control of a football coach for a team of either the English Football League, or the football team.
The player then takes control of the entire football team, kicking the ball between the players in attempt to score points by kicking the ball into the goal. The player can complete this task by using the game’s system of interceptions and kickings. The game plays like a game of football.

Development

The game was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe subsidiary studio Team Soho. Motion capture was carried out at the facilities of Aston Villa FC using an Oxford Metrics 370E system. Commentary comes from ITV's Clive Tyldesley.

Reception

Steve Owen gave a mixed review of the game for Official UK PlayStation Magazine, criticising the control system and some of the AI behaviour while praising the overall presentation of the game and the quality of the animation, awarding it a score of 7 out of 10 but noting "with FIFA and ISS Pro on offer, TIF only scrapes into third place".