Sports games have long been a staple of the American gamers' diet, and the top-selling video games each year are usually the latest incarnation of the four major domestic sports. Arcade titles have traditionally stepped in to satisfy a specific itch when all those deep simulations become too pedestrian. We've seen some a plethora of arcade sports over the years, with the Blitz and Hitz titles garnering the most attention and EA Big's NBA Street being the most recent standout. There's never been a great arcade soccer title though, a void which Sega aims to fill with Sega Soccer Slam. Developed by Black Box, with some help from Visual Concepts, Soccer Slam is a surprising entry that deserves a closer look.

Soccer Slam debuted earlier this year on Nintendo GameCube to rave reviews (from our own Dave Bock, no less), and now Sega is bringing all that over-the-top footie action to the Xbox. Not just a direct port, Soccer Slam boasts three new teams and two new modes of play for Xbox owners (though the rest of the game remains untouched). Through an extension of the combo-point system first seen in NBA Street, Soccer Slam gives you a wide range of playing techniques in its three-on-three interpretation of the worlds' most popular sport. And though it is an arcade title, there is a surprising amount of depth and playability, making this one of the premier arcade sports titles for the next-gen crowd.

Soccer Slam is a fast-paced game that emphasizes stylish scoring and bigger-than-life moves. Matches are held on a dramatically scaled-down field that is slightly larger than a basketball court. Things get up close and personal in this game very quickly, as there is very little room to hide on the pitch. Each of the games' six region-specific teams is made up of three distinct characters plus a plain vanilla goalkeeper. On offense players can execute ground or aerial passes, one-timers and power-shots, the latter of which is accomplished by holding down the shoot button until an on-screen meter fills up. Defenders will be gunning for you out there, but you're not helpless by any means. You can use a variety of deke moves to get past a defender, and even ward off a hit with a defensive spin. There's also the standard "turbo boost", which you can use to speed away from your opponents or chase down loose balls.

Like NBA Street, the game isn't just about offense, so you'll need to dig in and play some tenacious "D" as well. Turbo boost works much like it does on offense, with a refillable meter governing how long you can dash around. Your main defensive move is a slide tackle that lets you steal the ball from under a players' feet. How often you steal is determined by the individual characteristics of your players, so you'll want to think before sliding around on the field with the wrong player. In a nod to the hooligan breed of fútbol player, you can smack the unholy shit out of the opposing team. This lets you clear the playing field while stealing the ball, generating some odd-man rushes that should increase your odds of scoring. Again, certain players excel at hitting, and you'll want to avoid trying to smack everyone using the little bitch players.

Stringing consecutive moves together will create combos which award you points towards your Power Meter, much like NBA Street. Putting together offensive and defensive move strings (ie steal, then lob pass, then one-timer for a goal) builds your power meter, so you're encouraged to use all of the available moves to play in the most stylish manner possible. Once you've got some juice in the Power Meter, you can press the left trigger to enter "power up" mode. In this heightened state players possess augmented abilities; they can run faster, hit harder and shoot better than before. You don't want to do this too often, as it drains your meter rather quickly. And if you let the meter fill up completely, you can execute a stylish (and ego-bruising) Killer Kick.

Pulling off a Killer Kick is simple enough with some practice. Holding the turbo button and executing a lob pass will create a series flashing concentric circles on the field. Navigating a character to this spot and pressing the shoot button lets you jump high into the air, where you can aim a shot at the goal using an on-screen cursor. Killer Kicks aren't guaranteed to score, so you still must use some strategy to lure the other team out of position. (I do wish they went in with more regularity, though.) But the fun doesn't end there, no sir. There are also Spotlight Kicks, accomplished by navigating a character into a roving spotlight that randomly appears. Shooting with a spotlight on you produces a high-energy kick that is identical to the power shot that results from a fully-charged shot meter. The only difference is that the shot is immediate, and you have the option of using the same aiming reticle featured in Killer Kicks.

The core play mechanics in Soccer Slam are deep and engaging, and the gameplay is put to the test in five different modes of play. There's the standard Tourney mode, a round-robin affair that pits the six teams against each other over five days of competition. The unique Quest mode is akin to the Season mode of sports simulations, in that you attempt to take a single team through a full season of match play. Winning matches rewards you with money which can be used to purchase upgrades for your players and concept artwork of your team. These items are unique to each player (Half Pint's helmet, for instance) and actually change their appearance during play. Very cool. If your team qualifies for the playoffs, you'll battle it out for the Continental Cup, and winning said trophy will unlock a new stadium and a cool "ending" movie for your team.

New to the Xbox version are the Challenge and Arcade modes. The redundantly-named Arcade mode offers a quick-start option in addition to Exhibition, as well as two new mildly-entertaining four-player mini-games: Hot Potato and Brawl. Challenge mode allows you to make your own team and pits you against a gauntlet of four mixed-up opponents. Winning these four matches unlocks one of nine extra players (and eventually three extra teams), which can be used in all modes except Quest and Tourney. All versions of the game feature a well-organized practice mode that explains how to execute all of the core moves. Spending some time here is recommended, as there are techniques to be learned that aren't readily obvious. Overall the game is fun, deep and engaging, and should provide ample amounts of single- or multi-player action.

As is the norm in arcade titles these days, Soccer Slam features a host of wild and wacky characters spread across its six teams. For instance, Team Volta features a kilt-wearing, bag-pipe playing Scotsman (Angus), a vain-glorious narciccist (Dante) and a tiny, condescending Frenchman (Arsenault). Yes, you read correctly. The stereotypes in the game are rampant and blatant, and are taken to such extremes as to create caricatures of various ethnic groups. While some might find this offensive, it's humorous enough to avoid being taken seriously (but just barely). Every type of racial group seems to be represented here, from the no-good Aussie drungo Boomer, to the head-bashing British anarchist Half Pint, all the way to the African shaman with "dark" powers (get it? hee-hee!), Dahlsim... er, I mean Djimon. Most characters feature great voice work and some funny phrases, though these tend to repeat a little too often. There's enough diversity to find a favorite team (I favor Sub Zero) as well as a kick-bitch (I fucking hate Toxic, the worthless little fucks).

Sega has faithfully ported all of the graphic detail from the GameCube version, and the game looks identical running on the Xbox. Most reviewers would expect visual enhancements when porting to more powerful hardware, but Soccer Slam was a great-looking game to begin with, and tinkering with the graphics is unnecessary. With only eight players on the field, the game engine is free to render extremely detailed characters that sport tons of fluid animations and high-resolution textures. Each character is composed of thousands of polygons, with some impressive modeling and animation centered around each players' highly-expressive face. The excellent animation is more evident during the slow-motion replays, and the transition between animations is remarkable smooth and free of breaks. The grass texture on the field is particularly attractive, and is honestly the best-looking grass I've ever seen in a sports game. The frame rate is smooth and steady for the most part, though hiccups are noticeable during panning and celebration shots.

The "power up" moves are accompanied by some impressive visual effects that are specific to each team. For instance, Team Tsunami turns into water, with water droplets flying off of them, while Team Toxic turns radioactive green, revealing their glowing skeletons beneath their skin. There are tons of cool particle effects as well which give the title a high degree of polish. Soccer Slam is also notable for featuring a full 3D crowd that doesn't look like complete ass. While the nicely-detailed stadiums are naturally smaller because of the playing field, the small number of seated patrons still looks pretty good and features some nice animation, along with some really cool waving pennants. Soccer Slam features the smoothest anti-aliasing you'll likely see in this generation, as there's nary a jagged edge of which to speak. (On the flip side, the game is a bit too smooth, and could use a little sharpening to increase its visual depth; something similar to the smooth-but-sharp Halo or Gran Turismo 3.) All told this is a great-looking game and its visuals make it stand out as one of the top arcade sports games.

The only area that is noticeably lacking is the sound. Kicks, punches and passes are accompanied by weak, muffled sound effects, which comes as a disappointing surprise. The arcade nature of the game lends itself to loud, brutal, obnoxious audio, and the lack of substantial sound effects really weakens the presentation. While many of the characters are funny, a few quickly become grating and tiresome, most notably the female Michael Stipe look-alike Raine and the dorky Nova, who looks a little too much like that pussy Pidge from Voltron. Each character has their own theme song that is played after they score a goal. This is a cool idea, but these songs will quickly drive you nuts when you hear them every time you score a goal, even the songs you like. None of this is game-killing, but some more attention the audio portion of the game would have been appreciated. One plus that I should mention is the crowd, which sounds great through the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 audio encoding. The raucous, obscenity-chanting crowd can be heard through all five speakers, creating the illusion that you're right in the middle of the action. Very cool.

Sega Soccer Slam is a great arcade sports game that should find a home in the game of every sports fan. And indeed that will be possible, as the game will appear on PS2 in addition to the already-released GameCube and Xbox titles. While the single-player experience isn't as compelling as a true sports simulation, the multi-player action and accessibility should make this the premier game at your next geeky get-together. The best multi-player GameCube title has made a successful leap to the Xbox and stands as one of the best multi-player titles here as well. The additions to the game aren't substantial enough to warrant a second purchase if you already own the GameCube version, so early adopters shouldn't feel cheated. For fast, furious and fun football action, spend some time with Sega Soccer Slam.