In the style of Midway's NHL Hitz and NBA Hoopz, Red Card comes along to blow all those concepts of FIFA Fair Play awards out of the water. Forget gentlemanly conduct, your chosen team in Red Card can get away with, if not murder, then serious assault. At heart, what we have is a splendidly presented, easily controllable football game: not easy to master, of course, but that's part of the challenge. Ah yes, the challenge - the downright dirty, foul challenges that make up the bulk of the rest of the gameplay. Surely no referee will stand for such behaviour! Well, there's always the option of taking him out of the game - it's not just the opposing team risking life and limb out there. On the road to victory, players can choose to challenge their friends to a quick, single-elimination tournament in Party Mode, or set their sights on the championship by choosing World Conquest, where they compete against the remaining 49 teams. You can also compete in a single game with two players in Friendly Mode (Friendly? Red Card? Are you sure about this?). To capture the final glory and win the Cup in Finals Mode, players are pitted against skilled international teams where they compete for the Cup Championship. The over-the-top action on the field is complemented by the occasional visual whiz-bang. The correct combination of button presses can result in a Matrix-style flying manoeuvre, as your player thrashes the ball goalwards. Score a goal, and the celebrations are just as noisy and colourful as what's gone before. Red Card works best in two-player mode, to be frank, but in solo mode you at least have the opportunity to get some practice in before taking on all-comers. Two-footed tackles and ridiculously long sliding tackles against a human opponent are much more fun. The machine doesn't answer back, you see. Red Card on the GameCube, then. Lets you commit all those filthy misdemeanours that would get you sent from a real football pitch, and lets you do it with no little style.