Soccer Superstars iPhone game Review

soccer-superstars

Soccer Superstars is a new RPG sports mashup from Gamevil is not your run of the mill soccer game for the iPhone. Its kind of what you get when you cross an RPG game with a soccer game kinda reminded me of Shaolin Soccer. Let me tell something right away,not every one will love this game, that said if you love the ability to customize the player and a tonne of stats for the player ranging from popularity , fan base, moral, etc then this game is something you will love. The ability to add colorful aura and call down magical powers to shoot some power shots helps too.

We told you about Soccer Superstars a few days back, It features all the things you would expect in a traditional soccer game, the offsides, red and yellow card for fouls, set pieces, substitutions, yada, yada.. all this is packed in to a cartoon style gameplay which can be quite fun. The game offers a lot of different game modes and these are kind of tied together coz you earn G points when playing a certain mode which can be used to upgrade your custom player in the other mode. This does encourage the player to try out the various mode offered. Lets have a quick look at the 5 game modes.

Exhibition – Thick of it like quick friendly match option , you choose the teams and you play a match.
My League – You choose a rookie player and upgrade him along the way to be a legendary player
Season – You play as the coach of a team
Cup – Think of this as the tournament mode for the game
Dramatic Mode – in this mode the game throws you various scenario and you have to complete them

The controls are the the usual joystick with the pass and shoot button but selected players can use the supershot button to give the opposition goalkeeper hell. The player selection was automatic and your nearest player to the ball gets automatically selected , this can be annoying at times , I wish they would have added an player selection button. I really didnt get the defensive tackle , you are supposed to press A with out the directional pad nut the player just moves away when I did this. I found the controls to be very tricky at times it is quite responsive but there were a few times when the buttons would not register a click and this can be very frustrating, especially in the Dramatic Mode where you have a limited time to achieve certain goals.

Soccer Superstars

I found myself playing the My League mode most often and even to earn G points I also play Dramatic Mode. The controls are kind of different in various modes for example in Season mode you manage the whole team and control the entire team, in My League mode you only have full control over your custom player, you team is AI controlled but you can request for pass from your team mates. You have to micro manage so many aspects of the game in the My League mode. You have to increase your players game skills like stamina, speed, kick power, etc by training and then you have events like fan meeting, commercial , etc to earn money and increase your players popularity. I felt the guys from Gamevil were stingy with the G-points.. you always find yourself short of Gpoints to buy stuff. I have been playing this a lot lately.. it kind took me back to the days when I used to watch Captain Tsubasa. When compared to the other iPhone games out there graphics is definitely not the selling point of this game, but if you like a cartoony look an feel then its ok. Personally I liked the game ( when the controls works properly, otherwise it can get annoying ) and if you are a fan of the RPG genre and love soccer this game is definitely worth a look and for $4.99 it will give you a lot of replay value… if you are not a fan of RPG sports mashup then you would likely have made up your mind in the first paragraph when I said ” The ability to add colorful aura and call down magical powers to shoot some power shots helps too.”

Update : looks like the Gamevil team is looking to fix the control issuesent in via Twitter