Mobile Football Fever

Review - Carry the World Cup with you via our mobile round-up...

The beautiful game may be ruled by EA and Konami in the realms of the home console, but in a thriving mobile videogame market where development costs are massively cheaper; there are dozens of goal scoring opportunities (geddit?) for smaller companies when it comes to football-themed videogames. With the World Cup now in full swing, soccer has gripped the nation. What follows is just a selection of the mobile games available from four sub-genres - straight football games, football games with a twist, footballing skills and management simulations.

Straight football games:

FIFA Soccer 2006/ FIFA World Cup 2006

FIFA Soccer 2006 is obviously the baby version of its console equivalents, scaled down for adaptation to a portable handset. For a start, there are no domestic teams available for selection, instead there are 32 of the world's top squads, double what there was in the 2005 mobile version. By contrast, World Cup 2006 has all the teams in the finals of this year's real world tournament instead. Aside from the self explanatory Quick Match and Friendly modes, FIFA 2006 offers the opportunity to enter a cup or play through various league scenarios. The latter creates a fictional league made from accurate teams, challenging you to better your team's position in the table before the end of the season. World Cup 2006 only has the main tournament amongst the customary modes of play, however.

Both games play similarly, boasting surprising depth despite the obvious control limitations. A continued forward run is initiated with one key press, whilst numerous types of passes and shots can be executed, depending on how long the allocated key is held. World Cup 2006 complicates matters further with weather conditions affecting the stamina of your players. FIFA 2006's graphics are reminiscent of the cartoon-based sprites of EA's early and mid 1990s efforts, while World Cup 2006 utilises basic 3D technology to form more realistic-looking players instead. Both games run smoothly throughout with fluid animation and a bold selection of colours. With formation and strategy decisions plus action replays and an apt selection of sound effects, either game is impressive in its own right, despite some considerably tough AI. However, if you're not bothered about the World Cup branding, in terms of value for money FIFA 2006 just about pips its sister game thanks to its extra scenario option.

FIFA 2006 - 83%

FIFA World Cup 2006 - 75%

Playman World Soccer

Mr. Goodliving have a reputation for creating excellent sports games for the mobile phone, integrating intuitive control methods and impressive graphics. With titles such as the sublime Playman Summer and Winter Olympics flying the flag for them, Playman World Soccer has a lot to live up to. In a lot of ways it succeeds just as much as its siblings, but its dawdling pace may not suit players with a taste for quicker paced action.

After a short warm up to show you the ropes, you can go straight into the game's main Career mode. This sees you forced to use team Playman and entering various fixtures with countries across the world varying from friendlies to cup matches and sudden death encounters where the first team to score wins. Your overall objective is to beat every challenge on each difficulty mode, with each successful game boosting the overall strength of your team. There are nearly 100 individual games to play through, providing a lasting experience.

As well as basic passing and shooting skills, every player can execute a speed boost in order to beat an opposing player. In addition, by holding the shoot button down a more powerful shot can be unleashed and as the fire-tinged ball screams through the air you can use the directional buttons to add massive amounts of curl to it. Although these enhancements add a dramatic spectacle of enjoyment to each game, Playman World Soccer is slow (in comparison to LEGO World Soccer, say), meaning that games tend to drag if you play one after another, even though they are short it length. Not even Playman's neatly drawn and animated, iconic carrot-topped mascot can make this effort as much fun as other titles in the series.

69%

Sensible Soccer

Sensible Soccer's debut on the Amiga in 1992 was the start of a loving relationship between it and legions of dedicated fans who enjoyed nothing more than to watch the pea-sized onscreen footballers slide-tackling like there was no tomorrow and blasting swerving shots past a goalkeeper diving spectacularly to no avail. It worked perfectly on the big screen and over a decade later it has emerged on the mobile phone platform - and thankfully everything everyone loved about it has remained pretty much intact.

In terms of team selection, there's a wide variety of the world's top international teams on offer and the chance to play in generic league and cup competitions. However, it's the gameplay that's important and 'Sensi' as the title is more popularly known does not disappoint. The first striking feature is the games speed which is frantic from start to finish in complete contrast to many other mobile football games. However, after you've adjusted to the pace of the action, passing, dribbling and shooting becomes a joy to behold, especially when a counter attack turns into a glorious passing move resulting in a last minute winner.

Sensi's tiny players are almost exactly as they were on the Amiga. They're all identical except for skin colour but the fluid manner in which they scurry about on the pitch is enough to make you giggle with delight. There's not much more to say except that it'll please existing fans and, despite a somewhat fiddly control system initially and the lack of a license, newcomers will surely come to love the mobile version of what is one of gaming's most beloved series'.

90%

With a twist:

LEGO World Soccer

After a recent successful romp in the world of Star Wars, the little yellow fellas of LEGO Land turn their hand to football in Lego World Soccer. LEGO being LEGO, the game isn't a traditional representation - with the addition of special actions and power ups to spice up play. In the game's LEGO Cup you must pit your wits against 16 teams of varying skills and personalities, ranging from hard hat-wearing builders with a penchant for using magnets to attract the football to Eskimos who use their acquaintance with the North Pole to fling snowballs at you in order to steal possession. Other power ups include increased power for shots, speed ups and a clock that momentarily freezes the opposition.

Each match is viewed from a slightly angled bird's eye view that makes running and passing decisions easy to make. Despite the limited movement of LEGO figures in the real world, their computerised equivalents all have responsive controls and fluidly animated movements. The introduction of Mario Kart (or Mario Smash Football if you prefer) style weapons into the fray works well, contributing positive outbursts of emotion rather than frustrated 'would've won if it wasn't for being slashed by a pirate's sword' mutterings from under the breath of the player.

LEGO World Soccer is just as charming in terms of appearance as in its gameplay. Although each player is identical except for their uniform, there are a wide variety of pitch types each with lovely rich textures. Additionally, the camera that pans to track the action does is effortlessly throughout. Not forgetting a variety of difficulty levels, an interesting auto play option that reacts to your formation and strategy, all topped off by the 'humtastic' tune that accompanies every game, and LEGO World Soccer is top class.

87%