Saturday, October 3, 2009

Real Soccer 2010 Review

A year ago, Gameloft introduced the App Store to soccer. Real Soccer 2009 became an instant hit with its gorgeous graphics, great controls, and good amount of replay value. Sequels tend to be worse then the original game, however, Gameloft has changed that. Real Soccer 2010, developed by Gameloft, is now live in the app store, and I must say, it is a lot better then Real Soccer 2009. Many improvements have been made and they've added a lot of new game modes. The real question is, is this the best soccer game in the App Store?

Available for only $6.99, Real Soccer 2010 brings many new things to the table, when it comes to iPhone and iPod Touch gaming. This licensed soccer game features eight leagues with 245 teams. 14 stadiums are available in 3D as well. This beauty really does show the iPhone can handle high quality games. The commentary sounds fantastic and brings a console like experience to your iPhone or iPod Touch. In Real Soccer 2010, Gameloft introduces several new game modes including “Enter the Legend,” “Club Master,” and “RS League.” All the other game modes from RS09 are available as well (Cups, League, etc.). Replays can also be saved and uploaded to YouTube!

“Enter the Legend” is an extremely fun and well done game mode where you create your character (you can edit his appearance/attributes as well) and you play him in an entire season. Your character is selected on a team, and you play as him in every match. Points can be obtained if you play well and you can use those points to improve his skills (Attack, defense, etc.) “Club Master,” is where you manage a team for an entire season. There are three different competitions; League, Cup, and Champion events. Players can be transferred to other teams. Lastly, “RS League,” is a cool new game mode where you play as just one team and challenge 177 other teams. Your scores are submitted online around the world and you can climb your way to the top. It’s a really fun and competitive mode.

Gameloft even added in online multiplayer with the addition of local Wi-Fi , multiplayer. You can play people from all around the world in matches and improve your Global ranking. However, there is one flaw to this mode. There is a lag. When I first played online, the lag was horrible. The online games were unplayable. Yet, today I tested it, and it seemed to work a lot better. There was a lag, but it was not as bad. It still was playable, but just not flawless. (By the way, I won 4-0!! :D) Let’s hope Gameloft improves the online multiplayer. They even added “Gameloft Live,” a program where you make friends and accomplish different achievements.

Graphics in Real Soccer 2010 are stunning. It’s obviously not PS3 graphics, but it really reminds me of FIFA on my PS1 or even PS2. These graphics are on of the best for an iPod Touch/iPhone game. The characters and stadiums look great and it shows that Gameloft put a lot of effort into this title.

Two different control systems are available in the game. One is the classic method (the same one from RS09.) The classic control system has a D-Pad to control your character’s direction. On offense, to pass you press (or hold depending on how far you need to pass the ball) “B.” You can drag “B” up to kick the ball higher. To shoot, you press or hold “A,” and you can drag “A” up to shoot the ball higher. To sprint, you either double tap the D-Pad direction you are going in, or you shake your device. The new control method Gameloft introduced is the 360 virtual joystick. To sprint, you just drag the joystick in the direction you want to go in. The “Floating Joystick” is where you can move the joystick anywhere on the screen. This can get extremely annoying when you are trying to select another player on defense. When you touch another player, it just brings the virtual joystick there. Passing and shooting are the same with both methods. I prefer the new system because it’s easier to use and better then the old one, mostly because of the joystick (only when you choose to turn Floating Joystick OFF).

All in all, Real Soccer 2010 is a big improvement from Real Soccer 2009. It shows the capabilities of the iPod Touch/iPhone. Now, a couple questions are probably running through your mind. “Should I get this if I have X2 Soccer 09, FIFA 10, or Real Soccer 09?” “Should I get this or X2 Soccer 09/FIFA 10?” These questions are incredibly difficult to answer. However, I strongly recommend you first try out X2 Soccer 09 by playing the lite version. See how that is for you. I recommend you purchase RS10 over X2 Soccer 09 because Real Soccer has a lot more game modes, and it’s a newer version of a soccer game. FIFA 10 and Real Soccer 2010 are extremely similar. The only major thing FIFA has over RS10 is it features almost every single league in soccer. FIFA is also more authentic and it’s a console franchise. However, FIFA has no online multiplayer. The best thing to do is to view different videos on YouTube and try out X2 Soccer’s lite version. At the moment, I recommend you cross out X2 Soccer from your list, and view different videos of FIFA and RS10. It all depends on the person and what they expect from a soccer game.

Pros

Many new different game modes, including the best one “Enter the Legend.”

Improved and Outstanding Graphics

Improved Controls

Cons

Online Multiplayer Lags

Not every Team is Available

Bottom Line

Overall, Real Soccer 2010 brings a full console quality soccer experience to your iPhone and iPod Touch. Get it now.

Ratings

Graphics: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Controls: 4/5
Sound/Music: 3/5
Replay Value: 5/5

Overall: 9/10 (not an average)

Link: Real Soccer 2010, $6.99

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Enter the Legend mode doesn't work! It lets you play one season and then you sit on the bench. Especially if you transfer teams.

Unknown said...

John,
I have the same problem. I also tried playing w/ the same team for multiple season, but as soon as you transfer, you never make it off the bench.

Unknown said...

Michael + John,

It is a terrible bug in the game that needs to be fixed now. You basically have to renew your team everytime in order to play. Once you transfer, you are basically watching a footage of computers playing soccer games on your ipod. Sucks

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