Football games have been the holy grail of games developers for years and we occasionally see titles which almost capture the real elements of the game. Pro Evolution Soccer is the best one on gaming consoles, in my opinion, and others such as Fifa do a good job as well. The problem is that it is a very difficult sport to recreate and I do wonder if anyone will ever manage to do so successfully.
On mobile it is even harder because of the obvious screen size and control limitations and there have been a series of football games that fail to hit the mark. The iPhone Fifa efforts are really poor and I struggle to get any enjoyment out of them at all. Others have tried and failed with only X2 Games stepping up and creating an admirable effort with X2 Football 2009.
It was with much fanfare that X2 Football 2010 was recently released and many paid money to get the experience as quick as they could and it was worth it, sort of. X2 has improved the visuals, made the game faster and apparently tweaked the AI to make the game play much more realistic.
When you first start the game it does smack you in the face with the visuals; weather and the player motions are cleverly recreated and you do get a sense of the pitch size which is unusual in most football games. The commentary is not too bad, but does get somewhat repetitive over time. You can play friends via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or online and the multiplayer options work quite well although I did see some stuttering when my son played me on his iPod Touch. I used the stuttering as my excuse for losing quite badly…
Anyway, I started my first tournament as Scotland, which I always do, and started to enjoy the experience as I became accustomed to the various controls built in to the game. Like any football game practice makes a huge difference and I soon found myself scoring quite often, but also letting in the occasional howler as Scottish football teams tend to do.
The more I play the more I feel the same about the game. I suspect that if I were to spend a great deal of time playing it and understanding every nuance of the controls and strategy then things may changes, but despite being the best mobile football game every made it still suffers from the same problem as the others. You never quite feel as though you are playing a proper game of football- too many attacks consist of the same moves and the same goes for defence. If you want the best mobile football game available this is the one to buy. If you want a football game that recreates the real thing I suggest you hang on for a few years until someone makes one.
UPDATE: Since writing this review, I have been playing the game a lot more and have enjoyed some very challenging matches. I am changing my thoughts and now believe it to be a must buy if you want some serious mobile football. It’s not perfect by any means, but it is very, very good.
