X2 Soccer 2010 Review: There is Hope for iPhone Sports

App Name:	X2 Soccer 2010
Platforms:	iPhone/iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Exient Ltd.
Version Reviewed:	1.1
Genre(s):	sports
Release Date:	May 17, 2010

After playing Hockey Nations 2010, I’d begun to lose hope for mobile sports games. Maybe, I thought, the fast-paced, back-and-forth gameplay these titles require just isn’t suited to the platform. It seemed that physical joysticks and buttons might be a necessity to really enjoy a good game of soccer, hockey, football, etc.

Luckily, X2 Soccer 2010 has me thinking differently. Developer Exient Ltd. didn’t cut back on features to suit the platform; instead, they found discreet ways to bring all the controls and features you’d expect on a console soccer game into play, creating not only the best soccer game on the iPhone, but the best sports title in the App Store. Period.

The first thing that jumps out with X2 soccer is the vast number of gameplay modes. It’s all there: Dream Team, Tournament, Penalty Shootout, Training, and of course the equivalent of a “quick match.” But like any good sports game, the most fun is going to be had with the multiplayer modes, and Exient delivers. Bluetooth, wi-fi, and online multi are all at your fingertips. And unlike other sports-related games I’ve experimented with, the multiplayer isn’t just a novelty here. These are competitive, thrilling matches that you’ll want to play over and over with a good opponent.

Okay, so, there are plenty of different game modes, but is it any fun to play? I think I’ve already answered that question, but let me explain . . . X2 Soccer works because it manages to meet all our expectations for a console soccer game, but on a mobile device. The developer used a few “tricks” to accomplish this. First is the floating joystick on the left, which controls the player’s movement. It’s “floating” because it appears wherever you happen to touch the screen. This means that you can’t miss it, and you’ll have fewer instances of the player running in a contrary direction to where your thumb says he should. Another movement tweak that maximizes X2’s potential on the iPhone is the directional arrow that is always present under the selected player. Say you want to make a quick change in direction; while it might take a fraction of a second for the player’s movement to respond on screen, the directional arrow is always precisely in-sync with what your thumbs are doing. It’s difficult to imagine this working as well as it does, but the effect provides great visuals without sacrificing precision of the controls.

The command buttons are relegated to the bottom right of the screen. They wrap around the screen’s corner and take up less space than in other sport’s games, a welcome bonus. On offense, you can pass, shoot, and lob the ball (plus some variations on these motions that are accomplished by holding down the button). Defensive players can “pressure” the offense (which often results in a satisfying takeaway), slide tackle, or change player. These commands give you more than enough to work with, but be careful not to draw penalties by overusing the slide tackle . . . Corner kicks, throw-ins, and goalie controls all bring their own set of simple commands, but these are always intuitive and memorizing is never necessary.

It’s an impressive gap that separates X2 Soccer 2010 from the rest of the sports games in the app store. It’s not without it’s annoyances (occasional glitches when switching players and an overall difficulty that is fairly high) and there is room for improvement visually, to be sure. But this is a big step forward, and hopefully other developers will take note of those things that work so well here (like the ever-present directional arrow). If you doubted, like I did, whether we’d ever start to see true sports sims that are worth playing on the iPhone, then download X2, play a few games of soccer (or football, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods), and see if you come away as hopeful for the future as I did.

Our Score:  4.5/5

X2 Soccer 2010 is available in the App Store for $6.99 at the time of this review.  (App Store Link) There is also a free lite version try (App Store Link).

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

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