New Star Soccer Review

June 12, 2012

Mobile games centred on the beautiful game may be plentiful, but very few are worth downloading. A couple of honourable mentions go to the free Fifa alternative Real Football 2012 and Football Kicks, the free kick game. New Star Soccer is a must for any footy fan with a smartphone.

The premise is simple; start at the tender age of 16 and develop your football career as you attempt to become the next Messi. By training hard and increasing your attributes, you rise through the ranks by starting at the bottom of the ladder.

Image via App Store

The games have commentary similar to Football Manager; while you are presented with static in-play situations where you have to pass and shoot your way to victory. Good performances keep your manager, team mates and fans happy. Get too complacent and you’ll find yourself starting on the bench, not getting passed to as often or getting booed by your own fans.

But it’s not just what you do on the field; your off the field antics affect what happens on the pitch too. You can use your money to buy material items such as bling, yachts and sports cars which bolster your happiness rating. You can also buy accommodation, everything from an apartment to a private island which helps you recover faster from the exerts of a match.

The more stuff you buy, the better your chances of attracting sponsors are meaning more money. More material possessions also lead to getting a girlfriend if you choose. But beware, although they provide a boost to your happiness rating, they can cause trouble such as bad publicity which can negatively affect your relationship with the manager.

The games database is good considering it’s only a mobile game. Take the English Premier League for example; you can battle for the Carling Cup, FA Cup, Europa or Champions League and of course the Premiership. Teams also get promoted and relegated throughout the leagues which even include the Hong Kong league where I started my career.

Having to balance everything is a bit more difficult than it sounds which makes the game frustrating, fun and addictive all at the same time. New Soccer Star has merged the best features of Fifa’s Be A Pro mode and Football Manager and added extra twists for good measure to create the best football game currently on the App store and Android market – it’s free to download and £1.99 respectively.