Bonecruncher Soccer Review

Remember way back in the day when Backbreaker Football came out? I sat there with my little antique of an iPhone 3G juking and spinning my way around countless square-jawwed linebacker types on my way to the endzone. At the time I thought that Disinctive Developments had figured out the perfect implementation of the sports genre on the iPhone. Forego all the rules and intricacies that plague touch based sports games and accentuate the things that people really like to do, which is score. No matter what the game, all people want to do is score.

After some time, though, the game got old and I was quickly scooped up by the million other sports games that the iPhone had to offer. Some of them were sports sims and some offered quick glory, but very few offered the originality of Backbreaker Football. What I needed was more Backbreaker action - just different action.

To my delight, Distinctive has released Bonecruncher Soccer to the App Store, providing me with the goal scoring rush that I was longing for. Obviously, this game is a soccer game, but it's really not so different.

Like Backbreaker Football, it is your enviable task to run your player down the field sidestepping and spinning your way to the goal. The controls are exactly the same (tap to sprint, sideswipe to sidestep, and vertical swipe to spin), it's just the ending that is changed up a bit. Instead of simply running into the endzone and doing a little dance, you now have to kick the ball into the goal.

Since actually putting the ball into the net is one of the most important parts of the game of soccer, Bonecruncher soccer adds a bit of depth to the shooting experience. If you've played target mode in Flick Kick Football, you'll know exactly what to expect. The game slows down to a pause, allowing you to flick the ball into the goal. There is no goalie (unfortunately), but there are targets in the goal that give you bonus points when you hit them. Just know that if you lazily swipe at the screen you can miss the goal, forcing you to retry the level.

Because the game is so similar to Backbreaker Football, I got bored a bit more quickly than I would have otherwise. As far as gameplay goes, there really isn't anything new here on offer, and the graphics really don't look like they were much improved since the old game. The concept of soccer "tackling" is also missed in the game, as players will just collide into you to take the ball. Occasionally an opponent will slide in, but most of the time you just get tackled to the ground. Where is the ref?

If you liked Backbreaker Football and need some new juice, Bonecruncher Soccer will probably do the trick. It doesn't really do anything different, but it will definitely hold two dollars worth of your attention.