Boostball Review

Boostball, as I've come to learn, has nothing to do with soccer, other than the fact that you are a soccer ball. After reading the iTunes description of "Ignite your inner soccer flame with Boostball!", I was at least expecting some kind of soccer tie in, but no, not the case.

Instead, the game is really just a speed maintenance games. As a soccer ball, you start on a roll and have to roll over speed boosts to keep going. The more boosts you hit in a row, the faster you go, and if you miss one, you slow to a crawl, sometimes coming to a stop altogether. In your way are cardboard cutouts of square soccer players. If you hit them, you bounce off and lose... so don't hit one. After you go past enough players, you finally get to the goal, that has a goalie on a fixed track. Once you pass him, you are on to the next "game", which is just continuously more of the same.

The only way to do anything different during the "match" is by getting the "on fire" token. The "on fire" token makes you "on fire", which allows you to temporarily run over the opponent blocks. Getting the tokens is fairly challenging though because the whole game is based on side to side accelerometer controls. While the controls seem to be spot on, it's definitely difficult to weave in and out of the opponents while going at high speeds.

The whole experience will keep you busy for about 2-5 minutes, depending on your skill. Many will keep coming back for more because of the global leaderboards, but for most, the fun will probably wane after half an hour. The graphics are pretty nice, and the game is really simple to play, but there just isn't enough going on to warrant a ton of play. Add some more powerups, or throw in something fun like a ramp (throw in?) and I'd be more inclined to play on. Pick this one up if you want something polished and is extremely simple to learn... just please don't get it for the soccer tie in.

One more thing. The last sentence in the iTunes description is "You'll never look at plain boring soccer the same ever again!" I'm a bit confused here. Why market the game to World Cup soccer fans and then insult the game of soccer by calling it boring? If soccer is so "plain boring", why go out of the way to package the game to tie into the World Cup? Why not pick on golf or bowling or Nascar?

Alright... I'll get off my soapbox now.