Tag: Soccer »

SpoW: Soccer Predictor has been redesigned with an entirely new user interface that goes with the new iOS 7 theme. It comes packed with new features, including home and away news for over 450 teams through the use of Twitter feeds, match details from the matches menu, and an expandable matches screen that allows users to view more than one match at a time. The update also makes it so lineups are shown on the field with each players' number. So check it out, round ball kickers!

The free to play FIFA 14 is now out! Grab it and hit the pitch. But note that if you want to unlock all modes, you'll need to pony up a $4.99 unlock fee. Let us know what you think in the comments.

From what I understand, football (i.e. soccer) has the most intense fanbase of any sport. And intense fans require intense apps, right?

Okay, so maybe FTBpro - The Football News App isn't necessarily intense, but it certainly seems useful. It enables users to create their own custom news feeds that follow only the leagues and teams they want. In addition to up-to-date match stats and scores via push notifications, naturally.

You'll Never Walk Alone!

The English Premier League (EPL) is the single largest sports league in the entire world. Until this season, those of us in the USA that follow it had to search all over to try to find the live matches of our favorite teams. Well this year, things are different. Things are very different.

This year the EPL license for the US was bought by NBC and the US will get to see every single match. Matches will show on NBC, NBC Sports, streaming from the NBC site, and for the first time ever, live streaming in the NBC Sports Live Extra app. According to NBC, every single match will be live streamed in the app. That's right, every single match of the entire EPL season. The US is the only country that gets that luxury, not even the home country of the UK gets to watch every single match. I'm a bit excited, can you tell?

The best part of this new license is that to view the games is free as long as you have a cable subscription with NBC Sports channel. Most US cable providers should have that as a basic package station and you should be covered. You will need to validate your cable subscription in the app via your cable system login, something that has become common in apps.

Get ready, the English Premier League starts this weekend!

As a soccer fan, I'm getting twitchy. The Confederations Cup might be helping a little, but I miss the English Premier League week in, week out. This is where I sink time into FIFA 13 on my console in order to counteract the problem. What about while on the move, though? Here's a look at my favorite 4 soccer games, each offering a slightly different take on the beautiful game.

New Star Soccer
The current King of sleep deprivation causes, New Star Soccer is a soccer fan's dream game. Instead of managing an entire team, players focus on one person: themselves, as they build up their skills and talents, hopefully working their way up from the lower leagues to great success. The controls are simple yet rewardingly satisfying, with the winning goal consistently sweet to score. There's life simulation included too, with the need to keep the boss happy as well as spend some hard earned money on fun leisure pursuits.

Active Soccer
Older gamers will remember before the days of FIFA's hold, when graphics weren't so great but gameplay was King, courtesy of the likes of Kick Off and Sensible Soccer. Active Soccer encapsulates that spirit and brings it to the iOS format. It's the controls that shine through most here, keeping it simple with minimal virtual buttons and a virtual joystick that allows players to curl shots in without any AI assistance. It'll take a bit of practice to master, but it's enjoyable stuff.

Football Manager Handheld 2013
The master of soccer management, the Football Manager series has been highly addictive for many years, and caused many a sleepless night. The handheld variety has improved year on year, with 2013 proving quite the fascinating title. Besides the full career mode, it's possible to dive into the Challenge Mode for more bite-sized gaming, offering a clear goal. For those wanting to take on the mantle of Sir Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourhino, Football Manager Handheld 2013 is an unmissable game.

Score! World Goals
Ever wanted to be responsible for a match winning goal? Score! World Goals skips past all the build up play, focusing on the bit that counts. Taking players through a large selection of historical matches, Score! World Goals is part puzzle game, part arcade line drawer. Success is dictated by the player's ability to draw the correct route between players on the pitch, in order to pass appropriately and eventually score. Things start out pretty simple, but it gets more complicated thanks to more advanced stages, as well as the quest for the 3 Star completion record, so beloved of puzzle games.

Arguably the biggest and most famous of soccer leagues, the English Premier League begins once more tomorrow with fans eagerly awaiting a season of soccer that will last them until May 2013. Will Manchester City retain the title once more or will Manchester United manage to snatch it from their grasp? Either way, I'll be keen to see if Swansea City can stay up for another season. We're celebrating the start of the season by taking a look at the four best apps to use alongside your soccer watching experience.

Caught Offside
Caught Offside has been an immensely popular independent soccer website for a while now and its app supplements matters all the more. It offers a wide variety of content from up to the minute news, video highlights, rumors to in-depth features and analysis. As expected, there are also the all important live scores and stats to keep fans up to date.

Live Score Addicts
The ideal way to check the latest scores at speed, Live Score Addicts is guaranteed to keep fans up to date on scores for 420 different leagues and cups around the world, as well as the crucial English Premier League. Push Notifications means you'll never miss a change of score or the presence of an ominous red card. Other information such as substitutions, attendance and even Head2Head comparisons are available.

Premier League 20 Seasons
Premier League 20 Seasons won't keep you informed on the latest developments this season but it will give you fantastic insight on the past 20 seasons of the Premier League. The app offers more than 100 classic moments from that time, along with interactive quizzes to test your knowledge of the Premier League. It's not always perfect at streaming the content but there's no denying it's exciting stuff checking back on the iconic moments that have been and gone.

FourFourTwo Soccer Stats Zone
Predominantly UK based soccer magazine FourFourTwo has released an app that stat fans will absolutely adore. Soccer Stats Zone doesn't stop where other apps do, it provides every stat imaginable from passes and tackles completed to a broken down analysis of every single manoeuvre performed during a match. Analysis on how a match has changed after a key incident such as a goal or red card is included as well as player versus player and team versus team comparisons. Your head will explode with facts in no time.

I’ve never been a big sports guy, especially not football (a.k.a soccer), but I do enjoy me some video games. So while I could care less about sitting in a bar watching The Game, I certainly wouldn’t mind playing a game. Especially if it’s fun. Journey to Real Madrid can certainly be fun, but it can also be a bit frustrating. Whether or not it’s worth it will depend on the individual.

Journey to Real Madrid isn’t like most of those other soccer/football games on the App Store. There are no teams, no management, no virtual sticks, and no real worries about acquiring sponsorships. Instead, players select one of three legends (Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, or Zinedine Zidane) and work their way from children’s street ball up to the big leagues and beyond. The gameplay itself is simple enough to learn: tap and hold on the ball to charge up shot strength, then swipe to kick. The length and direction of the swipe will control the angle and path of the ball, while hitting preset targets and making consecutive goals will net more and more points.

It can be supremely satisfying to hook the ball around a defender and watch it hit an 8000-point target dead center with a 3X multiplier. I’ve even managed to build up a decent rhythm of victories after a bit of continuous play. There are also three other modes to jump into when in need of a break from the Journey: Sudden Death, Time Attack, and a collection of mini-games all meant to help players refine their techniques as well as earn some cash that can be used to upgrade the superstars with special abilities and the like.

The controls can be a tad irksome at times, what with the accidental curves and unintentional lobs, but a much bigger issue is the chugging. And I mean this game chungs. Pop-up ads between gameplay and the main menu lag when they appear as well as disappear. Victory and defeat screens stutter like crazy. Sometimes even goals and misses cause the game to skip around. It’s still playable, and it might just be an issue for older devices such as my 3GS, but that doesn’t make it any less obnoxious.

I can’t speak to how soccer/football fans will receive this game, because I’m not one, but even non-enthusiasts will have fun. Most of the time. I may not know who Zidane is, but I do know when I’m having fun, and I had a fair bit of it with Journey to Real Madrid.

I’m not what anyone would consider a soccer fan, but that doesn’t keep me from appreciating all of the cool stuff players can expect to find in EA’s upcoming FIFA 13. This is, of course, in addition to the expected bullet-points such as improved graphics and such.

FIFA 13 is indeed a great looking game. Player animations are incredibly smooth and their likenesses are captured eerily well considering this is an iOS game. Although they do have that creepy blank look that so many real world based character models tend to have. A bunch of smaller details will no doubt cause salivary glands to work overtime as well, including balls sporting the proper logos and all the tiny graphics typically found on a player’s jersey. And all of these fine details can be enjoyed up close and personal thanks to the game’s instant replay feature.

It doesn’t stop with tie visuals though. For the first time ever EA Sports Football Club will make its way into an iOS title. Even better, preexisting accounts will be carried over, so nobody will have to start from scratch on their iOS device. Of course my personal favorite addition is the way special skill shots and moves can be controlled via a second virtual stick on the right-hand side of the screen. Simply tap and drag in a given pattern or direction and the controlled player will start with the fancy footwork.

No information is available yet on pricing, but football (football, football) enthusiasts can expect to find FIFA 13 in the App Store sometime this fall.

 
When my husband and I were dating, one of my fondest memories is kicking past the random piles of socks and pizza boxes to enter the sacred space of his mancave, where we goofed away precious hours playing International Superstar Soccer on an old school Nintendo 64 console.

I have limited hand-eye coordination. Sports are not for me, sadly. Despite the current mitigating factors (career, pregnancy, mortgage, adulthood), I indulge my occasional fantasies as a glamorous, dewy-skinned and fresh-faced soccer star. No matter how firmly we deny it, superstar fantasies rarely fade.

Soccer Superstars 2012 by GAMEVIL is disappointing in its execution and delivery. These days, a gamer of almost any skill expects movie quality graphics and design that typically come free with the slick games widely available.

Soccer Superstars 2012 confuses from the start. The home screen is a fine point of entry, but the font is difficult to see on my iPhone. Chubby anime boys with lots of fearsome attitude invade the screen while Love Boat-ish muzak plays with shrill, unnerving force.

The plump anime cherubs are cutesy with gruff, exaggerated expressions, but my foray into attempting soccer keeps getting overridden by pop-ups that asks me to purchase more stuff. I like the option to choose brown, white, or alien skin. (I chose alien, for the record.) I select spiky hair for my players and name my team, but the screen continues to prompt purchasing.

Overall, the edge Soccer Superstars 2012 seems to be aiming for falls flat. It's generic and passable, yet it lacks polish. Too many complicated arrangements and possibilities that fail to complement a too simple design concept, which is difficult to access.

The bland graphics seem outdated--and not in a fantastically hip, retro way. A lackluster and addled mix of dull coloring and shallow screen depth are thrown together in a potluck mash-up that smacks of video game design circa 2000.

After working furiously, I am finally able to actually play soccer as the character I created. I flick the tiny ball with my virtual foot, and the posey anime girl with headphones remarks, "No! No! That is not right. TRY again." I feel frustrated, and I continue to think that if I picked up Soccer Superstars 2012 knowing nothing, I would be absolutely lost and abandon play immediately.

I want to like Soccer Superstars 2012. I want to give it a chance. I want to hear a throng of my adoring public cheering me into a swift net. But, like actual soccer, the journey to that ever-elusive net remains too arduous for me, not swift enough, and altogether elusive.

Suffering through killer plyometric workouts and dropping weighty fists of cash for brand name cleats may have to wait. For now, I can rest my aching pregnant bones on a cushy leather sofa and watch The World Cup.