Real Football 2010

Real Football 2010 – Better than the world cup this year!

Now that the World Cup has been and gone, it’s a safe return to normality for us proper fans of the game of football. Real Football 2010 is a total dream to the handheld gaming market and it runs rings round all the competition.

Now as an avid gamer, I have some pretty high expectations but from recent experiences, I’ve been left rather let down by all other mobile phone football games. I’m sure I won’t be the only one saying this but it’s been a pretty tired format and for some years now, nothing that revolutionary has come to the scene. Real Football 2010 is exactly what every gamer loves, smooth controls, good graphics and able to be played by pro and novice gamers alike.

Much like Pro Evo and Fifa, this game has all the best components of both titles. You have the shimmy’s and dummies that make you not just look good but unstoppable in attack, the sprints and smart moving AI who move your players into space independently, to top it off you have some pretty realistic shooting and of course just that spark of fun and energy that will leave you screaming either in sheer delight at hitting the back of the net or at the goalie as the ball trickles through his fingers and over your goal line – it actually looked remarkably similar to the howler Robert Green made this summer!

Anyway, as mentioned, the keys are responsive and you’ll do all the fancy footwork that even Ronaldo would marvel at with just a tap of the * key. Shooting is simply hitting the 0 key when the marker is in the right position. Passing is made a doddle with tapping the 5 or OK button on the d-pad – and you even know whether the pass is good by the marker showing whether your player is free or not on or off the screen!

Some may say that making a game quite so simplistic may detract from the skill involved, I’d say that for some who like to do things the hard way, there’s titles to take your pick from, but for others who fancy a blast on the pitch then look no further than this. And, if you need more convincing, you really are missing out on something if you don’t own this game. There’s still lots of skill involved but I think it’s fair to say you get really rewarded for your efforts and the action replay after getting a goal is such a beautiful thing to watch over and over – it’s just a shame you can’t save the action replays, but then again there’ll be more opportunities to slice through the defence and score. Similarly, you can learn from the tougher opponents (did I mention there’s masses to choose from?) to improve your techniques.

Overall then, sure there are some minor niggles like switching between the player in your control is a random task, and you can score and be scored against with some mind-bending shots, but these things add to the charm and character of the game and make it more playable and unpredictable. Definitely will be anticipating the next version and can only hope it’s as good.

Rating 94%

Positives

All the famous players are named correctly – no Deetmar Van Nostrel Boy here!

Lots of attention to detail, from the kit options to strengths/weaknesses of teams

Great controls

Hours and hours of football fun

Action replays to watch your best/worst moments

Totally engrossing and arguably better than the real thing at times

Negatives

Can’t record and keep the highlights

No half time team analysis by some pundits (actually that’s another plus)