As football (soccer) season slowly but surely draws to a close in many countries around the world, the next major event in the world’s favorite sport is just around the corner. The 2014 FIFA World Cup will soon be underway in Brazil, and a whole wave of soccer-related video games are starting to appear amid all the excitement surrounding the tournament. One particular subset of these are the soccer management simulators popular in Europe, and especially in the UK. Nintendo kicks off to promising start with its eShop download title Nintendo Pocket Football Club.
A little Kick for Halftime
The goal of the game is to create your own soccer club in the country of your choice, winning your way from the bottom rungs to the premier leagues and eventually clinching the three most coveted championships in the sport – the World Cup, the European Cup, and the Club World Cup. Of course, as is often the case, the hard part is getting started, but for that there’s a helpful secretary who does an extraordinary job of explaining your routine tasks as a manager and gives you helpful hints. She also explains the most important factors in building up a successful program, because before you can start scoring goals, you’ve got to have a good team put together. The formula for this is actually pretty simple – your focus should be on the best possible team configuration, the right formations and tactics, as well as an effective training regimen. The possibilities are really not all that complex; they’re comparatively modest in their scope, and at the same time clear and easy to understand. So if you’re looking for something to do at halftime during a match, NPFC is an ideal choice.
A really great feature of the game is that you collect training cards during matches and then use them to improve the attributes of individual players during practice sessions; for example, you can improve their shooting or passing. In this matter, it’s not really important whether the team wins or loses – you get cards regardless, whether it’s a practice match, a friendly match, or a real game. You shouldn’t allow yourself too many losses though, as your fan base will react positively or negatively according to how you play and whether you win or not. In other words, it’s important to keep your fans happy.
You’re the Boss
During matches, which are presented in a sort of cartoony retro style, the manager will have significant influence on the course of the game by doing things like having his back-up players warm up, changing out players, and adjusting his strategy. Unfortunately, there’s no way to speed up matches. A nice little perk is that you can edit all your players’ names, meaning you can have your favorite players or friends out there body-checking each other. This really increases players’ identification with their club.
The manager can also go on the transfer market and concentrate on improving his squad, or he can scout for ambitious street footballers to take onto the team. There is a limit of 25 players per team, however. It’s also worth checking out stats like various charts and goalie lists. You can select all these activities on a well-laid-out area map including a clock tower that records the game score.
Online Functions
The game also offers multiplayer options. In the online two-player mode you can play against friends and other human opponents in continental, national, or rankings matches to see who can get the highest place. After you buy the game, there’s an online chart for this on the official website. You can also play local matches via wireless network, even though this won’t affect rankings. StreetPass and SpotPass are also supported.
Whimsical Visuals
The pixelated graphics and twitchy animation, including an optional 3D effect, have a certain retro charm, and you can always recognize what’s going on on the field. There are various player portraits, and the action runs pretty smoothly. All of this makes Nintendo Pocket Football Club come off like a well done homage to sports simulators from the early 90s, at least where the graphics are concerned. There’s nothing much to say about the game’s audio, except that reactions from crowd give you a really good idea of how your fans are feeling.
UK-Homepage: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-3DS-download-software/Nintendo-Pocket-Football-Club-852614.html
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