 |
Title: Foosball 2012 Publisher: Grip Games Developer: Grip Games & 3Division Console: PS3 / Vita (Crossbuy) Release: July 24th 2012 Genre: Alternative Sports Rating: E Official Website |
A few weeks ago I noticed Foosball 2012 was free on PlayStation Plus. I have never played Foosball in real life, but this game looked fun and interesting. So, I decided I would download it for my Vita console and give it a spin. I found this one of the most addictive games on the console.
Graphics wise, this one looks pretty good. There is a great deal of customization that can be done to change the look of the game. There are about 10 different tables to choose from; each has its own style and flair. They include a retro table, a graffiti table and a sci fi table. There are different styles of foosmen (these are your players) as well; they include bolts, royal and dolls. Also, there are a few different balls to choose from, such as a fireball or a snowball. None of these thing affect the gameplay in any way, but they give each match a distinct look.
There is not much in they way of sound effect to speak of really. Mostly what you hear is the ball being banged about by your foosman and the accompanying back ground music. The music is fun and upbeat which fits with the frantic action on the table perfectly.
The controls on this one are pretty simple. Use the left analog stick to move your foosman vertically on the table by pressing it up and down. The right analog stick will kick the ball in whichever direction it is pressed. For example, if you press forward and up, that is the direction the ball will be kicked. If the ball were to get stuck, you can simply shake the Vita console to free it up. You can also do this to try and sneak it past the opponent’s goalie, although that might be cheating a bit. There is also a little yellow meter in the top left corner with the face button symbols on it. These are for your trick shots. You will unlock these by playing World Tour mode; more on that in a minute. The bar fills as you kick the ball around the table, and when it fills up to a certain point the button’s symbol will light up, letting you know that shot is available. These shots will do a variety of things, such as making the ball curve a certain way or creating a delay in your shooting to throw off your opponent.
As you progress through World Tour mode, you will unlock lots of extra content such as the aforementioned tables and foosman. You will also unlock new rules for your custom games, and AI difficulty levels as well. You will also earn stars after each match, which you can use to unlock the trick shots. You can earn up the 3 stars after each match. These will be given to you based on how well you do during the match. A shutout will net you 3 stars, while barely scraping by will net you one. You will need to earn 3 in al of the matches to unlock each of the four trick shots.
There is an online mutliplayer mode as well that supports cross play with the PS3 version of the game, but I was never able to get into a match; I guess not many people play this online. If you have friends on PSN that have the game you can always invite one of them to an online match if nothing else.
In short, this is a great game to just pick up and play. The controls are very simple to learn, yet there is a lot of depth to them when you reach higher levels of World Tour mode. There is a ton of unlockable content that will keep you playing for hours and hours. It is also a blast just to pick up your Vita and have a quick match with the AI with lots of custom options to choose from. I wish there were more people playing online so I could have tested it out, but for its low price and the fact it is a cross buy on PSN I feel in the end this one is totally worth the cash.
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Overall |    |
Review was done using the PlayStation Vita version of this title.
Game was obtained by reviewer via his personal PlayStation Plus account.
