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| Soccer Addict |
| .: By: Michael Walker :: Device used: iPAQ H3835 :: June 19th, 2002 :. |
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| Introduction |
| I don't like sports games, plain and simple. I never play any games of the genre, sans the occasional game of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or SSX Tricky. As I loaded up Hexacto's latest installment into their Sports Addict series, I wondered how I got myself into this mess. As Soccer Addict finished loading, I started a game, fearing the worst. After a few minutes, however, I discovered it wasn't that bad. A few more minutes passed and then I finally realized how much fun I was having! It turns out that Soccer Addict is, not surprisingly, extremely addictive. For all of you fans out there with World Cup fever, Soccer Addict should more than curb your hunger for a good, solid soccer game.
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| Getting Started |
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Soccer Addict has your usual ActiveSync install and it installs fine onto a storage card. Upon starting the game, you see a loading screen. Soccer Addict has loading times comparable to Hexacto's other titles Tennis Addict and Lemonade Inc., so it's not that bad. The main menu is simplistic, but it gets the job done. Tapping on one of the items on the left reveals more options on the right side of the screen. If it's your first time playing, Hexacto has included a nice "Training" feature that teaches you how to play. You'll definitely want to run through this, as the controls can be a bit confusing the first few times you play, but then they'll get to be second nature. |
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| Controls |
| Soccer Addict's controls, though confusing at first, are really quite logical. Using Hexacto's PSI ("Precise Stylus Input") controls, you draw a line from your player in the direction of where you want the ball to go to pass or shoot it. What makes this unique is that the longer the line you draw, the farther and higher the ball will go. The same thing goes for tackling; draw a line from your player to where you want to tackle, a longer line being a slide tackle. Though I sometimes tend to mess up and send the ball flying over my teammates' heads, this control scheme works very well. |
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| Gameplay |
| What's a game without gameplay? That's like a dinner with no main course or a computer without an operating system! But does Soccer Addict measure up? To use the above example of a dinner, if Soccer Addict was a meal, it would be a lobster platter. The game is just plain fun. Nothing more, nothing less, just sheer entertainment. The game is soccer (or football for all you non-Americans), just as you know and love it. You try to score goals, slide tackle the opponent, etc. However, Hexacto made the game more interesting by adding not one, not two, but three different types of games. If you feel like playing a real game but don't have much time, you can play an Exhibition game: just one match, you pick the teams and the location. For those long, lonely nights there's Tournament mode, where you play through the league defeating each team. Finally, you can play a Shoot-Out game if you just want something to entertain you for a few minutes; the way it works is you and the computer each take turns taking foul shots. Another useful feature Hexacto included was the ability to sync your scores with their web site via their Scorecast software, included in the installer. You can synchronize your scores and compare yourself to others on their website, which adds a nice little touch. However, one area that the game is lacking in (and, in fact, is nonexistent in this title) is multiplayer. Though a 2-player mode could have possibly worked via wireless connections for a real soccer game, Shoot-Out mode would have been perfect to play with a friend. |
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| Graphics and Sound |
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From the crowd's enthusiastic cheers to the 3Dish graphics, Soccer Addict really tries hard to emulate the exhilaration of being out on the soccer field, and almost succeeds. The graphics, though nice when you first see them, get boring and bland quite quickly. After a while, you stop seeing little men and start to look at little clusters of brightly colored pixels instead. As for the music and sound, there just isn't that much. The techno- esque music on the main menu is nice, but once you get into the actual game, there's no background music whatsoever. You've got the crowd cheering nonstop (for you, obviously), the cheers getting louder and louder as you approach the opponent's goal. When you pass the ball or receive a pass, there are little accompanying noises. I may be crazy, but I think that those sound effects sound like someone tapping on the microphone while they were recording. At least you can disable the sound effects in the options menu... |
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| Final Thoughts |
| Soccer Addict is one of the best (if not THE best) sports game for the Pocket PC. Though the sound and graphics aren't up to par, that's not the most important feature in a game. I strongly suggest that anyone with an ARM or MIPS processor should at least try this game out, if not buy it. Normally it retails for $30, but if you buy it soon Hexacto is offering $10 off, lowering the price to $20. The 4MB filesize is somewhat large, but it's worth it for such a great game. |
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| Pros |
Cons |
- PSI Controls
- Extremely addictive
- Compare scores online with ScoreCast software
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- Mediocre music and graphics
- Long loading times
- Expensive
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