FIFA SOCCER 12 by EA SPORTS

After playing FIFA SOCCER ’12 for the iPhone for only a short amount of time, it’s very easy to see why the FIFA franchise from EA Sports is one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time. Having sold the game on a variety of consoles since the early nineties, FIFA soccer has eclipsed the 100 million units sold mark world wide. This game is to Soccer fans what Madden is to football fans, the highest caliber game for its sport, with no equal.

The iPhone version of FIFA has a fairly simple variety of games to play. You can choose from Practice (might be helpful if you’re just starting out), Penalty Kicks (I have no idea who chooses this) and Friendly, this is the setting where you get to play an actual game. The game features a surprising number of choices of teams to play with, including squads from over a dozen different leagues worldwide. The object of the game is rather simple, score more goals than the other team.

I was really happy to revisit the FIFA family of games after a rather long lay off. I had forgotten how user friendly their games are, and that ease translated well from regular game consoles to the iPhone. Passing, shooting, defending, slide tackling can be picked up quickly by even the most casual gamer. In the first game I played I was even able to fire off a bicycle kick which was pretty sweet, even if I didn’t score. The celebrations aren’t exactly mind blowing, but it doesn’t really matter because you are so anxious to get back to playing the game. This is a game that anyone who enjoys playing sports games will be happy to have on their mobile device.