Hands on with X2 Football 2010 on iPhone

With the World Cup weeks away, competition for the title of best football sim on the App Store is hitting fever pitch.

EA Mobile's FIFA series is already released, Gameloft's Real Football's on the way, and there's even rumblings of a Pro Evolution entry from Konami.

The black sheep of the pack is Exient's X2 Football series, which launched exclusively on iPhone in 2009.

But as Des Gayle, its producer, admits, it's not enough to just have the tightest controls, the best physics or a most believable artificial intelligence.

The iPhone is also a feature-driven economy, and that's why Exient has used almost the entire year gap between X2 Football entries to squeeze as many features, modes and bullet points as possible into X2 Football 2010.

Its biggest source for inspiration?

The forums, the comment threads and the App Store reviews. If you've cried out for a feature of bemoaned the lack of a certain game type, you can bet Exient's read it, and tried to implement it.

Take the multiplayer mode; perhaps the most hotly requested feature if X2 2009's reviews on iTunes are anything to go by.

It's in X2 Football 2010, and in a big way with both wi-fi and Bluetooth for local kickabouts, and online matches against friends through wi-fi.

And here's a fun little gimmick I might have enjoyed a little too much when playing against the X2 development team: players can use the in-depth replay viewer to show off their best moments on both devices simultaneously.

This allows you to repeatedly highlight to your opponent that excellent headed goal from lots of different angles. It's gloating 2.0.

X2 has also implemented the much requested club-level teams, and the slightly cheeky Team Editor menu that lets you name your club's players correctly, but without the financial costs or legal headache for Exient of doing it officially.

And then there's Dream Team mode.

Fantasy Football by any other name, it's an ultra-light spattering of Football Manager-esque team building, where you take a custom built squad (named after members of the Exient design crew, but you can rename them to your chums) through their paces.

You'll earn credits, which can be swapped for new players.

Aside from these substantial new features, the rest of X2 Football 2010's updates are mostly graphical: proper shadows for players on 3GS and third gen iPod touch models, weather effects like snow, and day and night cycles.

There's also a nifty RSS ticker, so you can stream in the latest news from the BBC's sport centre, or from your favourite local or club team. Or even Pocket Gamer.

During my trip, when I wasn't playing X2 Football 2010, I was discussing the App Store.

Exient is no stranger to the handheld market, with the walls of its conference room adorned with boxes of games for everything from Gameboy Advance to Gizmondo, PSP to N-Gage.

But with fluctuating price points, the issues of discoverability, and free Lite versions, even these pocket gaming veterans have had to scratch their heads at the App Store's tipsy turvy economy.

The team readily admitted that despite two years into the App Store's life, the marketplace still offers no guarantee of success and no obvious price points or case studies to follow.

And in that sense, the proximity of the World Cup means the number of football games will explode in the coming weeks, making the situation even more volatile.

It will certainly be fascinating to see how this gameplay not licence-orientated game shapes up.

X2 Football 2010 will be available soon for iPhone and iPod touch, for £2.99, €3.99 or $4.99.