Soccer Superstars

Believe it or not, it's perfectly possible to score an intentional own goal.

Just ask a school mate of mine who, on his first nervy match in PE, managed to win possession and proceeded to run like hell towards the goal, slotting it past the keeper with fury.

Only problem was, it was the wrong goal. The poor lad had mistaken the screaming of his teammates for cheers of encouragement.

It's not hard to imagine that he'd feel right at home with Soccer Superstars. Here's a game that attempts to make football cute and cuddly so that even if you're not savvy to every facet of the sport, you can still get a kick out of it.

It's an odd bundle, though. Soccer Superstars comes with scores of family-friendly features you're never likely to see in your average FIFA or X2 package: an anime style superstar player and a fully charged super shot that causes the ball to fly off your foot like a bullet.

Movement is directed via a virtual analogue stick in the bottom-left, while passing and pressing, tackling and shooting are assigned to two buttons on the right.

Goals come from a succession of passes rather than lengthy dribbles, with the key being to get into the box and fire at the goal with just enough power to send it flying into the top corner.

It's not an exact science, but as long as you don't overdo the force behind the shot – determined by how long you hold the button down for – it's likely to go in.

Soccer Superstars's unique selling point is the fact that you automate movement. In fact, this is how the game plays in default, with your only input being when you pass, shoot, or make an attempt to nab possession of the ball.

It doesn't actually make play as easy as you might think, though it's actually the most preferable setup, even for the proficient. Attempting to control the players directly is actually a dour task, with the opposition often running circles around you due to the game's sluggishness.

The fact that winning isn't a forgone conclusion is surprising. The game's superstar players and their unique super shots are there to aid you, but in truth they make little difference. Indeed, using the latter when too close to the goal causes the ball to pop up, in much the same manner as Beckham's ill-fated Estádio da Luz spotkick six long years ago.

Of note is My League mode, which takes the game firmly into FIFA territory. Here you take charge of a single player and guide him through each match. Unlike 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and its Captain Your Country mode, you feel engaged throughout here, not only being able to call for passes but also instructing teammates to shoot if you think they're in a good enough position.

If only such passes and shots were so easy to pull off in the standard modes. As part of a melding of football and role-playing, players don't always react as directed in order to reflect their stats.

Soccer Superstars frequently ignores your requests to do either, making runs on goal increasingly frustrated as the game fails to take a shot when prompted. Indeed, it often only reacts long afterwards, your intended shot instead triggering a sliding tackle that, more often than not, will see you penalised.

Still, Soccer Superstars brings a refreshing arcade edge to play, and in terms of style, manages to pull it off. Instead of feeling like a cheap cash in, Soccer Superstars is a genuine attempt to reach out and bring the game to a new audience.

It's just a shame the matches themselves don't live up to their superstar billing.