Real Football 2011

There’s always a disproportionate thrill when the first game of a new season kicks off. The sight of the summer’s new signings wearing their new shirts, the anticipation as the captains shake hands, and then the excitement as the team proceeds to play just as they did at the end of the last season.

Never mind my own team dropping like a stone through the divisions, though (it still hurts) - Gameloft’s Real Football is back, bringing with it an incredible level of depth and breadth that could easily take it through the season as champion once again.

Let’s get straight to the point – this is still the finest football title on the mobile. Part of the reason why it holds that lofty title is in the way the players move in a realistic fashion during open play, and how the controls keep things manageable without compromising depth.

Passing is performed with a tap of the ‘5’ key, with movement handled by the surrounding buttons. Open passes are shown with a yellow arrow, with closed-off angles denoted by the arrow turning grey.

Pressing, double-pressing, lobs, feints, shots, tackles, and one-twos are handled with a combination of double-tapping and the bottom row of buttons.

While it’s tricky to get the more complicated moves correct the first few games, it won’t take long before you’re sprinting past the last defender, chipping the ball up to the striker, and striking home for a wonder goal.

This level of depth extends to the range of game modes available. Whereas a normal game would offer the standard tournament, league, and friendly options, RF2011 goes deeper by setting up historical matches, recreating the entirety of the last world cup (qualification stages included), and the RPG-lite Enter the Legend mode makes another appearance.

Even the Training mode, which could easily have been a simple tutorial, can last for hours, with ten levels for each of the main football disciplines and medals to be won.

If there was anything slightly iffy it’s that most of this was true of the previous outing. Indeed, complaints we had about 2010, including the camera in ETL mode, seem to not have been addressed at all, with the camera still following the ball blindly around the pitch.

What has been smartened up, however, is the graphics, looking more detailed and smoother than previous entries in the series. The replays that kick in when a shot narrowly misses/slips in and the pre-game stadium wrap-around look particularly fantastic.

Whether this will be enough to tempt those that played last year’s outing to make the away journey is debatable, but those looking for a strong football game will find plenty to like about Real Football 2011.