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FIFA Mobile - 5 things EA can learn from the best footy games on iOS

Tactical tips for a title tilt

FIFA Mobile - 5 things EA can learn from the best footy games on iOS
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iOS
| FIFA Mobile

FIFA Mobile will reset EA's mega-selling series on mobile, promising regular updates rather than a completely new game every year.

We've told you what we want to see from the game, as well as why we'd like to see a PES Mobile rival. But really, EA only needs to look at the best of the iOS footy game scene for inspiration.

From New Star Soccer to Football Manager Touch 2016, there are some choice lessons to be learned in the crafting of a top mobile football game.

Here's what EA could learn from its App Store rivals when it comes to FIFA Mobile.

New Star Soccer - Career modes matter!

FIFA 16 was a decent footy game, but it had one gaping flaw - a complete lack of a single player campaign mode. If EA thought that mobile gamers didn't want to embark on an involved campaign, it need only have looked to arguably the best mobile footy game of them all to stand corrected.

New Star Soccer is all about the campaign, steering your through a single player's ascent from lower-league prodigy to world superstar. Its gameplay may be readily accessible, but the New Star Soccer's structure is as meaty as they come.

Tiki Taka Football - You don't need traditional controls to be the best

FIFA on console is a pretty complex game, and EA has been working on ways to simplify it for mobile for some time now. FIFA 16 was its best effort yet, but there's still work to be done.

EA should look to Tiki Taka Football for inspiration. It's come up with one of the best control systems for mobile footy, letting you tap on players to pass or swipe to shoot. Most importantly, it just feels right.

Pixel Cup Soccer 16 - Pick up and play is more important than accurate licenses

FIFA is traditionally the footy game that's most faithful to actual soccer, thanks to its formidable licensing set-up and laser-like focus on replicating the game (or at least, a Sky Sports vision of the game).

But if Pixel Cup Soccer 16 shows us anything, it's that simple, intuitive playability is more important than faithful simulation on mobile. Its chunky retro graphics and straight-forward two-button gameplay goes down a treat.

Soccer Physics - Don't take yourself too seriously

Sometimes it seems as if football has been taken over by angry red-faced men with a serious lack of perspective. Don't be that guy, EA. Football never needs to be all that serious - it's just a silly game, after all - but that's especially so on mobile.

Take a look at Soccer Physics, with its deliberately ridiculous premise and loony rule-shifts. It bears little resemblance to real footy, but it's hilarious and fun. What we're saying to EA is: feel free to let your hair down with FIFA Mobile.

Football Manager Touch 2016 - It's not enough to do a faithful conversion

Football Manager Classic 2015 gave us precisely what we wanted - a direct conversion of the classic Football Manager PC management game (or one of its modes at least). Yet we 'only' gave it 8 out of 10. Why? Because it really was a direct conversion, cramming a PC game into a little touchscreen device with little proper optimisation.

Football Manager Touch 2016 did much better, streamlining the controls for mobile play. EA's already improving on this with every mobile version of FIFA, but the lesson remains an essential one - don't try and cram everything in from the console version. And where you do, make damn sure it works perfectly in a mobile context.
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.