- This week, our App Army readers took to the field in Pixel Cup Soccer – Ultimate
- The retro-style graphics scored well with everyone
- While the gameplay also received a universal thumbs-up
Pixel Cup Soccer – Ultimate is the latest retro-styled football title from developer Batovi Games Studio. Apple Arcade fans might be familiar with that name since it’s the team behind Charrua Soccer. However, this time around, they’ve opted to release Pixel Cup Soccer as a premium game, free of the subscription shackles. So, we decided to pass the game to our App Army readers to see if they thought it hit the back of the net.
Here’s what they said:
Jason Rosner
Pixel Cup Soccer – Ultimate is a retro-styled arcade soccer game and simply put, it rocks! This is everything I want when I’m looking for a great sports game that’s all about having fun. From the opening intro where you are taken into an arcade, and you hear “Welcome to Pixel Cup Soccer” giving off strong NBA Jam vibes, to the beautifully done pixelated graphics, you know you are in for something truly special. On mobile, this game is a steal for $5.
You get just about every mode you could ask for, from Friendly Matches and Competitions featuring both Men’s and Women’s Cups, along with a complete Career Mode including full customization. The gameplay is really strong here, with great touchscreen controls that make a real difference with all the action on screen.
Everything runs smooth as butter and there’s some really cool weather effects that look awesome, along with the energetic music. The menus are very polished, and there’s some great explanations for those who may need a little help control-wise. I can’t say enough about just how great Pixel Cup Soccer really is – one of the best of the year!
Mark Abukoff
For games like this, to me, it’s all about the simplicity of controls and difficulty of the game/AI. The friendly match to start was, as it says, friendly. Non-aggressive AI that let me get used to the controls. I moved pretty quickly to tournament matches and was pretty happy to see that (initially, with plenty of assists on) I was able to compete. I’m usually no good at these things. So it’s a good-looking arcade soccer game that’s easier for those of us less-skilled (I guess you could say) to pick up and enjoy. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and happily recommend it to even casual fans.
Robert Maines
Pixel Cup Soccer – Ultimate is a very playable arcade soccer game with retro-style graphics. It has a lot of options and player assists to help even the most ham-fisted to have a lot of fun. It reminded me of Matchday on ZX Spectrum which I used to play many moons ago.
Anyway, the game looks and sounds great, all the rules of soccer seem to be followed as far as I can tell. Matches thankfully don’t last as long as the real thing but two halves, throw-ins and penalties are all there. I would have preferred a wider view of the pitch and even with all the player assists on the touch screen controls let the side down in a game that can be quite frantic at times. But these are minor quibbles for a game I will be playing for a long time.
Swapnil Jadhav
Pros:
Smooth gameplay
Beautiful graphics
Easy controls
Cons:
Too many effects on screen – Especially rain and snow effects. For smaller devices, they should reduce that
Changing teams is a little bit of a challenge
Ui is a bit confusing
Bruno Ramalho
I haven’t had so much fun playing a soccer game since Sensible Soccer on my Amiga 500. So, first, play, get right into it, a friendly game, the moment of truth. If the controls are no fun, forget about the game. Well, the controls are awesome, and you start with most assists turned on by default, so you just need to worry about moving the players, passing, shooting, tackling, and that’s pretty much it for a first game, and it was so much fun.
It starts on easy mode and with assists turned on, and it’s just the perfect way to play the game for the first time. If you’re lucky you get to win your first game, and it makes you feel good. But this game has so much to offer, with the customization of the team players and tactics.
There’s also the availability of multiple cups and tournaments, friendly local games with a friend, with or without a controller, and even a super funny career mode where you start from the bottom surrounded by very suspicious characters that scammed you into it. All in all a perfect soccer game with so much to do that you won’t ever need any other game of this genre.
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