Real Football is ideal for casual gamers
Gameloft's new game is a big downer for serious football gamers, but someone with a passing interest and limited free time will like it
Genuine football fans will most probably have Gameloft’s Real Football, EA Sports’s FIFA 16 or Konami’s PES Club Manager on their smartphones. With their powerful graphics and gameplay, some of these games have reduced the gulf between console and mobile gaming significantly. But these are serious titles, which require investment in terms of time and even a fairly powerful smartphone.
This is where game developer Gameloft, with Real Football, has taken a step back to woo a bigger demographic of casual gamers. The Real Football title is available as a free download on the Google Play Store, and works on the freemium method which involves in-app purchases ( ₹ 120 and goes up to ₹ 6,200).
Graphics
The game’s home screen looks very well designed. The various game modes have been set apart with a picture that represents the mode as well. The Online Tournament Mode has a globe in the background while the friendly mode has a picture of players from two teams, for example. The in-game graphics is the exact opposite of what we saw earlier. And if you have played any of the FIFA or even the Real Football game, this is going to let you down big time. All players look alike while the camera mode is fixed. The player jerseys have been designed well which helps distinguishing your players from that of the opposition easier. You can customize the team logo and design a new jersey from scratch for your team.
Gameplay
The game works on similar line as the Ultimate Team mode in FIFA series. You can create your own imaginary team, sign up new players and take part in online seasons. You have the option to pick up the leagues based on the country you want. Due to licensing issues, you won’t be able to control real players or take part in real leagues. The game has its own set of imaginary leagues with made-up names. Lack of Club licensing was always an issue with Real Football Series. The season mode is quite elaborate. You can sign new players, train them and build facilities to help them grow. There is also a transfer window where you can sell or auction players. The transfer window will unlock automatically after you have reached level 15.
The game’s other highlight are the various game modes. You can participate in daily missions and win rewards, and compete with other players online. The player lottery is the game’s surprise market where if you are lucky you can get players with high ratings. You can use the gold bars as in-game currency for buying players, taking part in lottery and improving your team’s skills.
The game length is fixed and short. Game controls are simple and have been put separately, which makes getting along with it a lot easier than the likes of Dream League Soccer, which is another popular offline football game with modest graphics and a file size of 100MB.
Verdict
This game is a big let-down for serious football fans, but for someone with a passing interest in mobile games on football, it is a good time killer. The limited file size, the offline gameplay and modest hardware requirements make it playable on the most basic devices.
Developer: Gameloft
Price: Free (In-app purchases ₹ 120 to ₹ 6,200)
Available on: Google Play Store
Tested on: Lenovo Z2 Plus (Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, Adreno 530 GPU and 64GB storage)
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