There are two kinds of people: those whom soccer completely captures their imagination, and those who don’t. Both types, however, will like ‘The Football Playbook’.
This is a freemium game of tactical soccer that accomplishes something remarkable: transforming soccer into an enjoyable and quite addictive touchscreen puzzle game. ‘The Football Playbook’ employs some very interesting game dynamics, in that the ‘plays’ can be planned out entirely in advance, or they can be planned out partially, with instructions given to your players in real time with the game in progress, as you react to what members of the other team are doing.
But the best way to get a sense of how this game plays is to watch the video below:
But is it free? The Football Playbook is freemium, with 48 out of 700 puzzles on offer totally free, while others can be purchased for in game (or real) money. The only glitch: I am not sure how you can earn this money aside from the usual tweet, liking them on Facebook, etc. So far I have been playing and solving puzzles without earning any in game money, so maybe its not so much ‘freemium’ as a demo. Regardless, I’ll take the 48 puzzles and be grateful.
The verdict:
Disclaimer: I am one of those people mentioned in the introduction whom soccer captures their imagination. And I do think that ‘The Football Playbook’ is an excellent game in it’s design and it’s simplicity. Unlike most puzzle games, there are in fact countless different ways to ‘solve’ each puzzle, which is refreshing. Also the combination of turn based (pre planned) and real time gameplay is very interesting.
This game is supposed to be based on a browser flash game and for the life of me I cannot find it. Where is that flash game? Someone please let me know.
In the meanwhile, get this and play it, you will not be disappointed. The one thing that can be improved that I want? A version for Android, please.
Check out the game website and it’s link on iTunes (iOS).
