Tour Soccer Football World

Choose from over 150 teams and take them to glory at domestic or international level. Unlock new club sides, special teams, extra stadia and cup competitions by achieving success in various game modes.

The nicely presented main menu screen includes options for quick games, exhibition matches, cup competitions, multiplayer matchups, and an excellent challenge mode. Other options available to you before starting a game include: turning on and off TV-style score indicators, player names, replays, and the pitch radar; extra time and penalty settings; match lengths of up to 10 minutes; and, if you're playing against the CPU, four difficulty settings.

Although they're prone to making silly mistakes at times, the CPU players play a reasonably convincing game of soccer for the most part. We say for the most part not because we're looking to sit on the fence here, but because CPU players on both teams occasionally do things that are just downright wrong. A player leaving the pitch, standing on the wrong side of the touchline, and then staring blankly at the crowd when waiting for an incoming corner kick, for example. Or a whole group of players standing around a static ball and doing nothing after the player who had possession of it was knocked to the ground in the other team's area, and there was no whistle from the referee. Thankfully, incidents such as these are the exception rather than the rule, but you can't help but feel a little disappointed when you notice them.

The game's 245 real soccer teams--which include international, club, classic, and special squads--need to be unlocked before you can play with them. Winning any of the game's seven cup tournaments will unlock a "superteam," which comprises players from teams eligible for the competition, and you'll also earn tokens that can be spent on unlocking regular sides. Classic teams such as '66 England, '50s Real Madrid, '60s Celtic, and '70s New York will become available when you meet less-obvious criteria, such as scoring your first hat trick, managing three consecutive clean sheets, or having one of your players named the most valuable player in a cup competition. All of soccer's most popular current teams are available for use from the outset, but adding additional sides to the roster is still a great feeling.

Additional stadiums are also up for grabs when you're playing Tour Soccer on your own, and they're invariably earned by playing good soccer against top international teams in the innovative challenge mode. Scoring more goals than your opponents in challenge mode games is important, of course, but the only points that really matter when it comes to earning your bronze, silver, or gold medals are those that you accrue for playing good soccer. Basically, you're awarded points every time you complete a pass, cleanly tackle an opponent, beat an opponent with a trick, or take a shot at the goal. The points appear above your players' heads as you earn them, and your current total appears in the top-right corner of the screen. The challenge mode does a good job of encouraging you to play something resembling attractive soccer, especially since you lose points whenever you mistime a tackle, have a pass intercepted, or concede a goal. We'd actually go as far as to say that Tour Soccer's challenge mode is its best feature, since the only thing disappointing about it is that there are only seven challenge matches available. A multiplayer version of the challenge mode would've been a great addition, but regular exhibition matches are the only thing that you'll be playing against Wi-Fi friends, unfortunately.