Controls in "Football Superstars" will take some getting used to, especially if you play "Pro Evolution" or "FIFA" on console. Movement in the game is completely done with WASD, with left shift making your player sprint, and space passing the ball to the nearest player or slide tackling. Shooting at the goal, moving the camera, performing longer manual passes, and performing soft tackles are all done with the mouse. For example, to shoot you just aim at the goal, hold the left mouse button, and the longer you hold dictates the strength of your shot. Likewise, aim away from the goal and the longer you hold dictates how far you kick it.

If you want to get tricky, you can also manipulate the camera using the right mouse key, and pre-load passes and shots using spacebar and the left mouse button. Pre-loading makes it so that you can queue up a pass or shot, and the second you get the ball, you'll make a try at the goal or pass the ball to a teammate. This helps a ton in situations like corner kicks, but it can take a long time to perfect as your timing has to be just right. The camera can be rotated freely of your character's movement, but if you let go of the right mouse button while looking in a direction, your character will change angles and begin to run that way.

Playing matches earns you experience points, which increases your level and allows you to buy new skills and abilities. Obviously, then, it's better to play against people of similar levels, as higher levels are going to have way more abilities and talents than your guy. (But, at times, it's too hard to find people of your level to play against, and you'll have no choice.)

The virtual world celebrity portion of the game is a nice idea, but it's not quite as fun as I hoped. You start out as a nobody in terms of fame, and the goal is to work your way up the celebrity ladder. Doing so will give you access to new reporters to talk to, new areas (like clubs) to visit, and more. But, starting out, it takes a long time to even begin to progress with fame, and make money to buy equipment and clothing, due to the low rewards of early level matches. Meanwhile, higher leveled players will be racking it up. It's really a case of the rich getting richer.

The map is also extremely large -- too large for a game of this size. With a low population wandering the actual social world at any given time, you'll see a whole lot of empty space. It doesn't help that walking from one place to another in the city is a huge time consuming task, either.

If you can get online when there are enough players on that you aren't waiting for 20 or 30 minutes to get into a League Match, "Football Superstars" is well worth playing. You can play completely for free; paying players just get the option of forming their own Club (with friends and other players), and a few other minor features. It doesn't control nearly as smoothly as the console soccer titles, but it's a fun sports game. The controls may seem lackluster when you see that everything is done with the left mouse button and spacebar, but they're deceptively simplistic, and fully mastering the gameplay will be a challenge for many players.

Really, the only thing I truly hated about the game is that it takes too long for refs to call fouls after a player falls down, and with how many things there are in the game, that's always a good sign.

Review Trevor DeRiza
November 6, 2009