Posts tagged with ‘sports’

Play Champions League with Heineken Star Player (iPhone)

To kick off, let me just say that I think this is brilliant - it’s not perfect and there are some niggling elements to it, but as an original, engaging idea for an iPhone app this is great.

Heineken have released Star Player, a game that you play during every UEFA Champions League match whilst watching the game live on TV. 

It’s basically in-game gambling, but for points not cash. The idea is you prove your football instincts by anticipating/predicting live match moments - corner kicks, free kicks, penalties, when goals might be scored - e.g. will a corner kick be saved, scored, cleared or missed, or predict a goal will be scored in the next 30 sec (with more points being earned the earlier you predict).

It’s good fun to play and adds some excitement to a game, particularly for those ‘not so exciting’ second leg games, but there are some slightly frustrating points to it - like the actual football game often seeming to ‘move on too fast’ for Star Player to keep up with which voids your prediction for that moment, and occasionally the match moments just don’t register on the app. As stated earlier though, it’s new and original so I guess teething problems are to be expected and hopefully improved on quickly.

I’d like to see better Facebook integration. You can set up leagues via Facebook connect, but it’s a little clunky and seems like it was a bit of an afterthought. How about simply being able to see which of your other friends are using the app too? I think they’ve also missed a trick in not having any way you can use the app outside of when the Champions League games are being played.

All in all though it’s really clever, taps into the trend of multi-screen watching, looks good and is well done.

Heineken Star Player is free for iPhone on App Store.

Football League - Official Clubs App (iPhone)

Calling all Football League club supporters. The Football League have released an app especially for you!

It features all the usual stuff - live scores, league tables, fixtures etc - but, also features more in depth and sometimes exclusive news about your team, player profiles, and in depth analysis of your teams games.

Looks great and it’s nice to have something that caters specifically for supporters of non-Premier League clubs.

Football League - Official Clubs App is free on App Store.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out iFooty for iPhone and iPad too.

iFooty. Do you? (iPhone/iPad)

iFooty is a must have for any footie fan. Use it to keep up to date on live results, check how the league table is looking and get all the latest news.

What’s clever about iFooty is the interface, really good for getting an overview of what’s happening across the whole league or with a few clicks you can drill down so that you only see information relevant to your team.

It also now not only covers all UK leagues (Premier League, League 1, League 2, etc including Champions League and UEFA Cup), but also Europe (La Liga, Serie A, etc), USA’s MLS, some of South America’s Leagues and also Japan’s J. League!

All this for free. Rocking. There is also an iFooty Plus option available for £1.79 which is ad free and allows push notification for goals.

iFooty for iPhone and iPad is free on App Store.
iFooty Plus for iPhone and iPad is £1.79 on App Store.

This year’s best iPhone game just got better!

Flick Kick Football has just been updated. Those clever folk at PikPok have added a new ‘Bullseye’ game mode… you’re against the clock, the better you aim, the more points and valuable seconds you’re given.

This’ll surely sort the men from the boys.

If you missed the original review of Flick Kick Football go read it now.

Flick Kick Football (iPhone). Simple genius.

PikPok, the people that brought us the brilliant Flick Kick Rugby (and Flick Kick Field Goal), have reversioned their kicking game just in time for the World Cup - and Flick Kick Football is even better than any of its predecessors.

Like the others in the Flick Kick series, the objective of the game is simple, flick the ball and score… as many times as possible. But, in this footie version the power and curl you apply to each kick is vitally important to beat the defenders and keep you kicking on.

What’s really clever though is how you can gain an extra life by curling your shots just inside the posts or crossbar. This introduces the need to take riskier shots to help you progress.

Love this game, the most addictive app installed for a while. Simple genius.

One slight gripe though, its frustratingly slow response of menus when you first load - the menu options seem to take an unusually long time to actually become responsive, leaving you tapping options with nothing happening for too long (this may be due to me playing it using iPhone 3G running on OS4 - pain in the arse nevertheless).

Flick Kick Football for iPhone is 59p from App Store.

Other games of interest for iPhone footie fans - Pro Evolution Soccer, X2 Football and Football Manager for iPhone.

EA’s FIFA World Cup - only 59p! (iPhone)

Electronic Art’s FIFA World Cup is currently available for 59p. I’m sure I saw this before for much more, so not sure how long this price is good for.

An OK footie game, enjoyable enough but suffers the same problems as the rest that have gone before it - a full on football game on iPhone’s small screen is always going to be limited. Though for 59p it’s worth checking out. Being an official FIFA tie-in, it has all the correct player names too.

Electronic Arts FIFA World Cup for iPhone is 59p on App Store.