Luna League Soccer (Hands-On) (iOS) Preview

Luna League Soccer is an over-the-top arcade soccer game that is meant to create fast and fun matches that twist a lot along the short time played to allow for the action of a football game during a shorter period of time. The game succeeds very in delivering this. The matches are around two minutes long, which can, however, be edited beforehand to be longer if desired, but that is not needed to experience the action and the twists and turns of a normal game of two halves.

This is because Luna League Soccer is extremely fast-paced and has a power meter used to build up for a special attack. This shifts depending on the team but offers some unfair advantages that usually result in a goal at the end. These two things combined means that despite the matches only lasting two minutes, there is never an issue with stale 0-0 results occurring too often.

There is a considerable amount of components when it comes to customisation. To begin with, it is possible to choose one of several teams, all with unique special abilities and appearances. Stages mostly have special traps or other changes that make them feel unique, and, finally, the ball changes. All the balls are different and work in various ways. All of this makes for very creative and varied battles that feel fresh every time, decreasing the feel of repetitiveness that these titles often suffer from.

Then there is a level-up system, where it is possible to alter how the team performs on the field. It is possible to amend a lot of stats - like speed - to customise the team further, adding a feel of progress when playing that adds to the overall enjoyment.

Everything sounds good so far, right? Well, there is one problem at this stage and that is the controls, unfortunately. To make a soccer game control well on a smartphone is no easy feat, that much must be admitted. However, there are some troublesome choices that have been made. Gamers must tap on the right side of the screen when shooting, passing or tackling, and on the left side, sliding in the appropriate direction to move around. This feels very unnatural - if wanting to go right, the most natural thing to do would be to simply press right on the screen. It is something that is not impossible to get used to, but it takes a while and feels extremely unintuitive.

Besides the weird control option, Luna League Soccer currently looks like it can turn out to be a decent time killer for fans of more casual and fast-paced football titles. This is, however, highly dependent on how the currently non-existent multiplayer and tournament modes turn out. Luna League Soccer does not look like it can offer more than that, though. People who are not fans of the genre are not likely to find anything in here.