Free, 96mb download, universal, gamecenter enabled, online required.
Ok, honestly I can admit this. I never thought I would ever play any sports game beyond golf. And yet here I am, five days after this one released I'm still enjoying it immensely. Go figure.
What we have here is a touch based football game with heavy card collecting mechanics for improvement of game play and progression. The only two IAP's present are in game and out of game currencies. Both available entirely in game for the patient. Game play is entirely touch based and no matter how good your team's stats there is the element of chance as all movements in the game is literally the roll of a 100 sided die. Two energy bars present, one for the single player content and the other for the competitive pvp side.
Ok so lets look the game over.
This game comes with three game modes, two of which pit you against other players cards and stats. I don't think there is any direct head to head game play here, its more like who ever performs best in their own games, wins.
Boom Boom Bowls is the single player career story sort of thing here. Play across 'championships' by completing 'games' each of which involves any number of individual stages that you must win. Losing or tieing does not reset your progress, you simply receive a partial reward and can try again. Completing 'stages' awards in game and cards. Completing 'games' awards iap and in game currencies. Completing 'championships' awards all of the above AND exceptional cards.
Going in to games you enter with seven cards, three offense and four defense. When you do a move your appropriate card is matched against your opponents card and the top right quality number determines how hard it will be for you to make your move.
Prior to engaging the stage you are given the opportunity to place who you want against theirs and can also see in advance how each card compares. If you have a significant lead you can hit the "Sim" button to quickly auto play and move on. Note, even if all your numbers are green remember this is a die roll and you 'can' still lose the roll.
When the move plays out you will see three rings. Yellow (easy), blue (medium) and purple (hard). The blue and purple rings appear quickly, are smaller and vanish quickly but award a larger slice of the pie. By pie I mean that green pac-man looking fellow in the middle of the green circle in the photo above. This is important because once you tap a ring (assuming you manage to) the game rolls its 100 sided die. Land in the solid, succeed at your play. Land outside? Your players give you dirty looks.
The game plays out over six plays, a blend of you with the ball and them. There is an seventh move, always a kick and only present in the case of needing to break a tie. Win's give 2 cards and cash. Ties give less cash and 1 card. Loss gives even less cash and 1 card.
While you can only take seven cards in to the game, you can have up to 100 on hand. Not sure why this is though as every time I get a new card its immediately consumed to boost the stats of the card I'm keeping or used to evolve the card (significant boost and level cap increase). Only reason I could see for holding more than seven cards would be... for example if you have a really developed bronze card and loot a gold replacement but until its leveled up the gold is weaker.
Alright so this is the Daily Trophy screen. Each day you are randomly paired with 9 other players and get to play against their cards. Ten games total. Person with the most points wins. Prizes are gold for top three performers and a pat on the back for everyone else. This resets daily. Gold ticket energy system is used here.
Third game play mode, Events. They... look like they last a week. You play against completely randomized players based on your rank on the world wide leader board. At the end of the event you are awarded in game and iap currencies based on your performance. As well there are milestone rewards given to you as you accomplish certain amounts of points. 5 points for a win, 3 for a tie and 1 for a lose. Shares gold ticket energy system with the daily trophy.
One last note before I wrap this post up. Card's are acquired from winning and losing any game you play in any of the above modes. But you can also get cards from the store. In the store you have two ways of doing so. First option is a free card pack every four hours, gives as many as 5 cards and has a rare chance of silver or gold cards. Second option is with gold bars. This package has higher than normal drop rates for silver and gold cards. Gold can be purchased via real money or earned throughout all three methods of game play.
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So ok. Final thoughts. Fantastic fun, iap doesn't feel oppressive. The competitive play styles felt oppressive for about the first day and then I had built my team up enough to where I'm holding my own (in first place for today's trophy woo!). Definitely recommended for those without energy bar issues.
