Take your foosball skills global with Foosball Cup World
Battle numerous other countries in none other than Foosball Cup World, a game that puts your virtual foosball skills to the test. Play quick matches or choose challenges and put in some more effort to achieve special goals within the game. The game by default pairs you up with a computer, but soon after improving your skill Foosball Cup World unlocks additional modes for two players, tournaments and the world league. The game is free with in-app purchases for iPhone and iPad.
Initially, two modes are unlocked: Quick Match and Challenges. In Quick Match, the first team to score six goals wins. That's the default, but the game is filled with customization options. Choose everything from the table design, size, foosmen type, ball type and goal limit. The latter can be as little as two goals for a win. Much of these options are locked initially and require "glory points" to unlock.
In Challenges, the game presents you with a scrollable list of goals to accomplish. For instance, the first one is "Meet the Goalie" which requires you to save five shots toward the goal in a row. The award is one glory point and 100 energy points if you succeed. Tapping start begins the game. The challenges get more difficult as you go down the list but I found them easier than the Quick Match games.
I've only played real-world foosball a few times in my life and I was never particularly good at it. In fact, I'm terrible. I was hoping those pathetic skills wouldn't carry over into the virtual realm. They did. At the standard configuration, there are three rows of foosmen to control. Drag your finger left or right to spin the players in the direction necessary for getting the ball headed in the right direction.
Despite my inability to be even slightly decent at foosball, there's room for improvement in the responsiveness department. I'm not taking full responsibility for that. The tap targets for each row are a bit too small for my thumbs (and others who I had test out the game) on the iPhone 6 and as a result it's more difficult than it should be to control the motion of the foosmen. It's a bit easier on the iPad's larger display.
To move forward in the game, eventually you should start unlocking some of the aforementioned new features. This requires having a decent amount of glory points which you earn after completing various challenges or going straight for the available in-app purchases.
What's nice about Foosball Cup World though is that if you don't desire to unlock extras, you don't have to. Just play the game with standard settings until you don't feel like playing anymore. The in-app purchases aren't crucial to the game, most of them are just for revealing bonus content.
If you're a foosball fan, give Foosball Cup World a whirl. The controls do need some tweaking and right now require plenty of hand-eye coordination, but other than that the game is solid. Plus, I'm fairly certain just about anyone can play better than I can so you don't have much to lose.
