New Star Soccer 1.5 is a whole new ball game
Top of the league in mobile footie games for a while now, New Star Soccer is finally receiving an update, and it's a big one. New Star Soccer 1.5 remodels the career structure, which asks players to consider whether they should retire in their prime or keep playing on with increasingly deteriorating skills. It also adds significant gameplay changes to bring the action much closer to the real thing.
The main idea has been to add strategy to matches. So players can now exercise aggressive attacking, defending, or opt for a balanced play-style. Players can now head the ball, and new boots allow swerve control in real-time. Defenders will now close you down whilst you're lining up your shot.
These sound like obvious changes, but the game has already been praised for its engrossing gameplay, so more playing options can only be a good thing. Good handheld football games are thin on the ground, with FIFA 14 on Vita and 3DS being nothing but re-skins of previous installments. New Star Soccer 1.5 really does look like a whole new proposition.
Also worthy of note is the inclusion of female players, something EA is still deciding on for its flagship sports title.
Here's a full list of updates:
• Headers!
• New boots! New Swerve feature added to premium boots.
• New Energy Drink! (NRG Bolt - increases energy plus 3 relationships and 3 skills.)
• Choose differently focussed play during matches – attacking, defensive or balanced.
• Defenders now close you down whilst you aim your shot.
• Replenish your energy during a game.
• New lifestyle items to purchase.
• Three save game slots.
• Skills deteriorate over time, and the older you get, the more you have to keep on top of your skills.
• Retirement option. Choose the optimal time to retire before your skills deteriorate and you start to ruin the
memory of your past achievements. Includes career score and various achievements.
• Additional commentary to add variety.
• Hire a personal trainer, recover quicker, have more energy.
• Get yourself an agent and improve your contracts!
• New newspaper headlines, incidents etc.
• All new game achievements.
• All new audio.
• New footballs each with their own attributes.
• Lots of UI tweaks and improvements, short-cuts and time-savers.
• New pre-match location screen.
• New player awards (player of the year, young player of the year etc.)
• Updated league structure information for new 2013-2014 football season.
• Male / Female select!
• New unlockable ‘hard mode’ for the seasoned veterans!
• Night time matches.
• Twitter and Facebook integration.
New Star Soccer is available now on iOS and Android. Newcomers to the game will be able to play for free until they decide to turn pro.