➤ Score! Hero 2, the review of football at your fingertips 🎮

The Score series has found a way to propose football on mobile devices with a different approach than what we have seen previously and designed specifically for this type of use and the Score! review Hero 2 shows how all these basic features have remained perfectly intact even in the new chapter. Too much, considering that there are very few real innovations in this second chapter, beyond a clear technical evolution and some content additions. As in the first chapter, also in this case it is essentially about draw trajectories with your finger on the touch screen to complete actions or perform set pieces, and then see the situation unfold on the playing field based on the precision with which we have built the path of the ball. It is a fascinating solution because on the one hand it gives considerable elegance to the use of the touch display, normally considered above all a ball and chain in sports games of this type, while on the other hand it presents a truly different gameplay from the usual and built specifically for mobile devices. .

The main problem is that, in fact, it presents practically nothing new compared to the previous chapter, and to be honest, few new ones even compared to the old Score! Classic Goals, released about ten years ago, but having now established its legacy in the mobile field, it is also right that it continues on that path. In fact, the news The main ones concern a new aspect in terms of graphics, particularly well done in this round and in step with the times, and a new structure that also includes elements that we could define "narrative", given that it follows the evolution of a player with the first professional experiences up to international successes. All taking advantage of some licenses of European football and always focusing the action on the principle of "brushstrokes" with which to baste the actions on the field, in a free-to-play dynamic that involves a certain amount of attempts to score before imposing the classic forced pauses given by running out of energy between one game and another.

Football with brush strokes

In case you haven't tried the above, here's how the gameplay by Score! Hero 2: a football match is staged in which the events are largely pre-set, except for some specific situations in which the action is interrupted and the moment of the player arrives. With the view behind the ball carrier, we have to draw with our finger the trajectory to be followed by the ball, so that it somehow reaches the goal. In some cases it is simply a matter of shooting on goal, obviously trying to perform ballistic shots as difficult to intercept and parry as possible, while in other cases it is necessary to set an action starting from the previous steps. The particularly interesting thing about Score! Hero 2, as in the previous chapter, is that there is a minimum degree of freedom left to the player's initiative: obviously the situation is preset in terms of the position of opponents, teammates and goalkeepers, which greatly restricts the possibilities of developing the action, but it is possible to reach slightly different conditions in terms of assists and goal shots.

The conclusion must still be the goal and the failure of the goal requires the repetition of theaction until this condition is met, which is the biggest challenge in the game. It is necessary to have a good sensitivity and to draw the trajectories to the millimeter, because arriving at the shot from an unbalanced position can make it impossible to score, also given the impressive reactivity of the goalkeepers. The fact of having to repeat all the actions of a game from the beginning to each mistake also increases the level of challenge but also a certain frustration that can arise due to the energy system. The amount of attempts is in fact represented by an energy bar that runs out with each test and recharges over time, so once the available hearts have been completed, it is necessary to stop the game or pay the classic micro-transaction to restart immediately. Obviously, the longer you wait, the more the bar is recharged, which favors a fruition in small doses, actually quite congruous with the type of game in question. In-app purchases and advertisements are obviously very present as this is a free-to-play, but to tell the truth they do not unbalance the experience: it is necessary to pay the in-game currency (possibly purchasable with real money) to customize the protagonist and to be able to continue between one attempt and another, but never bump into real insurmountable paywalls.

The game mode is a kind of history which leads us to progress between different games (living only a few clips), following the evolution of the protagonist and his club from the youth to the first team and beyond. It is a structure made up of real levels, since the matches are only contexts in which the various tests to be faced are inserted, each with secondary objectives whose achievement determines an overall score different from one to three stars.

Comment

Tested version Android, iPad 1.041 Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (2)

7.4

Your vote

The concept of football applied to the touch screen works very well in Score! Hero 2, which offers a very interesting solution to play on the elements of this sport in an arcade meaning and perfectly placed in the mobile context. This is nothing new, considering that this same system has now been widespread among smartphone titles for years and this new chapter of the First Touch Games series does not introduce practically anything new, beyond a significant technical evolution. However, those who still want to draw trajectories and brush goals at the intersection of the posts will find here another good dose of possible actions, set within a sort of progressive "story" about a player. For the rest, we have to deal with the usual pauses and any micro-transactions, but in a not too unfair way, to tell the truth.

PRO

The game mechanics are well established and in working order
Good technical evolution between graphics, animations and artificial intelligence
There is a kind of new story to follow

AGAINST