Bend it like Buick: a wacky new sport
Soccer Rally 2 is an original and fun game which successfully blends the worlds of car racing and soccer.
The car is the star
The idea of Soccer Rally 2 is as simple and absurd as it sounds. You take control of a car and must ‘drive’ the giant ball into the goal to score, which you do by bouncing it off your vehicle.
There are 20 different one-player tournaments to enter in Soccer Rally 2, where you take on other cars in head-to-head matches. You can only proceed through the competitions by winning them. You start off with a humble soccer ball, but then move onto playing with tennis balls, beach balls, and hockey pucks.
There’s plenty of fun to be had in Soccer Rally 2 outside of the tournament mode. You can hone your driving/ball skills in the Academy, where you can part in different challenges such as cannon defense, multiball and time attacks.
There’s an insanely fun local multiplayer mode, too where you and a friend can battle it out against each other, with controls laid at either end of the screen. This is a real joy on an tablet, but gets a bit cozy and cumbersome on a phone. There’s no game pad support, unfortunately.
Get behind the wheel
Getting the hang of Soccer Rally 2 is about as difficult as it would be in real life (which would be pretty fun, thinking about it).
There are two control systems to choose from: one with a virtual steering wheel and the other with direction buttons for turning. Both require a lot of practice, though.
There’s a tutorial level that takes you through the basics and the Academy levels are good for training. However, it’s still hard to master the skill needed to make quick changes of direction at high speed and how to keep the ball under control.
One way to improve your chances of glory in Soccer Rally 2 is to take advantage of the upgrades system. Here you can tune your car, cranking up its performance and handling to give you the edge on your rivals. There are power-ups such as boosts that can be activated during a match to catch the other cars out.
There are several cars to choose from in the game and you can customize their appearance with paint and decals.
Earning enough cash to buy upgrades and new cars requires a lot of hard work in the game, but it’s so enjoyable to play that you won’t really mind. Of course, there’s always the option to purchase game currency.
When Pirelli met Pele
The graphics in Soccer Rally 2 are pretty good, especially the vehicle and ball physics. The animation is very realistic, and is one of the reasons why you’ll feel so immersed in the game.
One thing I personally missed from Soccer Rally 2 was replays. I scored (and conceded) so many outrageous goals that it would’ve be nice if there were a way to see them again, and even share these clips with others.
A winning formula
Soccer Rally 2 is without doubt the best soccer driving game on the planet. Yes, I know there aren’t that many of these but still, it’s fun concept that’s been executed very well.