App Review: Pocket League Story [Video]

The idea of managing a soccer club might not be appealing to many readers but don’t worry about getting the overwhelming complexity of Championship Manager here in Pocket League Story. The simple menus and the basic routine here will seem very familiar as soon as you start  leveling up buildings and unlocking things like new sponsors. Just about aspect of the game is interchangeable with many other Kairosoft games, with Grand Prix Story being the most closely related. There’s a good chance that many avid players of this genre are starting to suffer from an acute case of KFS (Kairosoft Fatigue Syndrome) with all the similarities between their games and I myself feel like I might just be reliving the same game over and over and over but for those who crave more simulation games, or are  just looking for a soccer management simulator then you’ll be happy to hear that Pocket League Story is absolutely both of those.

I mentioned before that Pocket League Story isn’t like the PC favorite Championship Manager so let me quickly elaborate on some of the game’s specifics. Firstly tackling is simply a check of the body strength level, if a defender is close to a player with the ball then he’ll drain his levels until he trips, after which his levels will quickly replenish. Because of this there are no red or yellow cards and despite the ability to have players as substitutes, there’s no injuries in the game. Even without the penalties there is a ref of sorts and play will be stopped for corners, goal kicks and throw ins and once a 45 minute half time limit has been reached (actually about a minute and  a half) play will end, no matter if the ball is just about to cross a goal line or if the current score is a tie, there’s no penalty shootouts or golden goals. The final missing feature that really stood out was no way of changing formations during a game until a half time break, the only interaction you can have while the game is being played is activating an aura on a player, which boosts their performance.

Phew, okay that was a lot of soccer talk and I expect that could drive some away but the level of knowledge to succeed in Pocket League Story is actually very low and even with my rather aging and poor knowledge of soccer (Yes it’s true, not everyone from England is born with knowledge of what the offside rule is) I was able to beat most of the league challenges in a single play through. Once your playthrough is completed some things, such as upgrades, unlocks and seemingly random players come across to an additional playthrough making things a great deal easier.

If you are at all interested in a soccer management game on Android that doesn’t have to be very realistic or challenging or you’re just wanting yet another excuse to drain your battery thrice over on a Kairosoft game, then look no further.

When you’re ready, head over to the Android Market and download this game by clicking or scanning the QR Code below.