Humongous Entertainment has developed a game that will surely give young soccer enthusiasts a kick. Backyard Soccer takes players into realistic neighborhood soccer competitions with a variety of great features that any sports fanatic (young or old) will enjoy. This game is marketed for kids from ages five to ten years old.
This game has a number of clever player-controlled, customized features. The game allows players to choose from a group of thirty neighborhood children to build their teams. The designers of this game made sure to give the neighborhood children a touch of realism by making the children each have their own unique personalities, abilities and a full range of physical appearances. Even picking your players is a fun part of the game.
Team member statistics such as kicking skills, ball control, defensive skills and running are rated on a four-soccer-ball rating scale (four being the strongest rating possible in each category) so that the player can carefully choose his or her own custom team. Players also have control of choosing a field from a group of twenty different playing ones offering everything from asphalt to parkland. Children can even design their own uniforms and set difficulty levels from three skill levels, so even the younger players wont get to frustrated. You can also adjust player aggressiveness.
There are numerous other great features that will capture young players’ attentions . Each game is narrated by a pair of sports announcers who offer plenty of positive encouragement. This game also gives the player more realistic sports play action by offering a giant score board with instant replay capabilities. Seeing instant replay in a children’s game is a really nice touch. The player can also have their team participate in international tournaments. Game, season and lifetime stats are all recorded for each of the team members.
There are quite a number of qualities which I found make this program great for children. The controls for the game itself are pretty much simply click and point (which is great for youngsters and those of us who are still developing our own hand-eye coordination skills with the computer.)
A wonderful highlight of this game is the amount of control given to the mind of the child player. The child assumes the roles of coach and problem solver. The player must decide which team members will best benefit his or her team, how to use and control the players in the games, and when to substitute team members in soccer games.
Another important feature for children is the realistic and unique characteristics of the team members represented. Just as you would find in any neighborhood soccer team, there are children of different physical appearances, personalities and ability levels.
Between the great animation, fast paced action and the excitement of competition, this game will surely score points with young (and even older) sports enthusiasts. I’m giving this game 4 1/2 gems out of 5, because of its comprehensive design and entertainment value for children.