Soccer Puzzle League Preview

Soccer Puzzle League mixes Match-3 gameplay and RPG elements with the soccer experience

What comes to mind when you think of soccer? Checkered balls trundling down long, long fields? Cleats? Jerseys? Spirited fans and the bull-like bellows that rip through the crowds after a goal? Or maybe you just think “Holy moly, what’s the point of it all?” if you live in the United States. Regardless of what part of the world you live in, or what you think of soccer in general, there’s nothing wrong with mixing the sport with Match-3 puzzle action.

Puzzle Soccer League for iOS mixes up Match-3 puzzle mechanics with a little strategy and role-playing. There are three divisions, and 18 teams to test your skill, wits, and kicking strength against.

As you play, you gain passive and active skills, and presumably most of them run along the lines of, “Kick the Ball Harder,” and “No, Harder than That.” Your opponents have more than 20 skills to unleash against you, however, so look out.

Luckily, you can gain an edge by unlocking and upgrading over 150 pieces of soccer equipment. You still might have a rough go of things, though, since there are six levels of difficulty to overcome in Puzzle Soccer League‘s challenge mode. If need be, you can fall back and score some achievements (Achievement Unlocked: Watched Cat Tear Across the Playing Field).

Puzzle Soccer League hits the App Store in mid-December.

Nadia Oxford

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In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.