It’s a question that begs an answer right now, can pocket-sized football really be any good? Real Football 2009 from Gameloft offers you multiple modes of play much like a full-sized football game would. Exhibition mode lets you quickly pick up a match and get moving while the normal game mode offers Cup, League, Penalty Kicks, Trophies and Training. From a purely ’ways to play’ viewpoint this game is extremely robust as many of these also have sub-modes.

The training will really come in handy as the controls aren’t completely intuitive even though you’ve only got two buttons and the control pad. But there are still limitations on what you can do. For example, running requires you to be moving in one direction and then tap the control pad twice to sprint in that direction. Sometimes you’ll slip and hit the center button which then passes or shoots the ball. Not a serious problem as I was able to mostly control my guys without problem. Also, sometimes it would seem like the game would lag and then track the button presses, so if/when it becomes unresponsive if you were in the middle of doing something it will do all of those actions just later than expected generally with a very unsatisfactory result.

Anytime you need to control the goalie, you might as well just let the AI do it. The controls are not at all ergonomic and honestly, I still don’t know how to make him do what I want. The other thing about the controls is that getting the other guys to go in a diagonal direction is hit or miss. Sometimes they would and sometimes they wouldn’t. It’s not a great football game that only works in straight X and Y coordinates. These control issues really amounted up to some frustration.

The graphics in the game are sub-par to say the least. The players are poorly made and blocky. They also all look the same except for the uniform they’re wearing. Honestly the guys are practically uncontrollable as the game will automatically switch to the player that is nearest the ball and the AI doesn’t always relinquish control. The game even looks clumsy with players just standing still and the AI running right into them turning over the ball and causing fouls.

The sound on the other hand is quite well done. The sounds of the crowd are good and the menu music is good as well. They actually did add to the game experience but still couldn’t make up for the poor graphics. There’s no voice work in the game which isn’t surprising, but you do get a GOOOL when one is scored.

There are tons of options in this game which give Real Football 2009 a fair amount of merit. However, the shoddy graphics and poor game controls and AI make the game less than fun at times. It’s not a terrible game, it’s just not a great game. I guess it falls somewhere in the middle as it’s not all that much fun or easy to control.

The game is currently maintaining a 3 out of 5 stars on N-Gage reviews and my score is only slightly below that.