Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Have you ever wished you could attend a soccer academy instructed by Pele and Mia Hamm? Yeah, me neither. Academy of Champions: Soccer strives to tap into the ever growing audience of young Wii gamers who have at one time or another played soccer. Gamers are able to select their young rising soccer star and guide him (or her) through life at a soccer academy. From mini-games to actual soccer matches, this game attempts to provide a creative and lighthearted take on the sport of soccer.
What’s Hot
Not much, to be completely honest. Though, I must preface the rest of this review by making it clear that this is meant to be a kid’s game. As such, I’m afraid I hold a slight bias against the game’s over simplified nature. Regardless, I shall do my best to inhabit the mind of a six year old to give this game a fair shake. For one, those who love soccer will be happy to know that both Pele and Mia Hamm play a major role in the game. Pele serves as your instructor should you chose a boy character, and naturally Mia Hamm will assume this role for girl gamers.
The game offers a few different options of play. The first mode is essentially the game’s campaign where you take on the role of a student at the academy. In this mode you follow a calendar of scheduled events that dictate your activities, which consists of drills, recruiting, and matches. In addition, the game has a quick play mode that allows you to jump right in and start up a match. Needless to say, as with most Wii titles, there is also a mode that enables you to play the game’s assortment of mini-games.
What’s Not
While the game’s premise may not sound all that bad, Ubisoft’s inability to execute on these ideas has left much to be desired. The campaign is unfortunately rather shallow. Recruiting players is actually more of a chore than fun. Simply clicking through text will add players to your roster. Now while I’m no longer a child, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy wading through a bunch of text to add players to my team.
Furthermore, the mini-game and quick play modes are simply rehashes of the other two sections of the campaign. Mind you, I wouldn’t have a problem with this if these modes were actually fun. The poor controls are rather frustrating at times, making a rather easy game slightly more challenging. The fact that motion control is poorly integrated doesn’t help either.
Final Word
While on paper, Academy of Champions: Soccer sounds like the perfect title for young gamers, it’s not. The imprecise controls, lack of depth and repetitive single-player results in a game that won’t adequately entertain children, nevermind the general public. There is little here that distinguishes this title from other Wii games and as such, I’m having a hard time recommending this game to anyone.
