Back at WWDC we got a first look at Illusion Labs’ iPad game, Foosball HD [$2.99]. At our party during the event, Anders Mårtensson of Illusion Labs whipped out his iPad and the game had a constant crowd around it with people taking turns playing, with others huddled around cheering. It wasn’t hard at all to recommend picking up Foosball HD in our review, as iPad gaming really seems to be at its best when playing a two player game with both players using the same device.
The iPhone version, simply titled Foosball [99¢] hit the App Store today which aside from the smaller screen plays identical to the iPad game. Foosball is controlled by swiping on either side of the screen near the foosmen you want to move or rotate. There is a basic single player mode where you can play against an AI opponent, but the game truly shines when played with two players, each controlling their own team utilizing the touch area of half of the iPhone screen.
If you have an iPhone 4, Foosball runs at Retina Display resolution which looks almost photorealistic at such a high pixel density. There’s not much you can say about the gameplay of Foosball, as the game literally consists of nothing more than a virtual foosball table that automatically keeps score along with a AI opponent with three difficulty levels if you don’t have a real-life opponent to play. The single device multiplayer works well, but is difficult to transition to after being used to the iPad version since the fingers of two players obscure so much of the iPhone screen.
Still, if you don’t have an iPad, Foosball will be a fantastic addition to the games on your phone especially if you’ve found yourself having a great time with single device multiplayer games in the past. For its current price of 99¢ (which is unheard of for Illusion Labs games) it’s totally worth downloading just in case you ever find yourself in a situation that calls for a spontaneous game of iPhone foosball. I’d still recommend picking up the iPad version over the iPhone version if at all possible, or even both if you consider yourself a true foosball fanatic.
