Football is simultaneously the only thing I care about, and the thing I despise the most. It makes no sense, but this dichotomy sustains me, and is also surprisingly accurate for describing the soccer iOS scene as a whole. Some titles, such as the excellent Football Manager Touch 2018 ($19.99), occupy most of my waking minutes, while others send me into spirals of uncontrollable rage (see any recent FIFA mobile release for more). I’m hoping Stickman Soccer 2018 is in the former camp – off the back of its wildly successful series of football titles, Djinnworks are here with what is dubbed their ‘biggest release ever’, as improvements, content additions and features are added left, right and centre. While it doesn’t look like a huge departure from the previous Stickman Soccer 2016 (Free) iteration, more of the same solid arcade action is certainly welcome, and hopefully it’ll provide a fun distraction before the 2018 World Cup when it launches later in May. If you really can’t wait, sign up for the beta test on our forums today.

A headline feature for Stickman Soccer 2018 is the new Team Manager and Transfer Market modes, which will let you customise your team’s finer details and recruit better players respectively. In a move taken directly out of the Ultimate Team handbook, winning more league games will provide coins which will let you tweak your team even further. Of course, how the freemium aspects are balanced will greatly determine how enjoyable this sense of progression is, but Stickman Soccer 2018 has a lot of potential for a really compelling system here if done right. New animations, slow motion replays, 60fps on even the iPhone 5 and some absolute screamers in terms of flashy overhead kicks culminate in an early front-runner in the inevitable flood of football titles as the World Cup starts to dominate every aspect of our lives in the coming months. For more details on when to expect Stickman Soccer 2018 and to sign up for the beta, keep an eye on our forum thread and official Discord server.