GDC 2013: IceFlame's 'Soccer Rally 2' Takes Car Football Further

If you haven't played the original Soccer Rally [$0.99] (or watched Top Gear play car football), this might take some explanation. Soccer Rally 2 is a game about driving cars and playing soccer. Or, rather, driving cars while playing soccer with them: the sort of thing that gets messy in real life but is crazy fun in a game.

I sat down with the guys from IceFlame to look at the upcoming game, which is a huge step forward from the original. We're talking stadiums, tournaments, and online multiplayer, along with a new Academy mode that will actually give you a shot at learning to maneuver cars on a soccer field before you take things head to head. The cars have also seen a major upgrade, with new stats to consider and a lot of variety in terms of maneuverability, speed and all that jazz.

Of course, one of the coolest ways to play will still be head-to-head, same-device multiplayer, which studio co-founders Jonathan Shaw and David Deacon took a few minutes to play through for our viewing enjoyment. We also looked at a few of the Academy mode challenges.

Keep an eye out for a few cameos in the video: in a very cool little touch, IceFlame has worked with a ton of other indie studios to bring in custom paint jobs, so you can dress your car up in the style of Ridiculous Fishing and Pocket Planes, among others.

The game should be out later this year, and in the meantime IceFlame is getting ready to look for beta testers and feedback. Check out our discussion thread if you're interested in getting involved.

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GDC 2013: Hands-On With 'Football Heroes,' An Awesome Throwback Football Game

Straight-up, if you were a fan of Tecmo Bowl, Mutant League Football, or any other zany old-school football game, you've got to check out Football Heroes. It's a throwback to those games of old, except updated with modern RPG, customization, and competitive trimmings. As you play, your players level up and you can acquire increasingly zanier moves. You can also name your own players, teams, and assign colors. It's a small thing, but as you'll see in our video, you can get some pretty hilarious results.

You might not get a sense of this in the video, but the feel of the game is fantastic. The movement is fluid and easy and the gestures make sense. Hilariously, this over-the-top football game is the best controlling football game we've ever played on iOS.

Football Heroes is due out at some point later this year. We'll be keeping our eyes on it, for sure. Oh, and here's that image of the new look (as mentioned in the vid):

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