Back in the 70’s, before arcades became big, there were many foosball parlors around where you could go play a round or two of tabletop soccer. I was a little too young to experience that, but I did see the remnants of it years later at arcades, where over in the corner you might see a foosball table next to the air hockey games and Shoot Away screens. Now you can enjoy foosball in your own home, without having a big table take up your living room, with Foosball 2012. It’s downloadable for PS3 and Vita, and you can even transfer your saves from one system to another. Foosball 2012 is also PlayStation Move compatible, but we’ll be reviewing it with using just the controller only.

You can compete in a world tour against other countries, each one harder than the last. Or you can play a single round in Quick Play, using tables, rules, balls, and special moves you’ve unlocked in the World Tour mode. You can even play online. There’s also a handy tutorial mode which lets you practice moves. Although gameplay is pretty easy to figure out on your own.

Controls are super simple. Move the bars up and down with the left stick. You can move the bar where the ball is the closest. Flick the ball closer to your goal with the right analog stick. Unlock special moves that you can use with the X button, but just using both analog sticks works fine. There are all sorts of cool stuff to unlock, too, like new tables, balls, rules, moves, and even funny foosmen players (my favorite is the hot dog). A video game version of foosball may seem like a silly idea, but it’s actually rather playable and amusing, surprisingly.

Kid Factor:

Reading skill is helpful for the tutorials and menus, but little ones can still figure out how to play with maybe a little bit of help. Even the youngest of players can enjoy the super easy modes, but may get frustrated at the later levels of difficulty. Parental supervision when going online is always recommended. Foosball 2012 is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews