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Fluid Football – Half Time Report

By on September 13, 2012

We thought it’d be fun (albeit egocentric) to write a post that collates all the lovely coverage Fluid Football has been getting together in one spot. We’re obviously going to highlight the nice bits, but I’d hope to cover some of the bad bits too – then revisit this list once we’ve addressed them – or maybe just generate some discussion about what people want from their games!

 

First up – because we love him for it – is Simon Read of New Star Games, who sent this LOVELY Twitter outburst:

“Fluid Football is bloody brilliant. Well done AppyNation!”

Plus he linked to the game’s page on the App Store! Things like this mean more to us than any critical review, simply because we admire the guy’s game (New Star Soccer), he’s been through the pain of developing a game, and he loves football! So yeah. Pretty much the highlight for everyone here at the Nation! But it’s not just a favourite of ours – it even made news on Eurogamer! Take it from us, that doesn’t happen much, and was a lovely cherry on top.

 

Not to forget the frankly divine* Suzi Perry also surprised us with a mention in one of her great roundup articles over on Trusted Reviews. not only does she compliment us by referring to Fluid Football as

“a modern day Subbuteo”

but she also gives us one of the best quotes we could hope for:

“I dare you to download it and not become hooked!”

I mean really, you couldn’t pay people to write stuff like that. Well, okay, you could. But it wouldn’t be sincere, would it?

*we are biased. But she is divine.

 

PocketVideoGamer gave us a nice review too, giving us 8/10 and summarising with a simple, to the point:

What more could you want”

We agree!

 

The Sunday Mirror (a tabloid in the UK) gave us a very smile-inducing 4 stars of out 5 in their 2nd September 2012 edition, and flattered us further by saying Fluid Football is:

“…deceptively simple but highly addictive fare.”

(click to enlarge)

Sam Oliver over on We Do Code spent some time writing a short little look at our humble game, and was kind enough to say:

“A great mobile football game is hard to find but Fluid Football fits the bill perfectly.”

Word-for-word, probably the most positive review any game has ever received – a full 3rd of the review is complimentary!

 

We’ve also been receiving some lovely coverage from non-English-speaking territories. Application iPhone have posted a lovely review, and we’re pretty sure – judging from Google’s translation – that a lot of that is down to the way we’ve been sure to localise not only the game (in terms of text) but also the way it’s being seen on the App Store. We’re in the process of doing this for most territories, but basically the players and the flags seen in the screenshots are also being ‘localised’. It leads to nice snippets along the lines of this:

“For football fans, non-fans, lovers of puzzles; strategists… everyone”

 

Next up is ThinkDigit, who were tremendously positive:

“a must-have for all those who prefer their football to be a mix of intellect and action.”

Being completely honest we weren’t aware of this site, but they’re definitely on our radar now! They also call out the simplicity of the controls, alongside the strategic take on football. They call out the usual suspects – IAP and ads – but rightly take issue with the fact that sometimes the controls can occasionally be a bit fiddly. We’re continually addressing that in updates, thankfully!

 

One of our favourite articles was from MCV. Usually focused on the business and sales side of the industry, this UK journal is widely respected, and recently started a weekly favourite app highlight. Ben Parfitt writes a TON about how wonderful he finds our game, so it was actually rather fun picking a favourite…

“Fluid Football is an undoubted triumph”

…but that right there is hard to beat. Thanks Ben!

 

And then Sport (a free Sports paper in the UK) gave us a lovely feature, labelling Fluid Football as:

“wholesome addictive fun”

(click to enlarge)

But it wasn’t all unadulterated praise. Oh no. Some people had the nerve to not like every single thing in the game! 😉

148Apps gave it 3.5 out of 5, saying:

“soccer fans will be itching to play more, even despite the flaws with the control system.”

 

While Pocketgamer awarded the game 6 out of 10 (boo!), commenting:

“Entertaining but sometimes incredibly tough, Fluid Football doesn’t have the grace of New Star Soccer, but it’ll keep football fans engaged for hours”

 

And then Modojo scored it 3 out of 5, with the following compliment/caveat combo:

“What’s Hot: A refreshingly different slice of soccer gameplay with a wide variety of challenges included.

What’s Not: You’ll have to spend more than a few dollars to get at all the game. The controls can also be frustratingly fussy.”

Of course this is all fine, and we’re just kidding about. All the critical insight we’ve had so far has been great for us – we’re under no illusions about Fluid Football; while we love it, there’s always ways we can improve it, and very few games can boast to please all of the people all of the time!

This is the reality of the games business, and we’re ready and willing to support and tweak the game far into the future.

 

To end on a positive, though, the inimitable Stuart Dredge gave us 4/5 writing for the Sunday Times’ InGear supplement, as you can see below, and draws favourable comparisons with New Star Soccer too – we’re very flattered!

(click to enlarge)

We can’t wait to see what you – the fans – think of what we’re going to be uncovering in the very near future! Fluid Football a game of slightly more than two halves!

 

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