This is a video game that I had never heard of until I bought it. I’ve owned it for a few years without really getting to play it. I may have popped it in once or twice over the years, but it always got pulled to the side by other games that needed attention. Thanks to the wonders of Trophy hunting; I got to fully experience this game. It’s pretty fun and a great way to get into soccer!

I do own a few FIFA games, but I’ve only played them sparingly. It’s the fate that most of my sport games experience over the years. It’s going to be tough for the other soccer games to match this one. I’ve played both games in the Mario Strikers series and that always made me want to play other soccer games, but without gimmicks. This game does have a “super” attack which makes things interesting…

I’m not 100% against super attacks, but I typically prefer my sports to be realistic. In Pure Futbol, you can use Pure shots, which have a much greater chance of getting to the net than a regular shot. They don’t disrupt the game that much since you will have trouble blocking any of the attacks. It does take skill to get the shot in the pure section so the special ability isn’t as overpowered as others that you might see in other games.

There is a campaign to play and it’s surprisingly short. There are only 29 days so you really have to make them count. Each day, you can enter a tournament or just take on a team for fun. The battles aren’t very long so the game doesn’t drag on as much as Virtua Tennis. (I loved the Virtua Tennis games, but I’m only a little over halfway through the game and I’ve already put in so many hours…) Going for tournaments is always the best way to go since you can earn a lot of extra points, but you may want to focus on single battles so that you can beat the game quickly. I mixed and matched between tournaments and single battles; ending up with a 4 star ranked character. That’s definitely good enough for me! (My team was incredible by the end!)

While playing other teams in the campaign; you are given a chance to steal away their players. If you fulfill certain challenges during the game, then you get the player assigned to that challenge. For example, “Score a goal” could be one of the challenges. I managed to snag away quite a few players during my initial playthrough. It’s definitely fun to assemble a team of true elites!

The graphics aren’t bad for this game. They’re really what I would expect from a sports game. Aside from Madden; (Which seems to take pride in its graphics) most sports games are pretty underwhelming or average. I wouldn’t call the graphics bad per say, but I will admit that I’ve seen older games look much better than this one. Graphics are pretty unimportant in a video game unless you’re expecting it to look pretty great like Final Fantasy. If you’re the type of person that wants good graphics while playing soccer, you may want to skip this installment.

For Platinum seekers, it should be noted that the online servers are not operational anymore. You can still upload your character at the end of the campaign to get the quick trophy, but you can’t face people in online duels anymore. That’s too bad since I’m always up for an online brawl, but I suppose that there is always next time. Getting the Platinum is impossible and the trophies can be difficult or just very long. I got some trophies, but I’m not even at 50% so I can sympathize with how tough it can be. I may go back to get some more trophies someday, but it’s not currently a high priority.

Aside from the Pure Shots angle, this is probably the most complete soccer game that I’ve played. The penalty system is pretty good and the game doesn’t have to stop every other minute for a foul. If you commit too many fouls, then the other team is awarded a free kick. This doesn’t really disrupt the momentum and it keeps you on your toes. There are ways to tackle without hitting the player and you’ll want to master it. If you don’t want to take the risk; then you have the option of a step-in tackle, which has no chance of a penalty. It’s not as long range, but it’s very effective.

The soundtrack for the main menu is pretty good, but you may not remember the rest of the tunes as you finish the game. It’s definitely better than the selection in the Madden games. (Quantity loses to quality this time) I doubt that the soundtrack would really have any influence on your decision to buy this game or not, but it’s always an important feature to be mentioned.

That’s Pure Futbol in a nutshell folks. I highly recommend this title if you enjoy sports titles. As I mentioned earlier, I have not properly played the FIFA games (Yet!) but this is currently my favorite realistic soccer game. It’s not too easy and it’s not too hard. Passing the ball may be discouraged because of constant interceptions, but it also teaches you how to be careful when playing the game. While this game may not have online capabilities anymore; we’ve still got a fun local multiplayer setup as well as the campaign. There’s enough content available to keep you playing the game for a long time. Replay value is definitely not something that this game lacks. If you dislike soccer games, then you may want to invest your money into the M&M Racing game instead. (It’s on my wish list) Now, I definitely want to go and give Fifa a try. I’ll make sure to get my hands on one of the newer games at some point.

Overall 7/10