Score! Hero 2022 Game Review: Still Simple, And Same At The Core, But More Realistic

A point to note is that the earlier Score! Hero game is no longer available. But if you have played the game earlier, your data and player will be carried over to the new edition automatically.

Score! Hero 2022 is very similar to Score! Hero with just a few external touches

By Akriti Rana and Nimish Dubey

When it was first launched a few years ago, Score! Hero came as a breath of fresh air in the cluttered world of games based on football. It was perhaps the only football game that was able to combine the tactical side of the sport as well as its action element, and all this in a format that was classic "pick up and play".

Unlike most other football games (we are talking of FIFA and PES), Score! Hero was incredibly simple to play, with no real controls to remember or teams and formations to select and manage. And it was incredibly addictive as well, one of the few games that appealed to not just casual football followers but serious ones too (and also one of the few football games meant to be played in portrait mode rather than landscape!)

Small wonder it became a massive hit, picking up several awards and racking up millions of downloads.  

And now, the game has got an update — we have Score! Hero 2022. 

What Worked Then, Works Now!

Thankfully — spoiler alert — the game is as good as ever. First Touch Games, the developers, have wisely chosen not to fix what was not broken, and have not touched the essence of the game or the gameplay. So Score! Hero 2022 is very similar to Score! Hero with just a few external touches to make it more aesthetically pleasing and realistic.

If you have played the game earlier, you can literally hit the ground running in this edition. A point to note is that the earlier Score! Hero game is no longer available — if you have played the game earlier, your data and player will be carried over to the new edition automatically. It is a seamless process. 

Best of all, the game itself is still free. Yes, there are in-app purchases for more facilities and you can either pay for them or watch some videos to get them, but you can really play this game right through, without having to pay a penny. There will be times when you will have to stop playing while your player gets their life back (literally, not in terms of work-life balance), but take our word for it, if you do not want to pay, you can keep playing as long as you are ready to put up with the odd fifteen minute break to let your player revive. 

The game itself as we said is the same at the core. Gameplay is essentially a series of swipes to pass and shoot the ball, with the speed and direction of your swipe determining where the ball goes and how fast. There are no on-screen buttons, no back buttons, nothing. You just have to swipe to pass or shoot, depending on your choice.

It is incredibly simple, almost like a sort of Temple Run. However, it is not swiping purely based on speed. When you get the ball, you are told the area into which you can pass and shoot it, and you have to decide where you want to send the ball — to whom to pass it, or to take a shot at the goal itself.

You can even put the ball into an empty area for your teammate to run onto. And there is often more than one way of scoring a goal, so you could actually go back to a scenario and play it differently. This is no mindless button masher — you need to use your mind to make sure your player uses his feet well. 

Get Your (Own) Name In The Headlines!

Speaking of players, you are in charge of a single player in the game, and you can give him any name and nationality. The beauty of the game is that your player not only appears in the game with a jersey bearing his name and number, but after every major event, he gets mentioned in specially generated coverage and newspaper clippings, a small but very neat touch.

Those who are vain can even give players their own names (one of us did!), which heightens the sense of involvement, imagine seeing your name in newspaper headlines. A hint, though — those headlines can be very critical if you get things wrong. 

Your player progresses through levels in the game by his performance in a variety of matches — it is a very linear path and you do not have much control here.

Depending on your performance, you get better kit and squad numbers and so on, and can even go to a better club. Each match literally is a matter of a few minutes, and can even be played in under a minute if you are skilled (or lucky) enough. 

So this is a game that you can pick up, play for a couple of minutes and then put down — a far cry from other titles where you have to book yourself in for a fair amount of time when you wish to play. You can choose to keep playing this one for hours, or just put it down in a few minutes. You can opt to get some kit by buying it using the virtual money in the game (called Bux), which can be both bought by spending some real money or earned by playing well or watching videos from time to time. 

 

Same good old insides but with much better packaging

 

Which is pretty much what the game always was. So what is new? Well, there is now support for some official leagues (you can choose which one to play), and you can actually see real names and logos out there - La Liga, EreDivisie Jupiter Pro League and the Bundlesliga are mentioned up front. The game's graphics have also been given a polish, and not only look much better, but also have none of the cringeworthy celebration animations from FIFA and PES (there, we said it) . And then there is the strawberry on top - proper audio commentary, coming from well-known commentator, Arlo White, complete with good crowd and game sounds. The game is more immersive than ever before. 

 

Yes, there are some irritating niggles. You can only play as one player at a time - so you cannot follow two careers in the same game. We could also find no way to switch leagues mid way - there is no option to go from Spain to Holland or vice versa. Of course, the biggest headache is having to play each match from the beginning if you mess up in the middle - of course, you can pick up from where you messed up if you have enough Bux, but if you are (like us) focused on keeping this a free experience, be prepared to be lethally precise or really patient!

All these minor quirks however do not detract from what remains one of the best football games on mobiles. Imagine getting a new edition of a book you love, with a better cover, much better binding, easier to read fonts and better quality pages. That is Score! Hero 2022, as compared to the original. And still without a price tag! Very much a must-download or must-grade for anyone who wants a football experience on their phones or tablets. 

The game can be downloaded from Google Play for Android, and App Store for iPhone and iPad.

You can also watch a trailer of the game here:

Price: Free