Sensible Soccer Skills

When is a football management sim not a football management sim?

The obvious answer, of course, is when there's no management involved, but Sensible Soccer Skills comes with the odd accolade of both looking and feeling like Football Manager and co. without actually giving you the ability to manage.

Given there's no actual match play involved either – the game simulating the events on pitch in almost cartoon form – you might wonder just what there is to do in what must surely be the millionth football cash-in this summer.

In short, not much. Sensible Soccer Skills is essentially a collection of playable, yet ultimately tame, mini-games.

Each one is focused around upping the ability of your chosen team as you make your way through a series of knock-out competitions, the idea – a bit like Top Trumps – being to outclass your opponent in three areas: Attack, Defence, and Stamina.

Before each match, you have the option to train via two mini-games – each one upping your ability in one of the three areas, depending on how well you do.

Strengthening your defence, for instance, can be tackled via putting your goalie through his paces. It's a simple spot kick setup, with your job being to stop a series of shots coming in one after the other by tapping '4' to dive left and '6' to spring right.

The attack based mini-games are similarly dull, most revolving around scoring a goal, even from the penalty spot, or via a series of timing based exercises that rarely excite.

Winning woes

Outclass your opponent in two of the three categories – which, to be honest, is a given, assuming you don't botch each and every game – and you'll win the match.

Frustrating, however, is the fact that once you move from one cup competition to the next (each one naturally more difficult that the last) your stats are reset, the test being whether you can hone your skills in each of the mini-games to outperform a series of ever stronger opponents.

Chances are, however, you won't care very much. Sensible Soccer Skills is tenuous from the off, and soon becomes a rather tame affair populated by the kind of mini-games that should have been put to bed long ago. This is one football competition you won't mind seeing the back of.