World Soccer Champs 2010

It's a sign there's probably been one too many football games out this summer when World Soccer Champs 2010 – the one moniker not snapped up by some developer or other - suddenly becomes an acceptable name for a soccer sim.

Indeed, the timing of Uprising Games's entry into what is already a packed pitch – X2 Football 2010 and PES 2010 leading this season – seems somewhat strange, with the World Cup finally drawing to a close and our appetite for the international game more than satisfied (until Euro 2012 swings into view, of course).

Nevertheless, World Soccer Champs 2010 has a secret weapon hidden up its sleeves: it's fun.

While half of the teams in South Africa have trudged around the pitch with as much enthusiasm for what they're doing as one of ITV's ill-advised pundits, World Soccer Champs 2010 is a celebration of the football's immediacy. This is a game about pinging the ball about at pace and, most importantly, scoring goals by the hat full.

What you're sure to notice before anything else is the view.

Unlike any of the other football sims already on the market, World Soccer Champs 2010 harks back to the era of Sensible Soccer with the camera set above the pitch in portrait mode.

Controls, too, are simplified with a small perfunctory analogue stick on the left of the screen handling movement and two small buttons on the right taking charge of passing, shooting, and tackling, depending on possession.

Intricacies such as deciding how to pass your way through the pack are almost entirely unimportant here – if you're spending too much time on strategy, chances are you don't understand what World Soccer Champs 2010 is about.

Winning or losing doesn't really seem to matter in terms of the overall experience: World Soccer Champs 2010 is the footballing equivalent of pinball. Gameplay moves at such a pace that before you've had a chance to stress about losing possession, you've won it back again.

Unlike other footie sims, which target passes at specific players, passes are direction-based, meaning you either have to aim at your team mates with pinpoint precision (using a trapping system, which slows your player down before finally dispatching the pass), or simply lob it in their direction and hope the scramble for the ball works out in your favour.

The latter's not an especially exact science, but perfectly befits the overall flavour of World Soccer Champs 2010. Here's a game where you can find yourself 4-0 down by half time, where penalties and red cards are awarded at the drop of a hat, and your team mates are just as likely to be running around in circles as they are actually challenging for the ball.

Reality has no part to play - indeed, the game's roster of players has some of the most amusing takes on real life player names you're ever likely to see - although there's a fair chance some of the most grounded matches will take place online.

World Soccer Champs 2010 accommodates all forms of multiplayer, perhaps most inventively the two-player matches on the one device. Here the screen is split in two, with controls placed at either end.

Only worth attempting if you and a friend are on particularly good terms, it's nonetheless a clever use of the screen. If such mates are a little hard to come by, you can also take on folk over Bluetooth or wi-fi.

Either way, what you're guaranteed is a laugh. It's not especially sophisticated or clever, but World Soccer Champs 2010 does something almost every other iPhone sim has intentionally overlooked: it doesn't take football too seriously.