Active Soccer 2 (2015)

The highly anticipated sequel to the popular football game is here! Active Soccer 2 brings a fresh and innovative approach to arcade football with its top-down view, delivering fast-paced action, excellent playability, and responsive controls that are easy to learn yet challenging to master. Unlike traditional football games, Active Soccer 2 gives you complete control over the game, with no scripted goals or decisions driven by the CPU, ensuring an authentic and engaging experience every time you play.

In Active Soccer 2, you can dive into a comprehensive career mode that features a wide range of international leagues, cups, and championships. Whether you’re managing a team in the lower divisions or taking on the challenge of a top-tier club, the game allows you to experience every aspect of team management. Start as the manager of a fifth-division English team, with a limited budget, and aim for promotion to higher divisions. You will be in charge of acquiring new players, setting strategies, managing your team, and playing actual matches to secure victories and progress in your career.

The game includes more than 800 teams, both club and national, from around the world, alongside 21,000 players, each with unique skills and abilities. This large selection offers plenty of variety and depth for players to explore, whether they are building the ultimate team or competing in diverse competitions.

Active Soccer 2 also includes a competition designer, allowing you to create your own tournaments and leagues. You can tailor the competitions to your preference, adding a layer of customization that enhances the overall experience. The team editor feature gives you the flexibility to modify your teams, whether you want to adjust player attributes or create entirely new formations and tactics. The game’s weather conditions further increase realism by influencing match dynamics, requiring you to adapt your strategies based on the weather during each game.

The game offers multiple camera views, so you can enjoy the action from a variety of angles. You can choose a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal perspective, providing a dynamic and customizable viewing experience to match your personal play style. Additionally, Active Soccer 2 supports online cross-platform matches, enabling you to compete against players from different devices, adding a competitive edge to your gameplay.

For players who prefer using physical controllers, the game offers support for iCade and other controllers, ensuring smooth and responsive gameplay. The in-game soundtrack, composed by Chris Huelsbeck, enhances the overall atmosphere, providing an energetic and immersive audio experience as you lead your team to victory.

Active Soccer 2 is all about fun and excitement, combining deep strategic elements with the thrill of arcade football. Whether you're managing a club, designing competitions, or playing fast-paced matches, the game provides a highly enjoyable football experience that will keep you coming back for more.

Active Soccer 2 tries to bring a fresh arcade-style football experience, but it falls short in key areas. While the career mode offers a lot of depth with over 800 teams and 21,000 players, the overall gameplay feels outdated and lacks the polish you’d expect from a modern sports game. The controls are easy to pick up but hard to master, which sounds good on paper, but they end up feeling too rigid and frustrating at times.

Despite offering features like cross-platform online matches and a custom competition designer, the graphics and animations don't hold up well, making it harder to immerse yourself in the game. If you're looking for a football game with fluid mechanics and realistic visuals, this one doesn’t quite cut it. For fans of arcade-style football, it may offer a bit of fun, but overall, it’s not worth your time or money.