Monster Soccer Stars

Each creature has four stats out of 10. Speed sets the running pace, from about 6.6 meters a second at 4 to 9.1 at 10, and a creature on the ball runs 10 percent slower. Shot sets how hard and how straight it shoots, Pass how fast and accurate its passes are, and Tackle how far a slide reaches and how quickly the creature gets up afterwards.

The special recharges in 11 to 16 seconds depending on the creature. Shot specials need the ball: the Comet Curl bends into the far corner, the Thunder Shot is the fastest in the game and stuns a keeper who gets a hand to it, the Ice Shot freezes the keeper for 1.4 seconds, the Phantom Shot fades out of sight in flight, the Boulder Blast knocks over everyone in its path and the Lava Lob drops in front of the goal and flattens whoever stands there.

The others change the play. Bubble Dribble gives 3 seconds where nobody can tackle you, Petal Dash and Sky Swoop carry the ball through defenders, Shadow Step jumps 6 meters ahead, Gale Dash runs 1.7 times faster for 2.5 seconds and Sugar Rush speeds up the whole team by 25 percent for 4. Without the ball, Magnet Pull steals it from up to 11 meters, Frost Field halves the speed of nearby opponents, Quake Stomp stuns everyone within 5 meters, Tidal Wave rolls over the opponents ahead and Taffy Trap glues the nearest one in place.

A match is worth 100 points per goal, 300 for a win or 100 for a draw, and 50 more for a clean sheet. Easy keeps those points, Normal multiplies them by 1.5 and Hard by 2. Freex Coins come from that score at the end of the run, plus 2 per goal.

The tournament is eight teams in three knockout rounds. A draw goes to golden goal: the next goal wins, and if nobody scores in 45 seconds the goals get wider. Each round won adds 200 points and the cup 1,000, both multiplied by the difficulty, and the whole tournament counts as one run. Opponents get a little sharper each round.

Ten creatures are locked at first. Magmole needs 2 wins, Zingbot 4 and Puffkite 7, Snorkle and Nightnib need 3 and 6 matches played, Petalpip, Crumblehorn and Gumbloom need 10, 25 and 40 goals, and Icicub and Noctipuff need one and two tournament wins. Progress is saved in this browser.

Two players on one device can play against each other or together against the computer. On a keyboard, Player 1 uses WASD with F, G and H, and Player 2 the arrows with J, K and L. A single controller goes to Player 2, two controllers give one to each. On a phone held upright, lay it flat between you: each of you gets one half of the screen, with the whole pitch seen from above.

Online, Quick match pairs you with the next person looking for this game and With friends opens a room you can invite friends to. Each of you plays your own squad in a live 2-minute match. If a player drops out, the match waits and the one still there wins after 20 seconds. The room counts the result like a score race, so the winner of the match always has the higher score.