iPhone Game Review: World Cup Air Hockey Review

iPhone Game Review: World Cup Air Hockey Review
Page content

World Cup Air Hockey Game Features (4 out of 5)

World Cup Hockey Screen shot

World Cup Air Hockey has the same look and feel of the interface World Cup Ping Pong. The moment you fire up the app, you are given three choices of game play - tournament mode, head to head and practice mode.

Practice mode is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a single game that pits you against the iPhone AI opponent. It’s a good way to get the hang of playing the game before trying out the harder and more challenging Tournament and Head-to-Head Mode. In Head-to-Head Mode, is a two-player match-up very similar to the real air hockey arcade game. It’s a straight race to 7 points. You take one end of the Air Hockey board while your friend takes the other end. The game could be fun if you’ve got some friends to play against. Last but not the least is the Tournament Mode. Again, just like World Cup Ping Pong, this game mode also lets you select your player from eight countries. You then have to play your way into winning your opponents during the quarterfinal and semi-final rounds before you get to play against the best AI opponent in the finals round. Winning this round of course makes you the World Cup Air Hockey Champion.

World Cup Air Hockey Graphics and Control (3 out of 5)

The game utilizes the iPhone’s touch screen features. It’s not really a big deal as the game entails you to push and block the virtual puck using a virtual mallet/paddle. At the start of the game, the puck hits to the middle of the air hockey table and move towards the player that should start the round. The moment the puck lands on the table surface, you can immediately push it towards your opponent’s goal.

As there are really not much graphic requirements for this kind of game, Skyworks was able to successfully change the different aspects of the arcade air hockey game into a seamless iPhone environment. The only problem that you may find in this game is the iPhone’s small screen and the need to use your fingers in moving your mallet/paddle to push the puck. Sometimes, you’ll find a hard time seeing where the puck is heading to as your finger (or hand) might cover the iPhone screen. So, the trick is to remove your finger off the iPhone screen as soon as you made your move, and bringing it back only when executing a move. Overall, the graphics quality of this game is above par.

Our Verdict (3 out of 5)

For $.99, some might find this iPhone game a bit short. If you’ve got quick reflexes you’ll defeat the tournament mode quickly. Unlike World Cup Ping Pong, World Cup Hockey doesn’t give you several playing styles and skills of the player you want to use. Although you might want to try using all the players one at a time until you’ve played the game using them all, the only reason that you would play this game again is of you’re a big air hockey fan, or you’ve got no other choice but to play it to while away the time.

Overall, this iPhone game is for air hockey fans who can’t seem to get enough of the real-life air hockey game and would want to play them again and again on their iPhone. It’s a good thing that it will only cost you $1 to get this game. Otherwise, we won’t really recommend that you get it. The price you have to pay for the game is more than worth the pleasure you’d get from playing it.

Image credit:

Screenshot of World Cup Air Hockey by Skyworks.