One of the most popular sports games on Android, New Star Soccer has switched from a premium model to a free- to-play model.
The BAFTA award-winning game was originally developed by Simon Read, and published by Thumbstar Games.
Newbies to NSS, the game literally puts you in the shoes of a footballer, and lets you decide virtually everything in your career (and your life).
Pro users, before you ask the question, why they switched to the free to play model? The answer, as per the developer’s tweets is,
“To try and bring all development together.”
So the iOS version will be on par with the Android version. That is not a bad idea. Many free-to-play games have had huge success, recently and most notably Real Racing 3, Plants vs. Zombies2, Asphalt 8:Airborne to name a few.
Now here comes the other big question, what happens to the users who paid for New Star Soccer. The answer is simple. Users who had previously purchased the game get the pro license for free. New users will have to pay $1 to unlock the Pro license in the career.
The game was updated with a huge list of changes. Here it is for your scrutiny.
New game content / changes:
- Headers!
- New boots! New Swerve feature added to premium boots.
- New Energy Drink! (NRG Bolt – increases energy plus 3 relationships and 3 skills.)
- Choose differently focussed play during matches – attacking, defensive or balanced.
- Defenders now close you down whilst you aim your shot.
- Replenish your energy during a game.
- New lifestyle items to purchase.
- Three save game slots.
- Skills deteriorate over time, and the older you get, the more you have to keep on top of your skills.
- Retirement option. Choose the optimal time to retire before your skills deteriorate and you start to ruin the memory of your past achievements. Includes career score and various achievements.
- Additional commentary to add variety.
- Hire a personal trainer, recover quicker, have more energy.
- Get yourself an agent and improve your contracts!
- New newspaper headlines, incidents etc.
- All new game achievements.
- All new audio.
- New footballs each with their own attributes.
- Lots of UI tweaks and improvements, short-cuts and time-savers.
- New pre-match location screen.
- New player awards (player of the year, young player of the year etc.)
- Updated league structure information for new 2013-2014 football season.
- Male / Female select!
- New unlockable ‘hard mode’ for the seasoned veterans!
- Night time matches.
- Exisiting premium players can continue their career with the Pro License unlocked, and their progress saved.
- Twitter and Facebook integration.
- Full localisation for English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian *NEW, Chinese *NEW, Japanese *NEW, Korean *NEW
Phew! That was a huge list indeed.
Here is a screenshot of the new addition to the gameplay, The Header.
So you can still get a good chunk of the game for free before deciding to go pro.
What are you waiting for, go grab the game for free from Google Play:
[app]com.newstargames.newstarsoccer[/app]
I have played this game many years ago on my PC and it was quite entertaining. And the Android version is even better.
