Hits the back of the net

Developer: Full Fat Games

Price: 59p/99c

Version Reviewed: 1.2

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October 6th 2001 - Old Trafford. The England football team are in a fight to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. The opponents: Greece. The aim: Win or draw the game and secure qualification. Score: 2-1 to Greece. A draw was good enough, but England are struggling to hit the back of the net. Time remaining: Not much. England get a free kick, thanks to a foul on Teddy Sheringham. Our last hope, the deadball specialist, David Beckham is the man to take the kick. He curls it over the wall and into the back of the net. The term "bend it like Beckham" was born.

Let's face the facts, curling a ball over a wall and into the goal is tough. Thanks to Full Fat Games we have a chance to master the art of scoring from a free kick with their new game, Deadball Specialist. What better time to release a football app than during the World Cup, when the entire Planet goes football crazy. A cash-in Deadball Specialist is not. In- fact it's one of those crazily addictive, and challenging, games that keeps you coming back for more.

Deadball Specialist is about becoming the master of precision. The aim is to flick a football from a specific spot and hit the specified target in the goal mouth. At first it starts off fairly easy, with simple flicks at relatively easy and close target, but once you manage to conjure a high enough score you'll have walls of defenders blocking the goal, making the target very hard to hit.

It's all about precision sure, but that doesn't mean style isn't included. It's immensely satisfying to master the ball controls and bend a ball onto the target. When I say "master", I mean endless hours of practising after failure after failure. The controls are an actual football, and it's where you flick the ball, and how powerful you do it, that determines what will happen to the ball. Most of the time you'll be hitting them high and into the car park, but even if you miss the target and hit the net you'll receive points. Flicking the top of the ball will create top-spin, while hitting the back will give you back-spin. Flicking the ball from the sides will curl the ball, but it isn't as easy as it sounds.

There are a couple of game modes on offer: Quickfire and Challenge. Quickfire gives you 60 seconds to score as many points as you can, while Challenge is where it's really at. Here you need to score a specified amount of points to move onto the next level. Level 1 is a breeze when you get the hang of the complicated control mechanics, but when the defenders are introduced in level 2, things get a lot harder. Sure, it's hard, but it's the challenge and simplicity that keeps us coming back for more with determination. There's also the inclusion of OpenFeint high scoring and achievements, which is always an incentive to play more.

If you want a football app to get you in the World Cup mood, then Deadball Specialist is certainly one to get. Perhaps after several hours of playing this you too can bend it like the best. Perhaps you could have the finest right index finger in the world. It's a simple concept, very hard to master and extremely addictive. Just how App games should be.

• Simple idea
• Very challenging
• Addictive
• Looks great

• Controls may put some people off