Rumble Stars Soccer was first released in 2019 and quickly became one of my favourite games to launch that year. Fast-forward four years, and it's cemented itself as one of the best games I've played on mobile. It still stands out as a unique entry in the MOBA realm, and even if you're not a football fan, you'll have a great time with Rumble Stars Soccer.
To sum it up in straightforward terms, Rumble Stars Soccer is football meets Clash Royale. But rather than deploying different troops into battle, it's sending players onto the pitch to score three goals before your opponent. It's not just the theme that sets Rumble Stars apart, though. It's how you get your team onto the pitch.
With a traditional mobile MOBA, you might have some control over where you place your units. Then, once they're deployed, you have to sit back and watch them do their thing, sending in reinforcements as appropriate. In Rumble Stars, you fling them into the fray. It's a seemingly minor change, but it makes a big difference by introducing more skill to proceedings. Not only do you need to be tactically astute and smartly manage your energy, you also need the timing and accuracy to pull your strategies off.
The footballers taking to the field in Rumble Stars Soccer are a mixture of animals, sentient objects, and produce. It's a colourful and eclectic mix with each player boasting different skills and abilities. Some are more offensively minded, such as the Sniper Wolf, who will line up a shot from afar before blasting the ball toward the goal. Meanwhile, Fan is more defensive, blowing away the ball or any Rumblers that happen to be nearby.
And there are plenty of combos to discover between the Rumblers. The most basic is combining the magnet with any character that shoots. With good timing, you can pull your opponent's goalkeeper out of position, leaving the net wide open for a simple goal. Of course, this approach only works if your opponent doesn't respond quickly enough. They could defend by using Mr Fire to eliminate your striker, buying time for their goalkeeper to return to position.
On top of their abilities, Rumblers have utility beyond that. You can also use them to block shots or bump other characters out of position. For instance, if your goalkeeper has been temporarily eliminated, you can drop a Lazy Panda between the sticks to block shots with his noteworthy bulk. It does mean you're down a striker for a while, but if it keeps you in the game, it's worth it.
As you might have guessed from the previous paragraphs, Rumble Stars Soccer can get incredibly hectic. All of the above happens at a fast-pace, keeping you on your toes for each 3-minute match, and it makes everything so much more phone. Your well-curated tactics may get thrown out of the window as you desperately scramble to fend off your opponent's attack, leaving you to improvise, which can lead to discovering new strategies you hadn't considered before. For example, if, after a chaotic melee, your opponent has no goalkeeper, you can turn defence into attack by using the Fan to blow the ball into the open net.
Outside of matches, you can upgrade your Rumblers by collecting duplicates obtained by opening chests. You can only open one chest at a time, which can take upwards of three hours, and you only have four slots for them. So after winning four matches, you can't earn any more for a while, stalling your progress. You can immediately unlock chests by spending gems or watching adverts, but if you're not willing to do that, you're out of luck.
