Mobile Linebacker puts you in the defense line of football as a linebacker. The developer guys at VIVA! Vision Inc. and VODA digital LLC probably figured that kids nowadays are woosies and should learn to catch some hits. After all, offense is just a matter of having guts; defense is all about being a real man and fighting ’til the end!

The game includes about 20 new plays, and was developed in collaboration with some kings of defense such as Joe Tafoya of the Arizone Cardinals, Chike Okeafor of the San Francisco 49ers and Running Back Kerry Carter of the Seattle Seahawks amongst others.

Today, a new update for the game was released, a reason for us to finally write about this game as it’s unique in the field of sports games for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

What could be more American than playing football and smashing stuff up? All Stars QB blends these two favourite all American pastimes in a compelling mixture of sports and arcade action! Taking place in the parking lot behind the All Stars Sports bar the player must prove their throwing skills are better than their opponents or risk having to buy the first round of drinks!

IllusionLabs sent us a mail to let us know that their new iPhone and iPod Touch game Touchgrind is now available in the App Store for $4.99. The developers call this the very first real multi-touch skateboarding game ever. Touchgrind is a actually a mix of skateboarding and fingerboarding. The innovative finger controls together with true physics simulation let you pull off tricks like ollies, shuvits, kickflips, heelflips, impossibles, 5-0, 50-50, crooks, smithgrinds, boardslides, tailslides, darkslides etc in endless combinations.

Features:

- True physics
- Innovative multi-touch controls
- 12 unlockable boards with different abilities
- Warm Up, Jam Session and Competition game modes
- Tutorial videos
- Stunning 3D graphics
- Realistic sound

Today Hit Tennis got launched into the App Store priced at $1.99. Smartpuma’s iPhone and iPod Touch game will have to compete similar games like TouchSports Tennis 09, priced at $4.99, and Tennis Slam, also priced at $4.99. Here’s a list of features of Hit Tennis:

• You directly control the timing, strength, and aim of each shot in a fun and natural way so you’ll feel right in the middle of the action
• Try your skills against the computer or challenge your friends with the unique 2 player split screen mode
• An addictive tennis game where you hit the ball by swiping your finger across the touch screen
• Three game speeds and an additional practice mode

Although both apps are free, only 1 of the 3 golf courses on iFun is free. The others need to be unlocked using tokens that can be obtained through a PayPal payment.

Illusion Labs has released a new trailer of their upcoming iPhone and iPod Touch game Touchgrind. In this game you can skate around in a skatepark and perform tricks on boxes, rails, ramps and other objects. You control the skateboard on the screen with two fingers, looking at the trailer the controls seem to work fine.

First impressions are solid if rather unspectacular, the gaming equivalent of Middlesbrough if you like. The presentation is clean, colourful and functional but lacks much of the sparkle we’ve come to expect from Gameloft in the past. There are a lot of modes to choose from as you’d expect including exhibition, cup and league competitions in addition to being able to train and take penalty kicks. Real Football features a wide selection of teams covering all of the major football leagues in Europe and international teams as well however unlike its main rivals none of the team names are drawn from the real world even though player names are included. This does detract from the experience somewhat and you can’t help feel that Gameloft might have been better off settling for consistency over partial realism.

Onto the field of play and first impressions are very good. Visually the game delivers exactly what you’d expect from a handheld mobile title with a bright 3D graphical style that balances a sense of reality with the game arcade leanings. Gameloft have opted to implement a virtual d-pad and A/B button laid over the screen rather than innovate a new control system specifically for the iPhone. During early play this gamble appears to pay off but as is often the case with football this turns out to be a game of two halves.

The player has a good range of actions to perform as they steam towards the opposition goal. The basic short and long passes are in there, along with one-two’s, through balls, chip balls, crossing, headers and the ability to vary shooting and pass strengths. A number of tricks such as step overs are available to the more skilled player which invariably involves tracing elaborate shapes in free space above the A/B buttons. This works well and one does sense a strong connection at this point in the game-play between tactile player input and the movement of the footballer onscreen.

In defence the player can select any of their team members that are onscreen and use a combination of well timed (or otherwise!) close and sliding tackles to dispossess the opposition. Gameloft have clearly ensured all the elements of a great football game are in place but does the title deliver on its early season promise or is it a relegation candidate?

Real Football 2009 does initially delight with some pure football enjoyment but as your skill levels increase the limitations of the touch controls become evident and the game losses much of its early appeal. As you progress through the cup and league competitions the quality levels of the opposition ramps up and you suddenly become aware of how unresponsive the touch controls can be – usually at the vital moment you need a burst of speed to run past an on rushing defender. If you are a fan of fast attacking football and try to play at speed you’ll discover the double tap and hold mechanic for sprinting just isn’t up to the job. This combined with some frankly bemusing defensive AI leads quickly to fits of rage, first at your own inability to pull off the action you desire and then more importantly towards the game for not being able to provide the level of control required.

After making a sparkling start to its football career the story of Real Football 2009 is one of misspent talent – all the right ingredients are there but it just doesn’t deliver a world beating performance when it matters. iPhone owners that want a good looking footie game to drop into for a few minutes and impress their mates will find Real Football 2009 fits the bill perfectly. More demanding players will ultimately discover a game that due to a couple of key flaws doesn’t quite have the stamina to go the distance. In that sense Real Football 2009 is the Stan Collymore of mobile football games. A capable stop gap while we await the emergence of fresh new talent.

• Title: Real Football 2009 (Real Soccer 2009 in US)
• Publisher: Gameloft
• Developer: Gameloft
• Price: $9.99