Rainbow Striker is a quality soccer game that's currently only available on Japanese handsets, such as the FOMA P902i. It's a shame that it isn't available a little more widely, though, because Rainbow Striker is a surprisingly controllable soccer game that runs at a good speed. The game's controls are tailor-made for effective play on a cell-phone handset, which makes all the difference in the world.
The controls are set up so that the player you're controlling is always in motion. This works since there's never really an instance in a soccer game when you'd want to be standing still. So your player automatically runs, and you use the phone's D pad to move the player in different directions when course changes are warranted. With that taken care of, you only need to worry about a couple of button presses for shooting, passing, and changing players. It's a simple control scheme that's easy to use without feeling terribly confining. If you want to get deeper, you can set up your team's formations before the game and during halftime, but these changes don't seem to make much of a difference at all when you're on the pitch.
The artificial intelligence isn't great, but on harder settings (and with a better team), it'll put up a decent fight. You can either take on the AI in a single match or set up an international cup match, where 16 teams compete World Cup-style. The teams differ in uniform color and star rating, with teams such as Brazil getting the full five stars while lowly teams such as North Korea get one and a half stars.
The visuals in Rainbow Striker are crisp and easy to discern. The audio is limited to a few catchy songs, which play on the menu screens, and the roar of the crowd during games. It's good enough, but not spectacular.
OK, here's a caveat list for you: If you're looking for a quality soccer game and you happen to have a Japanese phone such as the FOMA P902i, Rainbow Striker is a cool little soccer game that won't hold your attention forever, but it's good enough and worth playing...provided you can find it.
