Soccer Super Star Guide: Tips, Tricks & Strategies for Consistent Three-Star Levels

Soccer Super Star is a new iOS and Android title from developer Real Free Soccer, and this appears to be their first game, and one that’s very indicative of their name. As the company describes it, this is an “insanely real, ultra-fast and immersive football experience,” an arcade soccer game that’s designed for casual players who desire simple game mechanics and an overall lack of bells and whistles.

But don’t mistake this as a game that’s similarly easy to master. As you progress through the game, it will become more difficult to score and you may need to think out of the box to outwit those opposing defenders and goalkeeper!

Compared to most other soccer games that are available on mobile, this is clearly a far more casual title than most. As we’ll tell you later on, it also happens to be quite similar to another soccer game that we covered recently — a game that’s part of a rather long-running franchise.

So without further ado, let’s move on to our Soccer Super Star guide, where we shall list down all the tips and tricks you need to know about if you’re trying to consistently get three stars and make use of all of the available features in the game.

1. The Basics Of Soccer Super Star –  It’s Like An Easier Score! Hero

If you’re familiar with the mechanics of the Score! Hero series, you shouldn’t have any problem picking up Soccer Super Star. But in case you aren’t, the goal of each of the game’s levels is to score a goal and do so as efficiently as possible, and preferably with your player character and not an NPC teammate. This isn’t your usual mobile soccer game where you need to play a full 90-minute game with eleven players per side; instead, you will only be controlling your team during key moments in a match and creating scoring opportunities as you move from one level to the next.

And when it comes to scoring goals in this game, the same basic process applies here as it does in the Score! Hero games. Draw a line from one player to the next to pass the ball, and when you’re in shooting range, draw another line from  the player with the ball to the net, and make sure you’re doing so in a way that won’t result in a missed shot or the goalkeeper making the save.

After you’ve completed the tutorial stage, you can select any of the available characters — it doesn’t make any difference which one you choose as they don’t have any specific skills or attributes that set them apart from each other.

Once you’ve completed eight levels, including the tutorial, that’s when you can choose your player’s name, jersey number, nationality, and club. Once again, this does not have any impact on gameplay, as it’s all about your skill in drawing paths from one player to the next to make the pass or toward the goal to attempt a shot.

We’re going to discuss the process of earning stars in a level in a little bit, but before we get there, let’s talk more about the similarity of Soccer Super Star to Score! Hero. While there usually isn’t much of a difference between an original mobile title and its “off-brand” version from another developer, there is one key difference you may notice right off the bat, and that’s how Soccer Super Star is considerably easier than Score! Hero.

Likewise, we’ll elaborate more later in this guide, but we can say at this point that this game doesn’t have any special currencies or resources you need to pay for rewinds or any energy/stamina units. That’s just one reason why this title is easier to play than the game it was inspired by, though you will certainly notice as well that there are also some noticeable drawbacks.

2. How To Get Three Stars In A Level

The game doesn’t make it clear how you can get three stars in a level, but you will notice that you can only start getting two or three stars after you’ve signed with a team and chosen your name, nationality, and number. So how can you get a perfect three stars in a level?

Based on what we have observed, you need to make sure that you pass the ball to the player (usually your player character) who has a star over his head AND that the shot lands in the starred part of the net. So if you pass the ball to your starred player character and someone on your team scores the goal by kicking it toward the starred upper-left part of the net, then you’ve got a perfect three stars. But if in that same example, your player character gets the ball and it lands in the lower right corner of the net, you only get two stars.

The one star, as you may have guessed, is automatic if you complete the level, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be the starred player who scores the goal. Just passing the ball to him takes care of that one star, so once that happens, you only need to focus on aiming your shot so that it lands on the starred part of the net so you can get a perfect three stars.

The number of stars you accumulate will become important once you reach seasons that have a specific star requirement to qualify, so you don’t need to pay that much attention to the stars if you’re just starting out; just focus mainly on getting the hang of drawing paths, passing the ball, and shooting. But you have the option to replay levels at any time you wish if you want to improve on the number of stars you have.

3. You Can Keep Playing The Level As Long As You Retain Possession

In Score! Hero, getting tackled by an opponent or having the keeper as much as punch, head, or kick the ball away from danger means the end of your possession, leaving you with no choice but to rewind or to retry the level. (And if you know Score! Hero, you should also know that you can only retry a level so often until you run out of energy.)

In Soccer Super Star, you don’t need to worry about wasting your rewinds or running out of energy, and in addition to that, you can still retain possession and have another chance at scoring if, for instance, an opposing player tackles you and you’re able to immediately regain control of the ball. The same applies to shot attempts that are blocked by the keeper kicking, heading, or punching the ball away — if you or one of your teammates get the ball back, you can likewise have another go at the goal.

And we’ve noticed that it’s quite common for players to get a second shot opportunity in the ways we mentioned above, with the keeper somehow dropping his guard and allowing for an easy, uncontested second attempt.

4. Take Your Time If Needed

As this is a rather easy game to play, we advise you to take full advantage of it, even if it means not getting a perfect three stars during your first attempt at completing a level. Sometimes, it’s best to just finish the level if you’re finding it harder to score than usual. As we mentioned, you’re free to replay a level that you weren’t able to perfect during your first attempt, so don’t pressure yourself too much to get three stars in difficult levels.

Furthermore there’s nothing wrong with making a plethora of passes before actually shooting the ball — as long as you get the two additional stars during the course of the level, you’re still guaranteed three stars, so you can take as much time as you need. Make sure you’re passing to someone who isn’t that tightly covered, but avoid making passes to players who are totally unmarked, as that might result in an offside violation.

And if you get dispossessed after making a pass, or if an opponent makes a heads-up play (such as kicking the ball to the stands to force a dead ball), try to take note of what you may have done wrong, and pass to another player or draw a different path to avoid the same outcome during your next attempt.

5. Some Plays Require You To Pass To Specific Players

Although Soccer Super Star doesn’t make it so hard for players to get three stars or difficult even to score on those goal attempts, one of the similarities in terms of gameplay is the fact that there are some plays that can be called scripted, or choreographed. These are the ones where your player character and some teammates may be within yellow borders or outlines — that means you can only pass to the players within the borders, even if there’s a teammate who’s closer to the goal and with a much better opportunity to score.

This, once again, is the game’s way of making things more challenging; sometimes, you shouldn’t go for the obvious if it means having to take a longer, more precise route to scoring a goal.

Sometimes, you may also notice that the teammates within the yellow lines are tightly guarded by opposing players. Once again, that’s all part of the challenge, as the game is specifically asking you to make as precise a pass as possible without the other player getting tackled or dispossessed. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but what fun would the game be if it was all easy goal-scoring opportunities and nothing else?

6. There Are Matches Where You Need To Score Multiple Times

As you complete more levels and progress through more seasons, you will notice an increase in the number of matches where you need to represent your country in international competition. While league matches typically require you to score just once, these international matches (as well as some domestic ones, normally the important matches) oftentimes require you to score twice, and the way in which you need to score may be a bit more complicated than it has to be.

But to reiterate a point we made earlier, this game still tries to make things challenging, even if it is easier to play than Score! Hero in general.

Just like the game it was influenced by, failing to score on the succeeding parts of the challenges will force you to redo everything from the top. The only consolation here is the fact that all you need to do to rewind is to watch an ad, and that you don’t have to worry about running out of energy after retrying a level.

And even if you score a go-ahead goal at one part of these mostly international-flavored levels, it won’t necessarily be over after that — although there aren’t any prompts that provide context to the situation at hand, the game may ask you to add a cherry on top by scoring a goal toward the end of the match as the final part of the level.

7. Prize Bags Contain New Gear, Hairdos, And Facial Hair Cards

As there is no such thing as player attributes or skills in Soccer Super Star, you may be wondering what type of rewards you can win after you complete a level. Most of the time, your only reward, if you can call it that, would be the stars, as well as the fact that you can move on to the next level. But if you see a level with a bag over it, that means you can win that prize bag if you complete the level — usually, this will be one of those multi-pronged levels we talked about earlier, where you need to score more than one goal.

Once you complete what is asked of you and finish the level, you will win the bag, which contains collectible cards that correspond to new shoes, eyewear, hairdos, hair colors, and facial hair. Collect enough of those cards and you can unlock new customizations, though one will need to keep in mind that these do not improve your player’s skills or make them any sharper on the field! These are all for aesthetic purposes, and for breaking the monotony if you’re tired of seeing your player look the same during each and every level you play.

By tapping on the second button on the top of the screen, you will be directed to the customization menu, where you can change your player’s hairdo/color, shoes, and if available, eyewear. Take note that you cannot change your actual player character, but even if you can’t, it wouldn’t make a difference anyway — it’s all cosmetic at the end of the day, as this is a game of skill as opposed to a game of strategy or a super-realistic simulation of association football leagues.

If you need more cards to unlock a customization item, you have the option to watch a 30-second advertisement video for some extra cards. Usually, these would be 10 or 12 extra cards, so if you’re very close to unlocking new content, what’s a half-minute to watch commercials for other mobile games?

8. Tapping On Your Player Icon Shows You Your Career Stats

Want to get an idea of how well you’re doing across your Soccer Super Star career so far? You’ll be glad to know that’s possible. Simply tap on your player avatar on the upper left corner of the main screen and you will get an overview of your character’s career so far. You can view and change his name, and since there is no currency or resources to speak of in the game, it’s free to make any changes you wish at any time.

Additionally, you can view his number, though you will only be given a select few numbers to choose from each time your character is transferred to another club or called up to his international team.

What’s really interesting here is the fact that you can see how many goals and assists your player has tallied over his career. Without anyone else to compete against, there’s nothing in it for you if you score a certain number of goals or make a given number of assists, but it’s still nice to know that there is a way to view such details and have an idea of how well you’re playing.

9. The Ad-Free Version Costs Five Dollars

We did mention earlier that Soccer Super Star has some drawbacks that can make it a bit frustrating to play. And we’ll have to admit that we’re mainly referring to the double-layered advertisements that pop up at random points in the game.

Instead of the usual ads that you can exit out of after watching five seconds, you’ll be directed to the second part of the ad after tapping the “x” button on the upper right, after which you need to wait another five seconds before exiting. It’s a small price to pay, we’d say, for an easier gameplay experience and the absence of energy or rewind resources that may limit your ability to keep playing for an extended period of time.

It may not be the most convenient of experiences for everybody, and for some players, it could disrupt the flow of gameplay. But the game does have an ad-free version, and you can buy it by tapping on the “No Ads” button on the upper right and paying $5 USD, or its equivalent in local currency.

Doing so eliminates the need to sit through mobile game commercials after or during almost every level, and also helps the developer out big-time. However, you will still have to watch ads in order to rewind a play or earn extra rewards after opening up a prize bag.

And that sums up all the tips and tricks we have come up for Soccer Super Star. Have you come across any other tips? If so, feel free to drop us a line in the comments below!