[pant pant pant]....Why can't my little guy run faster? Arghhh, lost that dratted ball again! Oh well, my goalie seemingly has superhuman powers of blocking goals, so I don't have to worry too much, he'll save my hide once again as I try to master actually keeping the ball moving down my end of the field.

LEGO characters take to the soccer field in this simplified version of the popular sport of soccer. Offsides, out of bounds, throwing in, and other soccer rules have been discarded in favor of making this simulation more of an arcade experience than a true sports simulation. Instead, wacky powerups have been added for special abilities on the field, and an adventure mode that adds a storyline.

Playing soccer is pretty easy in Soccer Mania, as the designers have tried to make it simple and fun for kids. It's impossible for the ball to go out of bounds, and rules like offsides (which not many understand fully, anyway, including yours truly) have been done away with. What is left is a sports simulation with arcade overtones. Basically, ball play depends on successfully keeping the ball moving down the field toward the opponents' goal by passing and then kicking at the end. The hardest thing is toggling between players during play if the ball is stolen, but practice helps in this area somewhat. Offense is where concentration is needed; defense can mostly depend on the goalie, who is endowed with extraordinary athletic powers of catching balls. Scoring is fairly easy to accomplish, if players remember to use the "A" button, which seems to direct the ball better into the goal, then the "B" button, which should be used primarily for passing. The powerups are what make this game more arcadish, with tricks like becoming invincible, exploding balls, super-fast balls, making opposing players slip on the field, and similar effects.

Kids can choose from several different modes of play: Training, where skills can be practiced; Friendly, a single game; The Quest, a story-driven series of games; and Link mode, a multiplayer function. Training is really just for fun, as the skills of dribbling, shooting and tackling are not that relevant to actual gameplay. The players all can perform these skills, but mostly a high level of skill is not needed here. The Quest involves chasing the Brickster around the world, collecting items found by winning games to help in tracking him down. Players must win four games first in the Quest mode, before the adventure kicks in. Swapping players is also possible after the first four games, and can be traded from opponents' teams as well. After winning the Quest, the LEGO Cup mode becomes available, a series of games to win the cup.

Gameplay is very easy, and most kids won't have any problems picking up the game. Scoring is a piece of cake, usually - the hardest thing is keeping the ball away from the opposing team, but as stated above, the goalie is pretty good at keeping the ball out of the net, so not much concentration is needed for defense. Older kids will probably find it all a little too easy, but young players ages 6-10 should enjoy playing.

The colors are muted and not very bright, and having LEGO characters is rather pointless, as the players are so small that it's hard to tell what they look like. This doesn't affect gameplay, however, as the fields and players are light enough to be easy to distinguish, a nice change for the GBA, where many games cause squinting eyes due to the darkness of the game screens. The music is rather "techno" in style with a fast beat. The music doesn't play during the actual matches, but in-between.