StarBall

The goal

Soccer, with guns, in zero gravity. Touch the ball to pick it up, press FIRE to kick it, or shoot a loose one (bolts move it too), and put it in the far goal. While you carry it your guns and special are locked, and it pops loose after seven seconds or a few hits. The ball has real momentum, so the best play is often a pass you set up two seconds earlier.

How to win

The ball carries real momentum and bolts move it, and those two facts together mean the best shot in this mode is usually not a shot at all. It is a pass you set up two seconds earlier, or a bolt that nudges a loose ball past a keeper who is watching you instead of it. Carrying marks you on every enemy screen, so possession is a liability as much as an advantage: move it on. And leave somebody home, because a ball that leaves your half at speed is a goal about as often as it is a clearance.

How many to bring

StarBall supports 4 to 8. Four is end-to-end and slightly ridiculous; eight is where somebody can afford to sit in goal, and where the mode starts rewarding a pass over a solo run. The ball is indifferent to the roster size, which is rather the joke: one loose bolt still changes everything.

Know before you drop in

• Bolts move the ball: you can shoot a goal from range.
• Carrying the ball marks you on every enemy screen.
• The goals move every match, so no shot is ever memorised.