Non-Trivial API Applications

I see the World Cup API samples - my read is that they use the remote API only to populate a single array, which then works like a pseudo-table in the application.
I also see no response to http://www.asprunner.com/forums/topic/22077-skybiometry-api/ about at least one example API.
Is there a reasonable strategy for using PHPRunner to develop non-trivial apps against remote APIs with dozens of objects, and relationships between those objects? i.e. NOT using the simple array strategy from the World Cup apps, but actual REST calls?