Reviewed version 1.03 on PS4. I really enjoy arcade soccer games, soccer games in general, meaning also FIFA, plus I like sports games inReviewed version 1.03 on PS4. I really enjoy arcade soccer games, soccer games in general, meaning also FIFA, plus I like sports games in general.
I saw this one in the PS store last week, and considering the price of 7.99, I bought it straight away without looking up any reviews, which I generally do before buying games.
Which takes me to my review,and that price tag of 7.99 will sadly be one of the only positives about the game.
Positives are definitely the price, other than that, there is not a lot to like here, besides the kind of nice graphics, for this type of game, reminds me a bit of Super Mega Baseball. Which is good, there’s a nice editor, I was able to create my own team with 11 players in no time, the editor also allows for a nice customization of your characters, so that they are really distinguishable, you can edit the names, put them in your team, chose number and position and that’s it. Oh, the leagues and tournaments are also customizable, which is also welcome. In addition, there is some ready to play leagues, about five different ones, and they also included 20 challenges, where you have to score a hat trick, win by five goals or score with a bicycle kick, nothing not seen before.
What comes after is disappointing, although the start was very promising.
On the field:
There is no referee on the field, and you do not even get booked for fouling, you get a free kick, or if the foul happens in your penalty area, then you get a penalty.
The AI is minimalist here, and the goalies are atrocious, letting balls through that just pass next to them, on a goal kick passing the ball straight away to your teammates feet, and scoring from midfield is common, run up to the kick off point and hold full power, strategy not needed, also because…
…passing does not work well at all. You can pass in four directions, and the options you have are a normal pass and the through pass. Normal pass always goes in the back of your teammates, so that they lose it, and through passes do not work, as the ball goes straight away to the opponent player. Almost every time, you have make a pass to the wing with a complete open player to succeed. However, that is also not really working, as crosses tend to end up somewhere NOT near your player, or your striker or midfielders are not even there yet, but still running around somewhere else on the field. Best option is just to kick the ball to the front, which is possible. Because as you hold the button for full power, you can kick it from defense to offense easily, kicking has excessively much power.
You can't even chose any tactics; you play in a 4-3-3 formation, no way to change. But then again, it would not make any sense, as the teams have all the same strengths, as far as I noticed, and all play in the same formation too. Tactics and strategy equal zero here. Same counts for the players, they all share the same strengths, no stats whatsoever.
Randomizing stadiums, footballs is not possible, weather conditions do not exist. One annoying thing might only be me though, when you score a goal. I like to see the net shaking when I score a goal, but instead, when you score, the ball is just behind the line, a big GOAL font is shown onscreen, thus preventing you from seeing the goal. In addition, there are no replays, too bad.
Off the field:
Where are the stats? I thought that after a game, in a tournament for example, it would show me some stats, and in the menu, it would show me at least something. However, the only thing we get, is the league table, not even well done, logos and font are too big, so you have to scroll down and up if you want to see the whole table, in my case I made a league with 16 teams.
No player stats either, at ALL. I was looking forward to which of my players scored the most goals after some games, or had assists, cards, anything.
It really comes down to play game after game, as fast as possible, without any other diversion. I know that this is not a football manager, and I can understand that it would perhaps go too far by including transfers and such, but this minimalist?
Online multiplayer isn't existing either. However, it would probably be quite uninteresting, as the on field part seriously lacks gameplay.
I hope the developers will continue to support the game, and perhaps make some additions in the future. Seeing that they released already 3 updates makes me hope at least. It is a fun game for some hours but that is it. With a bit deeper stats system, and obviously some changes on the field, this could be so much better.Active Soccer DX made it better, and I hope for a sequel of that one, which was announced in 2019, but so far never happened.
So long story short,I really wanted to it, but due to all those existing problems, I unfortunately cannot. I hope that it will get better,I hope that it will get better, or they consider major changes in a sequel, but as it is, cannot recommend it.… Expand
