Soccer was the first organized sport I played as a child. Wearing our white and yellow uniforms, practicing with our dad and having snacks as a team after the game (seriously, mommy? orange slices?) is a nostalgic memory for me. I didn’t know how absent this feeling was from a soccer video game until I spent time at Rematch, the upcoming fast-paced, multiplayer soccer game for Sloclap (the Paris studio responsible for SIFU).
Sports games have an unfortunate tendency to stagnate over time than most genres, and they shun innovation in favor of refinement. It is probably part of the gameplay confinement, which introduces sports-specific rules. The result is that games like FIFA and PES become staples and repeat the roster every year, but in fact they don’t offer anything novel. Occasionally you can get Mario Striker, Football Manager (for true siccos) and add rematches to your list.
Instead of controlling a full team of soccer players, you play alone, but all players are different real people. Starting with the character creator, you design the appearance, decide what the “home” and “away” uniforms look, then head towards the pitch. The Sloclap team says they want to design games that Great Plays feels are making money.
I struggled with my back and forth and then finally got the opportunity to take a shot at the finish line. And I legally pumped my fist into the air when one of my teammates banked a shot to hit the point. It’s a multiplayer game, so I had to rely on this kind of interaction with my teammates to create openings. Despite not playing together for more than a few minutes at a time, I invested in a team of four and five people (5v5 modes ranked in one casual cue and 5v5 mode each).
It is important to note that there are no statistics (like another skill-based soccer game, like Rocket League). So, if you improve, it will improve and become more personal and meaningful. This combines how well the controls are designed, and while it’s trivial to start, it feels like there’s some degree of self-expression along each step of improvement.
The tutorial showed me how to speed up quickly, shoot, pass, tap, press ball, trick shots easily, and manage stamina such as sprints. Plus, once each match begins, there is almost no downtime. The only great games are penalties and timeouts. The only things you don’t control are match intros, outros and short replays after each goal.
Rematch has a special currency that can be used to get customization options for post-final celebrations, uniforms, and other characters, but the structure of the unlock system is not final and you will have to wait for 1.0 to make the final verdict. Hopefully there will be no significant microtransactions waiting for us. Sloclap is already available for free to play, so I’m not expecting anything. The rematch costs $30.
Soccer is a pivot from the hardcore kung fu brawler, but so far Sloclap has shown that it has the versatility to jump from one genre to a completely different genre. One thread of continuity between the two games is that both find great to play. I hope that the minors I encountered in the beta will have the annoying bugs sorted out and get the Polish language they need in the months that will be released between now and June 19th.
