Sociable Soccer 24 Review (Switch)

The debate over the best soccer video game has been going on for decades.

Up until now, there really hasn’t been much choice on the Switch. Have EA Sports FC (fortunately, finally, worth buying now), but with Konami’s eFootball (formerly PES) out of the picture, the other options are arcade-style indie games of widely varying quality .

At first glance, Sociable football 24 – is initially being tested for a possible Switch release Go back seven years ago – is still one of the indie video games, but removing it would mean a huge own goal, because there’s a real pedigree here.

For those unfamiliar with it, Sociable Soccer is the brainchild of Jon Hare, co-founder of legendary British developer Sensible Software. For some, its the game of soccer Football is sensitive – affectionately known to Gen X fans as Sensi – and its giant sequel The world of football is sensitive remains the best video game interpretation of the sport, EA and Konami be damned.

With the name Sensible Soccer no longer appearing to be for Hare, he instead sought a similar-sounding title. However, the game itself is clearly inspired by the series that made his former studio one of the biggest names in Europe in the 90s.

Like its spiritual ancestor, Sociable Soccer focuses on arcade-style soccer gameplay enhanced by a hyper-touch system that lets you bend shots with gusto. Aftertouch is even added to ground passes this time, allowing pros to bend passes that roll past defenders to reach players they are blocking.

However, despite its clear source material, the game still has its differences when it comes to dribbling. This is one of the harder things about Sensible Soccer – and one of the things that makes it fun to master it – because a sudden change of direction will cause the ball to escape, whereas here it almost sticks. tight on your player’s legs. The player also runs a lot slower than the Sensi, even with the addition of the sprint button. It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just different.

Perceptive fans will also be hoping that Sociable Soccer’s default side-scrolling camera angle, which is perfectly serviceable, can be changed to something more akin to the game they grew up on. Luckily, it’s actually possible: of the five camera options available, the second is a clear attempt to recreate Sensible Soccer with a vertical camera that helps with bending shots That curve is much easier.

On the field it’s a success – especially when you’re playing against a friend – but in game modes, Sociable Soccer is a more mixed game. The main Career mode is a quirky squad-building affair that feels a bit like FIFA Ultimate Team (or Master League of the classic PES games) crossed with a gacha mobile game.

After choosing your team, their regular players will be replaced by a team of complete no-hopers – each represented by a card – and the aim is to advance through multiple divisions, winning Win matches and participate in winning streak challenges, etc. In doing so, you will sometimes unlock new player cards, which can be used to replace weaker cards on your team. Alternatively, if you don’t like the new player you have, you can ‘spend’ them to upgrade a player on the existing team of the same nationality or position (perhaps a sort of off-screen human sacrifice image).

While the idea of ​​building a squad over time is nothing new, its random nature seems a bit annoying, especially when the game’s creator’s previous work boasts a career mode The most amazing soccer game ever in Sensible World of Soccer. Something as simple as the transfer market will make the process of improving your team more exciting, but the reality is that you have to play with the cards you are dealt.

If you crave something a little less gimmicky and just want to enjoy some straightforward football, then the World mode thankfully makes up for it in terms of Career. Here you can choose from a range of real-life competitions (albeit with fake names), choose whichever participating team you like and try to win that trophy, with the overall aim of filling the cupboard with a total of 78 trophies.

There are seven national competitions here (such as the unlicensed equivalents of the Euro, World Cup, etc.), seven club competitions (Champions League, etc.), 37 separate leagues and 28 domestic titles to win, so there are a lot of matches to be had here. Importantly, this mode can also be played offline, while Career requires an Internet connection for unclear reasons, so this is a mode you’ll be playing on your commute.

This is also where the game’s incredible database can be found. Like Sensible World of Soccer before it, the number of clubs and players here is ridiculous, with a total of 237 international teams and 1,195 club teams from around the world, meaning you finally have There could be a match between Kashima Antlers vs Al Ahly. I’ve always dreamed about it (although here it would be Kashima vs Cairo).

Incidentally, that’s the only real disappointment here: the game doesn’t have any real team names, so if you don’t know your stuff when it comes to a particular league, you might come across Difficulty finding a specific team. Stuff like Glasgow Hoops vs Glasgow Blues should be obvious but if you don’t know your Mexican geography then you might not know that Aguascalientes is actually Club Necaxa. Mistakes are easy to make, remember.

Luckily, the majority of player names are real thanks to the FIFPro license. It’s claimed that there are over 13,000 licensed professionals in the game, and we’ll take their word for it (we’re tired of counting the teams). Many of them also have photos, which add some personality to the fairly basic character models.

The only other major downside to Sociable Soccer 24 as it stands is that there’s no online multiplayer on the Switch that we could find, despite the eShop and back of the physical box claiming otherwise. [“Online play coming to Console soon,” according to PR.] For now, note that despite the game’s name, any socializing you want to do with this game must be offline. To be clear, it’s great because of its ease of use.