The FC series, formerly known as FIFA, has reigned supreme in the realm of soccer/futbol video games for years now, with competitors moving to free-to-play or dying off entirely. Coming from an unlikely source, Sifu and Absolver developer Sloclap has entered the tournament with a new online-only third-person soccer game, Rematch.
If you think that transitioning from developing brawlers to a soccer arcade game is one bold move by the developer, it even bucks another trend by releasing it as a premium (read: paid) product instead of opting to release it as a free-to-play game.
A Whole New Perspective
As with all soccer or futbol matches, the win condition is to score goals, and you take control of your singular player on the pitch from a third-person perspective with that intention in mind. Once the ball is dropped to one of the teams and put into play, the action becomes absolutely frantic from that point forward. When you do not have the ball in your possession, you must either play defense or put yourself in a better offensive position to receive a pass from your teammate.
Without the ball, your player can use a limited speed boost, including an even faster boost that has a cooldown timer before it can be used again. If on defense, you should be trying to slide and take control of the ball from the opponent, unless you are the goalkeeper, who should be staying around the goal. That being said, I played in numerous games where the rotating goalkeeper would stray away from the goal and end up having everyone on offense at once, with the vulnerability being that no one was guarding the goalkeeper. Having your team strategize on the fly like this was cool, but also could be really frustrating when teammates were not playing their designated roles, and it would cost you a game.
There are a few different types of shots that you can take, including a basic one or even a volley shot that can be really helpful to get around the goalkeeper. The shot types and action themselves really play into the arcade-style setup of the game compared to other games in the sport that are trying to be more realistic. Making this even crazier is the fact that the arenas themselves are giant boxes with barriers that the ball will always bounce off of rather than go out of bounds. This not only keeps the action going continuously, but also leads to some crazy bounces off the wall that can be parlayed into creative goal scoring. Aspects of the game like this are why it’s so easy to make comparisons to a game like Rocket League, as it harnesses that DNA where you feel like anything can happen at any point, though this time, you’re just it with your feet instead of a car.
Rematch eschews a realistic design for the environments and character models, instead opting for a more animated and almost cel-shaded approach in some ways. This works quite well for the game, as it never has to worry about outputting high-level visuals, but still manages to showcase itself in other unique ways due to the more colorful lighting and other visual effects found throughout the game.
Rather than throwing you straight to the wolves online, Rematch starts by giving you a quick offline tutorial that shows you the ropes in the game. This includes how to pay both offense and defense, although it isn’t particularly complex. After making your way through the short tutorial, you can then go into Practice mode and take part in a series of additional tutorials. These are a little more advanced than the ones in the initial opening section, so it’s well worth playing through these to fully prepare yourself for online play. If you really want to master your skills before going online, there are also seven Workshops that you can take part in, which are just mini-games based on movement, defense, passing, scoring, and goalkeeping, where you are ranked based on how you perform with an up to a three-star rating.
As of the launch of Rematch in what is known as Season 0, Rematch definitely feels pretty bare bones when it comes to content and options, as all you have available to choose from are Quick Match, Ranked Match and Custom Match besides the aforementioned Practice and the ability to replay the tutorial again if you need a refresher.
Quick Match has three options for you to pick between: 3 vs. 3, 4 vs. 4, and 5 vs. 5. The game describes 3 vs. 3 as the best option to hone your skills and then build your way towards 4 vs. 4 and 5 vs. 5. Quick matches are six minutes long and play into the game’s pick-up and playability. As stated previously, the controls are overall pretty basic and nowhere near as intricate as those of some of its competitors, which plays into the more casual approach at the start. However, as we’ve seen with games like Rocket League, games with what seem like pretty simple controls can really get crazy competitive and skill-based as players play more.
The real competition in Rematch comes after you reach level 5, which unlocks Ranked Match 5 vs. 5 in the game. Depending on how successful your team is, this may actually take a bit of time to level up and obtain, but that time serves well as a training ground to prepare you for much harsher competition that will appear in ranked play.
Rematch is very different from the likes of games such as EA Sports FC since the gameplay is much more streamlined. Whether you are playing on a team of three, four, or five, you and your teammates will rotate positions on the field throughout the match, with the game automatically rotating after each scored goal. If someone is dead set on being a goalkeeper, you can still swap roles mid-game, but this is something that would likely only come with playing with friends or using voice chat at the bare minimum. There are messages you can quickly say in the middle of a match, but they are very minimal, and it’s hard to use them fully to strategize on the fly, especially if it’s a team of random players with no synergy.
There are no worries about committing fouls or being offside during the match, either; the focus is on intense action throughout the entire six-minute match. Since there are no fouls or stoppages, there are no extra time mechanics built in here, though once time expires, the team with control of the ball at the time gets one last shot. The only time a game will go longer than the usual six minutes is if the game is a tie at the end of regulation. Rematch also has a mercy rule built in with a default of a four-goal difference, so a game may end much quicker if your team is getting destroyed.
As with any online-only team-based game, your experience is always going to rely on your teammates. The game has a level system based on XP where you continually level up, but there’s still going to be lopsided matchups at times, regardless, especially if there are not enough players online to matchmake with. During my time with the game, I often had to wait a while to find a match, so this could be a potential issue if the player base continues to dwindle, especially since crossplay isn’t available yet.
There aren’t that many stadiums to play in at this point, but I did quite enjoy the design of how they were set up. You are placed in an arena within the stadium where both you and the ball can bounce off the boundaries rather than go outside of them. The actual background stadium can transport you underwater, into a forest, and more, which adds significantly to the overall aesthetic. In a way, the design reminded me of not only Rocket League but also, in some ways, of the way that Blitzball looked in Final Fantasy X back in the day. Adding additional stadiums over time will be nice to make things feel different, even if the majority of the action takes place on the pitch itself.
Like many games that follow a similar model to Rematch, a Season Pass is available for purchase, known here as the Captain Pass. If you purchased Pro or Elite editions, you will have one or two free pass unlocks that you can use, but base game purchasers will have to spend money to get the pass here. There is a free battle pass for each season that you can unlock items for, but the Captain Pass will reward you with additional items. The battle pass includes various cosmetics for your player, including shoes, hats, as well as other unlockables, or either of the two in-game currencies.
Rematch features two types of currency in-game, known as Blocks and Quants. Blocks can only be earned in the game, while Quants can be purchased through the respective platform store, like the PlayStation Store, so you will have to get used to figuring out the cost of items in one currency versus the other within the in-game store. The in-game store features a variety of rotating cosmetics, allowing you to purchase individual items or bundles. For instance, Season 0 features the Bundle Ronaldinho, available for 1,000 Quants, which you can buy. However, the bundles can only be purchased with Quants, which is pretty annoying.
Between any cosmetics earned in-game or purchased, you can edit your player from the main menu under customization. This plays a much larger role than it would in, say, an FC game, as you are playing from a third-person perspective focused on one character compared to the full team. The customization options include Special Skin, Body, Equipment, Celebrations, and Home/Away. Special Skin are as they sound, where it changes your player to be based on a specific player. The more general customizations otherwise let you adjust things like body type, voice, and even if you have a prosthetic arm or leg, which is a unique addition. You can also set celebrations and stadiums for your player as well.
Rematch is entirely built on the idea of online competition between players and will undoubtedly be reliant on a consistent player base moving forward. Unfortunately, I was already having trouble and had to wait longer than I felt I should have to find a match this soon after the release. On the plus side, the matches themselves are intense and can be a lot of fun, albeit with a bit of frustration built in depending on your teammates. The fact that there is no real content besides the online matches themselves, though, could prove to be a major problem, but hopefully the developer can build upon what is offered in future seasons to attract a larger player base that will stick around, or otherwise, Rematch may be knocked out prematurely.
Score: 7.5/10
Pros:
- Fast-paced action.
- Arcade feel sets gameplay apart from the competition.
- No out-of-bounds or fouls, which make for interesting plays.
- Cool stadium locales.
Cons:
- Minimal overall content.
- Mileage may vary depending on teammates.
- Sometimes, I struggled to find matches already. It could be a matchmaking bug or an early sign of player pool.
Rematch was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
