We analyze the title of the mythical series with which we grew up in the nineties, which arrives this August 28 on PS4, PC and Switch.
Many of us here grew up with Oliver and Benji as our main series. And we were the same ones who in the schoolyard tried to give impossible effects to plastic balls or to shoot as hard as possible to see if we broke the net… Those who were lucky enough to have nets in the goals, which were few. Ultimately, Champions appeals to the purest nostalgia of a couple of generations who grew up with the Mark Lenders, Terry brothers, Bruce Harper, Tom Baker, Ed Warner, Julian Ross or Phillip Callaghan. How could we not be excited about a title that recovers for PC, PS4 and Switch everything that we enjoyed years ago? And here is Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions. Focused more on the fan – old and new – than the soccer lover.
Captain Tsubasa is not a new saga in the world of video games. In fact, many will remember the mythical NES Tecmo Cup in the early nineties, which basically recreated the adventures of this type of Japanese football but without the original license. Then came many other games in multiple formats, almost all with the RPG touch present when defining the success and failure of our actions on the pitch. And this Rise of New Champions maintains part of that essence, although it has managed to attract much more attention for what seemed to be an approach to arcade football. But the reality is that games like Super Sidekicks, Euro Champ and the like are something else.
Let the ball roll
The title of Tamsoft and Bandai Namco presents us with a simple gameplay with various additions that come directly from the series. We can shoot, pass the ball, make passes into space, cross, run and dribble. All this with its corresponding button, and the ball hitting options can be loaded to give it more power. In defense, chase the player who carries the ball with X (PS4), make tackles with round or make charges running against opponents. So far, all very familiar. If to this we add some extra mechanics like the walls, we could think that we have a Captain Tsubasa game, but also a solvent soccer proposal. All players have an energy bar that is consumed by doing certain movements such as sprinting, kicking, dribbling … So we must manage it well to be able to perform the movements at the key moment. For example, if we are running from field to field, when we want to shoot with effect we will not have enough energy. This provides a certain strategy -relatively- and forces us to think about which way out is best at all times. Enough to quench the thirst of the most arcade football lovers?
The reality is that the development of the games and the usefulness and response of the game mechanics are what are gradually moving the game away from the arcades. Yes, we make hard tackles and the referee does not whistle; we can shoot from the center of the field; we have super shots; but the title does not develop like a regular football game. Mainly because of its key proposal: how to score goals. All goalkeepers have a power bar that makes them almost unbeatable as long as they hold it. Our job is, based on shots, shots and super shots, to lower the bar until it is red or disappears. That’s when the goals fall alone, even with shots almost without danger.
This results in the player having to work to lower the goalkeeper’s bar in the shortest time possible. Everything revolves around that. Making a good braided play with a precise cross and shooting at point-blank range is unrewarded – perhaps on a very specific occasion … – because Alan, yes, Alan, is a paramotif as long as he has a power bar. And this means that, on the one hand, the essence of football loses its meaning and, on the other, our goal is always to find good positions to load powerful shots and reduce the goalkeeper’s bar as much as possible, making the game experience focus on that. , at least in story mode.
The game features a debatable allied AI, which will barely make any sensible moves. For example, if we go up with the left side at full speed, do not expect that the end of that same band will make a break uncheck or it will bend in, since sometimes it will simply stay in position watching. But all this is changing and above all, improving as we unlock new skills.
As we progress we will learn new skills. Some like making loaded centers that can be shot off immediately. Or the dribbles. If we beat an opponent with it we spend a bar with the dribble with R2, but if we do two in a row we recover energy bar. The risk-reward is present in these actions. In the dribbles and tackles another RPG component enters, the statistics: in addition to using the dribble that touches (there are two, and two types of entry that cancel one or the other) the defensive and offensive stats determine who gets the ball. That’s why Jito is such a tough nut to crack and Schneider leaves so easily.
Carrying out successful actions (stealing, dribbling, shooting, making several correct passes) fills us in with a V bar that allows us to launch an enhancer for the entire team: recover all energy, be faster, lock ourselves behind, so that the captain does not spend energy … or use the super saves, which avoid any goal no matter how our goalkeeper is, something that adds another point of strategy at certain times.
The momentum of the national teams
We are honest, the sensations of the first hours (when we were streaming live, without going any further) were bittersweet. But the game improves. And it gets a lot better when we leave high school and start playing with national teams… And we start to see new mechanics. A small boost that does not revolutionize the game, but that helps the global calculation.
Recreate “the golden duo” by making walls in combo mode and crossing midfield, mechanics such as combined shots, super shots (we have to reload two bars in a specific state) or new aerial shots such as Chilean or special headers, which have some players, broaden the known spectrum.
When we have the full cast of movements and options on the field of play unlocked, the title becomes more enjoyable. Especially because before us we have rivals who can score by beating our goalkeeper with ease, and a certain strategy is required of us. Having defenses that can stop forwards, have better than average goalkeepers and look for better positions because that of shooting from the center of the field is no longer valid against Germany or Argentina.
On the one hand, offering the mechanics of the series with extreme fidelity is a great point in favor, but on the other, despite the improved sensations, these end up losing the surprise effect when we have made 14 special shots in a single match. The title misses its potential as a soccer game, since neither the physics of the ball nor the interaction or development of the matches, both in attack and defense, ends up feeling like a soccer arcade. One could defend and argue that it is that the game does not pretend to be, but the answer to that is that what it offers is somewhat limited by its own mechanics, and it can become somewhat repetitive in the long run because many of the possibilities that we could recreate on the field of play they do not offer the expected reward.
During one of our matches we made a normal shot with Tsubasa from outside the area. The objective, as we did not have enough energy to make a special shot, was to reduce the energy of the rival goalkeeper. The kick collided with a defender and deflected the ball, ending up entering because the goalkeeper had already launched. This random and realistic situation is anecdotal. And the lack of more football moments like this is what limits our actions in the game too much.
The experience improves against players, and surely many regrets made are due to the fact that the CPU is neither demanding nor the AI challenging as you might expect. But when we jump into the ring with friends, everything changes. It is more difficult to find shooting areas, and we understand that the best situations (shooting from within the area with Tsubasa, Hyuga or Schneider almost ensures a goal regardless of the goalkeeper’s bar) are more difficult to reach. And there the game wins in fun. In short: playable recreates the keys of manga and anime very well, but its mechanics are somewhat corseted to an abc system from which we will not be able to get out (if we want to win, of course) against the CPU, but that has a bit more crumb with other humans .
Fidelity to the series
The title comes with two different story modes that successfully and faithfully recreate the series. This is the Tsubasa chapter, which is based on the arc that recreates the last school tournament already in high school; and the Youth World Cup arc, in which we can create a player who will experience an adaptation of that saga from within, always maintaining the line of the original work. If we stop at the first chapter, in this one we will play with the story of Tsubasa as the protagonist, recreating even within the matches if we meet the requirements, the great moments of the anime: When we stop the infernal catapult, the shot of the tiger that destroys the ball of Hyuga, when Tsubasa finally dominates the shot with effect … He knows how to put you fully in anime.
Unfortunately, it is an excessively easy game mode, and if we understand the mechanics, it will not be difficult to see thrashed by three, four or six goals. Also, the difficulty cannot be changed, something that tarnishes the experience. And a lot of mechanics are missing that we didn’t discover until later. One detail to highlight is that this mode unlocks anime scenes, summaries of previous sagas (like when Oliver and Tom meet) that are a delight for fans of the license.
The other great mode is New Hero, in which we create a character with various customizable elements – and more that are bought in a store – and where we choose position and in which team to play. Tsubasa’s equipment is not valid here, but there are other routes with the Toho or the Musashi. The RPG component is very present and is appreciated in this mode, since we will have challenges to gain experience points that we will later assign to improve our statistics. In addition, it has a system of friendships that will allow us to gain relationship with certain players and learn movements and skills from them, along with power-ups of all kinds in the purest FUT style. Although, yes, all this is only available with packs that are unlocked with money obtained in the game.
The mode is structured as follows. Dialogue scenes (excessive in many cases), game preparation and once finished, rewards: raise the character, add new skills, earn points in connection events (more dialogues) and start over. On the one hand, everything related to meeting objectives to gain experience while we play forces us to offer a varied type of game to improve the score. In addition, we can equip all kinds of tickets, dribbles and shots to personalize our experience. Ultimately, the progress system works and invites you to test and customize. But on the other hand, the mode becomes somewhat tedious. First, because the amount of dialogue is overwhelming, and although there are many that are convincing because of the relationship that is established between players, others are totally light and without interest. And many minutes pass between game and game.
Again, when it comes time to play, we find an AI that is too easy, again without being able to increase the difficulty and that makes you lose interest in the mode … although in this case the rivals can give you more than a scare. It ends up being a walk, especially when we already have the character at level A, we play with a team like Japan where everyone has shots and special skills and the rivals do not show enough face. Going up against the great leaders of Germany, Argentina or Italy is entertaining because of their attitudes and moments, but more challenge would not have hurt.
Once the long route of the new hero is finished (we started with a school league, we continue with Japan and everything with scenes and dialogues before, during and after the games) we will be able to do other routes with other teams, with new scenes and dialogue options when It is up to us to respond to questions and comments. But the base experience is the same, and it can get tedious from the excess of static scenes. Of course, getting everything out takes a good handful of hours: now there is only one route and Tsubasa’s story goes over 10, and there are still routes to do.
Outside of these modes we will have the option to play in versus mode with the CPU or with friends up to four at a time, play penalty shootouts or a tournament mode. In addition to training -with tutorials included- and an editor to retouch custom teams and players. It should be noted that the teams are unlocked in the story mode, so you will have to overcome it if you want most of the teams.
His online proposal: no mercy
Another of the great assets of Captain Tsubasa is the online mode, which allows us to play matched games against other players and create rooms to play with friends, with the possibility of even playing two against two. The games that we have played so far have worked well at the connection level, although we have not been exempt from some specific problems, such as a bug that forced a game to restart or a player who had a less than optimal response at certain times. But in general, at least with people from our own country, the experience has been correct.
This is where we see that the game does not give concessions and where the deck of what we have been commenting on is broken. The title allows us to create our own team with the players we want and a maximum of eight players created (ours finished the story with level 112, similar to Jun Misugi, so they are not bad at all). That means that, as you can see in the image below, we can make a devastating team once we finish the story, something that unbalances the games against those who have not advanced in it.
The grace is to make a team that is within the level cap of the division where we started (1100 at the beginning) and to play and go up. And of course, there Schneider, Tsubasa, Hyuga, Pierre… They are superlative players, who with their shots, combined shots and super shots can easily overcome goalkeepers if they shoot from inside the area. The goalkeeper is capital, and it will not take long to see all the teams with Wakabayashi or Muller, the two best. Even Wakashimazu (Ed Warner), who is the best and first great goalkeeper unlocked, is easily beaten by these players.
Knowing how to structure teams while maintaining the level limit that each division asks of us translates into: top goalkeeper under sticks, defense with special skills in the center to stop rival attackers, a midfielder on the road and a devastating forward. A spine designed for what the game asks for, neither more nor less.
As we said, this is where the game entertains the most. Pressure is the order of the day. Finding holes to load shots is more complicated, and make a super shot (two loading bars) we don’t even tell you about it. Running with a sprint can leave us players depleted if we lose the ball. And dribbling without rhyme or reason leaves us without powerful shots against too good goalkeepers. Everything is more demanding and the strategy and energy management, more present. We will continue to feel, after hours, that it lacks some depth and variety of situations, but we will have a better time than with school teams due to the greater presence of actions to be carried out.
Like anime, but not always …
At the audiovisual level, we are facing a proposal of contrasts. It is evident that the players are designed and recreated to the millimeter, in such a way that they are identifiable while playing, in dialogue scenes, in video scenes and when they make their brand of house moves. As true is this as that the title does not have a large amount of detail at a technical level. We are not only referring to elements that seem little worked, such as the grass or the fans, but also in animations that are not as fluid in transitions as you would expect, the same type of impacts and blows between players in balls divided one and another time and the feeling that the game offers the right thing thinking more about the loyalty of the players than about their display in motion. As far as soundtrack is concerned, different melodies accompany the matches without too much flash, especially the narration in Japanese, the voices of the players during and outside the matches and some effects in the big shots, stops and events. The title comes translated into Spanish.
CONCLUSION
Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions has the capacity to entertain and is a good and faithful approach to everything that made us fall in love with Champions: Characters, events, shots and impossible stops … If we want to recreate the shot with effect, the infernal catapult or send the goalkeeper inside the net with the ball in his hands, we can do it in a simple way. But the game has obvious playable bugs. From an uninspired AI to a goal scoring mechanic that clearly delimits what we must do to win a game, especially against the CPU. The title misses the potential it has for options on the field of play, but it improves when everything is unlocked and we take the field against other players. There, the strategic touch is accentuated, since knowing how to choose the players and how to play is key; and, in addition, goal situations are more difficult to achieve and therefore rewarding.
The story mode stands out for the creation, progression and customization of our player, and for recreating events and moments from the series. But he falls into boredom due to an enormous excess of uninteresting dialogue and little difficulty. While online aims to be a stark battlefield with broken equipment in which a failure can be lethal. In short, a game that the fan will enjoy when they discover their full potential, but that in the long run they will think about everything that could have been.
THE BEST
- The recreation of everything we remember from the series: shots, events, spectacular …
- The progress and customization system of the story mode allows us to create a player to our liking with the best of each house
- The large number of special abilities that we have at our disposal with a large number of players and teams in the series
- Playably improves its performance against humans, and the creation of personalized teams for online will give a lot of play
WORST
- Design decisions in gameplay that can make it repetitive in the long run
- Allied AI does not behave as we would expect in a soccer game
- Excessive dialogue in story mode and little difficulty
- Technically improvable
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not have serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher heights.
