Soccer Story is an enthralling role-playing journey that seamlessly builds a contented and infrequently goofy story round one thing so simple as kicking a ball. A cataclysmic event causes soccer to be banned except sanctioned by the evil Soccer Inc. (with quite a lot of parallels to real-world FIFA), and our younger hero’s father disappears in the course of the catastrophe. A 12 months later, a magic soccer ball crashes into our hero’s life. What follows is an typically foolish and joke in regards to the return of soccer to the world, full of anthropomorphic panda goalkeepers and an evil soccer society.
The gamers first went to Soccertown to make use of the magic ball. Town is a shell of itself. The stadium is locked down, graffiti objectives are sprayed everywhere in the metropolis in an act of rise up, and the evil referees of Soccer Inc. always monitor illicit five-a-side matches. Current on this football-mad world is pleasant, thanks largely to its absurdity.
The principle story locations Leo or Kai, relying on which twin you select, on the trail to liberating Soccertown, recruiting teammates, and successful soccer matches earlier than heading to the following space. As soon as your crew is assembled and you have caught the eye of Soccer Inc. by bringing soccer again to Soccertown, you go to new areas for story missions and varied facet quests. You’ll go to a forest, a seashore, the unusual Zen zone impressed by a legendary Japan, wealthy in cherry blossoms, and rather more following the components of coming into new areas to discover and liberate. It is enjoyable to dash together with your soccer ball by every space, and it is rewarding to lastly unlock a door to a brand new space. Zones by no means overstay their welcome till you progress on to the following one.
The inducement to repeatedly discover and full NPC missions is big, however you by no means really feel slowed down, and the missions aren’t tedious; they’re enjoyable and fast to finish. Plus, speaking to NPCs normally supplies some chuckle-worthy comedic one-liners.
Throughout exploration and quests, you might be rewarded with cash and medals, which can be utilized to enhance your hero’s velocity, taking pictures, power and energy. Some missions offer you medals outright, and it is necessary to hunt them out for 2 causes: they have an effect on your gamers in matches and your hero when exploring. Like every good role-playing sport, bettering your participant’s stats is rewarding.
Many missions incorporate soccer in enjoyable methods, like taking pictures sharks to guard swimming children or sliding crabs to rescue a stranded swimmer. Capturing a ball off a crossbar emulates the real-world crossbar challenges that gamers interact in on each court docket around the globe. And a few quests are downright bizarre; at one level in Zen Zone, the sport turns right into a turn-based RPG whereas battling big mushrooms. These moments make Soccer Story rather more partaking than doing regular soccer chores, and it frequently dives into its weirdness headfirst. Nonetheless, some quests, like chopping down coconuts, may be boring as you circle round in search of that last goal.
When you stop the journey and missions, Soccer Story falters. Chaos and inconsistency bathroom down actual soccer matches. Operating to assault gamers is exhausting and taking pictures feels random. Growing your scoring possibilities requires decreasing keeper shields, which makes charged pictures necessary however opens you as much as defensive maneuvers from the stoppage.
Even after improving my principal character, the goalkeepers deflected my finest pictures with out breaking a sweat. Different occasions a weak shot from the opposite facet of the pitch would float effortlessly into the aim. This lack of consistency is complicated and aggravating. Pace appears to be the one improve that issues, as most area upgrades do not have an effect, and it is irritating to lose a match after seemingly having a bonus.
There’s some management, however matches may be so random it is off-putting. I discovered a very good tempo of shut pictures and residential rebounds within the corners of the aim that was extra tedious than enjoyable, and I simply wished to get out of the sport and get again into the good things. Not a very good signal for a soccer-based RPG. You additionally participate in lots of one-on-one matches, however because of its primary components, these felt extra like padding than significant additions. The precise soccer portion of Soccer Story is simply usable and frustratingly inconsistent, which is disappointing in comparison with the remainder of the sport.
Whereas Soccer Story is a story in regards to the lovely sport, soccer matches take priority over historical past and exploration. The journey and role-playing side is a number of enjoyable, particularly with soccer so built-in into the world, however the weak soccer matches stop it from actually being a fantastic sports activities role-playing sport. Buoyed by its charming and humorous premise, Soccer Story provides a satisfying journey and a unique sort of soccer sport, however one that does not fairly rating a hat-trick.