Football Story is an engaging role-playing adventure that seamlessly builds a fun and often silly story around something as simple as kicking a soccer ball. a cataclysmsociable vents(which has many similarities with FIFA in the real world), and our young hero’s father went missing in the disaster. A year later, a magical soccer ball crashed into the life of our hero. What happens next is an often silly and amusing tale of bringing football back into the world, filled with anthropomorphic panda goalkeepers and an evil soccer corporation.
Players first go to Soccertown to use the magic ball. The town is a shell of itself. The stadium was locked down, graffiti targets were strewn across town in an act of rebellion, and Soccer Inc. continuous monitoring to detect illegal tit-for-tat attacks. Surviving in this football-crazed world is exciting, thanks in large part to its absurdity.
The main story sets Leo or Kai, depending on the twins you choose, on a path to liberate Soccertown, recruit teammates and win soccer matches before making their way to the next region. When your team is ready and you have attracted the attention of Soccer Inc. By bringing soccer back to Soccertown, you’ll travel to new areas to do story missions and various side quests. You’ll visit a forest, a beach, an eerie Zen Zone modeled after a mythical Japan, filled with cherry blossoms, etc. as you follow the formula of entering new areas to discover and solve launch. It’s fun to sprint around with your soccer ball in each area, and it’s rewarding to eventually unlock the portal to a new area. Zones are never overdue welcome before you move on to the next zone.
The motivation to constantly explore and complete NPC quests is great, but you never feel bogged down, nor do you feel the quests are tedious; they are fun and quick to complete. Plus, talking to NPCs often brings up jokes worth giggling.
As you explore and search, you are rewarded with coins and medals, which can be used to upgrade your hero’s speed, shooting ability, energy, and strength. Some quests absolutely give you medals and it’s important for you to seek them out for two reasons: They affect your players in matches and affect your heroes when exploring . Like any good role-playing game, it’s worth it to upgrade your player’s stats.
Many missions integrate soccer in a fun way, such as shooting sharks to protect swimming kids or crabbing to save a stranded beachman. Shooting the ball into the crossbar simulates the real-world crossbar challenge that players take on across courts around the world. And some downright weird quests; At one point in the Zen Zone, the game turns into a turn-based RPG when fighting giant mushrooms. These moments make Football Story so much more engaging than the usual soccer missions, and it continually delves into its weirdness. However, some missions, such as lowering coconuts, can be frustrating as you run around in circles looking for that end goal.
When you leave the adventure and the quest, Football Story will falter. The chaos and inconsistency overshadow the actual football matches. Running around to deal with players is exhausting and the shooting feels random. Increasing your chances of scoring requires removing the goalkeeper’s shield, making charged shots important but opening you up to defense while standing still.
Even after upgrading my protagonist, the goalkeepers saved my best shots without breaking a sweat. Other times, a weak shot from the other side of the field will easily go into goal. This inconsistency is confusing and aggravating. Speed seems to be the only upgrade that matters, as most field upgrades don’t work and it’s frustrating to lose a match after seemingly having the edge.
There’s some sense of control, but the matches can be so random that it’s frustrating. I found a good rhythm of close shots and bouncing shots into the corner more tedious than enjoyable, and I just wanted to get out of the game and get back into the proper adventure. That’s not a good sign for a football-based RPG. You also compete in many one-on-one matches, but thanks to its basic formula, these matches are more of an accompaniment than a meaningful addition. The actual soccer portion of Football Story is just as usable and annoyingly inconsistent, which is a pity when compared to the rest of the game.
While Football Story is a beautiful game story, football matches give way to story and discovery. The adventure and role-playing aspects are fun, especially since football has entered the world, but the weak ball games make it not really a great sports role-playing game. Highlighted by its engaging and humorous premise, Soccer Story offers a satisfying adventure and a different kind of soccer game, but doesn’t quite score a hat-trick.
