My experience as a football fan is begrudging at best, brought up in a Everton loving house while barely being bothered to spend 90 minutes watching some dudes kicking a ball around. However, the act of actually playing football games is immediately more fun to me. Maybe that’s because of the interactivity, or because I can give the ball to the keeper and have them score 30 yard screamers. Maybe it’s both.
It’s probably both.
Despite that, my enthusiasm for football games has waned over the years, as it feels like the genre has moved towards simulation over silliness, which is a real shame. Football is the most recognisable sport the world over, so it’s hard to reiterate on the same formula we’ve seen for decades when shooting for a straight-laced recreation of a classic sport.
Right now, the only real options are FIFA and eFootball, which is still the daftest name ever. It’s PES. Stop it. Right now, it feels like the only part of the genre we can’t take seriously is a name that doesn’t roll off the tongue. However, it felt like it wasn’t so long ago that football games celebrated a more over-the-top nature, and it’s time for football’s silly side to return.
Perhaps one of the most notable examples in history is Sensible Soccer, which in reality is anything but. Building on the previously released MicroProse Soccer, which in turn was inspired by an arcade football game called Tekhan World Cup, play took place from a bird’s eye perspective with a faster pace than most football games these days. There was even an aftertouch, which allowed players to bend it like Beckham before bending it like Beckham was even a thing.
Nowadays, the Sensible Soccer name is tied to a football training brand as opposed to an actual game, but this hasn’t stopped the game’s original developer from trying to resurrect the spirit of Sensible Soccer. Sociable Soccer ‘21 (which is the current iteration of a game that’s been out for a while) is available via Apple Arcade, which is nice, but it’s not a huge release that could draw in huge amounts of players.
The biggest recent attempt feels like Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, which was based on the legendary Captain Tsubasa anime and manga franchise. The gameplay was completely opposed to everything that simulation football games are known for, with a faster pace, a referee who seemed to be looking the other way during the shocking tackles, and the ability to score from more places on the pitch than just right in front of goal.
It seems like Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions managed to be a moderate success for Bandai Namco too, as it was announced that the game had sold over 500,000 copies across all platforms within the first week of sale. While reviews weren’t overly glowing, most outlets agreed that the lighthearted and bombastic approach to the beautiful game created a fun experience that most players could enjoy.
As much as its name suggests some kind of serious, competitive take on football, eFootball might also be the game that manages to channel the daftness that older PES games relished in. It was a simulation of the sport, but you could also create a full team of players, each boasting the head of a husky and full pink and green kit. It was one of the big highlights from older games in the series, and Konami might be willing to allow that to return.
In an interview with IGN, series producer Seitaro Kimura was asked if the upcoming eFootball, which will be available as a free-to-play game, will use paid cosmetics or microtransactions to enable those absurdities to re-emerge. Kimura’s answer was oddly hopeful: “There are no plans to do so currently. However, if there is a lot of demand for it, it may be on the roadmap in the future.” While absurdity via paid microtransactions isn’t exactly a perfect solution, the willingness to lean into
I’m hoping that the success of a game like Captain Tsubasa, and maybe even eFootball, triggers more non-conventional football games that opt for the road less travelled. SEGA Soccer Slam, Red Card, and Super Mario Strikers are all big football games that lean into the more ridiculous aspects of the sport and they’re all games that a lot of gamers have fond memories of playing, so they could finally be given the path they need to make a comeback.
With any luck, silliness might actually be coming home.
READ MORE: 5 Best Football Manager Save Ideas
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site.
