Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions

The FIFA series has had a monopoly over the football genre for years in the videogame industry. Even Pro Evolution Soccer (a series once heralded for its moment-to-moment gameplay) has now accepted its silver medal with its popularity waning. The problem I think most sports games have is finding that unique style that shakes the generic formula up in some way. FIFA was able to find that first launching the successful Street series in the early 2000s and has recently had to delve back into that bag of tricks by introducing Volta. Even The Journey, a career mode centred around football prodigy Alex Hunter gave the franchise some new life and I for one was enticed to play it to its conclusion. Essentially, for any sprots title to pique the interest of a new audience it has to offer something unexpected, and this is where we introduce Rise of New Champions.

Captain Tsubasa is based on an anime of the same name and intends to include all of the features I said a new game in the genre would need to be successful. It offers two story campaigns complete with cutscenes and alternate paths. Perhaps even more importantly though, the game promises to alter the recipe for success within the category. The actual football matches you will partake in are far more action packed than your average game of FIFA. Each player has special abilities that they can use to dribble past the opposition and certain shots they can perform depending on their position. This makes every player on the team feel unique and useful depending on the situation. Players can obviously pass, tackle, and cross the ball which is essential given the pace of play. Turnovers happen very frequently in games so there is no slow build-up which keeps the action frantic and fast paced. This approach is sure to alienate fans of classic FIFA who enjoy cautious passing and timing, but I appreciated the new approach and the identity it lends the game. Goalkeepers work differently to how they do in other football games too. Here, they have a bar showing how many shots they can stop before they concede a goal and this is one of the few design choices I am not a big fan of. I believe that by having the goalkeepers show when they are going to concede, it takes away a large part of the suspense and makes utilising stylish shots pointless early on.

The story is split into two episodes with the first revolving around the eponymous Tsubasa Ozora as he tries to help his school Nankatsu win the National Middle School Tournament. If you have never read the manga or seen the anime like me, then you will probably not have a clue who any of these characters are at the end of Tsubasa’s episode and I think this makes you feel more passive to the story in general. The cutscenes are presented well though and look as if they have been stripped from an episode of the anime or a page of the books and I imagine you will be rewarded for being familiar with the source material. The cutscenes though can drag, leading to long stretches of game where the controller doesn’t even have to be in the player’s hand. The lack of English translation is also likely to put many players off although I believe the voice actors did a very good job with the material they were given. Upon the episode’s completion, a new chapter titled New Hero will be unlocked. This mode will likely be more familiar to FIFA fans as you are able to create your own player and upgrade their stats. The story does offer a few branching narratives but unfortunately the mode also feels less intimate than the previous episode which is why I preferred that one.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions doesn’t really do enough to become a new hallmark of the sports genre. It’s unique presentation and football action are fun and can lead to some tantalising plays, but the game is not really westernised enough to entice a new audience. I was interested in the game because of how much it reminded me of a Jetix show called Galactik Football and was charmed by the breath-taking goals and aesthetic. Many players though won’t have my experiences and thus the appreciation for these aspects which is likely why the game’s sales have been mediocre outside of Japan. It’s a game I am going to have trouble recommending because the target demographic is so niche. Unfortunately, the sports genre has become stale and tedious offering very little innovation or reinvention and so fans of the genre have become almost apathetic to it.  If you are interested in playing a different football game though, there are few that I could so easily put forward. There is a place for this game somewhere in the genre even if it is overall a small corner of it.

Final rating: Not quite a new champion

 7/10