Objectives Review – football puzzle game trying to break the competition | Sports

This month something very unusual happened in the world of video games: someone launched a new football game. Already the market can support many competitors, from sports games like Super Sidekicks and Hat Trick Hero, to big efforts called Actua Soccer or This Is Football, to unusual ones like Namco’s LiberoGrande that made you feel the game as a single player.

For the past ten years, however, the event has been run by EA’s Fifa, which is now EA Sports FC. Apart from Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, now eFootball, there have been few competitors – and few starters.

But now we have them. Launched on June 4, Goals is a free-to-play game SIM developed by a new studio, also called Goals, based in Stockholm. It is referred to as a football game first.” All the success of the EA Sports franchise is absent – there are no real players or teams. Instead, each side and player is randomly generated, so that everyone has a unique team.

The developers have also made a lot that there is no script, which means that the game engine does not try to help the player in passing or shooting accurately, and it will not bring joy in the last minutes by changing the skills of defenders and attackers.

What Goals promises instead is a fast-paced, highly responsive experience, where creativity is the only thing. We’ve played for a few hours now, and that seems to be what we’re getting. The controls are simple for Fifa teams, with a shot, a long pass, a short pass and the ball on the face buttons, as well as a sprint function and changes to the threat of clearing chips, power shots and other special features. You can call your AI teammate to step over, you can take a guard out of his line, you can join and you can use the right analog stick to do stepovers. If you can play EA Sports FC, you can play this.

The difference is in how fast players move and react, and how the physics respond. You can play the ball between your teammates, make quick attacks, find small gaps in your opponent’s back line and get in behind. The defense is also more intuitive than usual with the auto-tackle function that allows your player to stop your opponent and take the ball by placing them in the right position. The feeling is like a slightly accelerated version of the classic Pro Evolution Soccer game, where teams are rewarded for hitting tiki-taka, bouncing the ball and aiming for shots.

But I also see problems. Not everyone will like the slightly stylized graphics, although they have a bit of a retro feel that will appeal to gamers who were raised on soccer games by SNK and Sega rather than EA. The AI ​​team doesn’t seem to agree, either. I felt supported using a 4-4-2 formation but when I switched to a 3-5-2, none of my wings struggled to join the front, even though the team had an attacking mentality. Adapted skills and good shots are also harder to come by, which can discourage newcomers – and those who tend to skip every shot to humiliate their competitors.

The test will be the same as an online competition. It can be played PCPS5 and Xbox, and so far the relationship with the critics has been unstable. You can play one-on-one games, random one-on-one games or take part in timed tournaments. Obviously, the developer has his eyes on esports, as the single-player options are limited – there are no high-end systems here.

Making money will be another factor that determines the progress of the game. Currently, you can spend money on player packs, with different price packs allowing you to get players with higher stats. There will also be special regular Originals cards, which may feature a famous real-life actor or influencer; the first is streamer KSI. There is currently no EA Sports FC store where you buy and sell cards with other players, so it doesn’t seem like a huge market for expensive match-winning cards is growing. The system is not too complicated and you can earn points to get free packs by completing daily and weekly challenges. But, considering that the game’s developers have done a lot of marketing for the game as a response to Fifa/EA Sports FC, it seems like a no-brainer to adopt EA’s monetization strategy. And even if things are going well now, soon, you’ll be playing against opponents who spend £20 a week upgrading their team with top players.

Aims is a fun footie sim with a solid engine and a fun, smart concept. But it no longer has the clarity and nuance of, say, Sensible Soccer, Mario Strikers or Fifa Street. The goal may be against the predictions of the best-selling EA Sports FC and eFootball, but it is playing on their own turf with many of their rules. As with any plucky upstart in the game, the question is whether they have the legs for a long campaign.