Sociable Soccer '21

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I am a bit confused by the purpose of this game. If it’s a game for the players who actually love playing soccer on their phones, then this is a poorly made one. If it’s a game for the players who love to collect their idols, then people will be disappointed. The only reason I can think of is Apple Arcade needs a sports game, and this is the category filler. The control is a bit wired, especially for the passing. The cutscenes can’t be skipped which is annoying. The AI is quite good at stealing the ball from me, also very annoying especially in my first few matches. Soccer players can’t sprint, which removes a lot of tactic that I can use. In the fast pace, short distance ball passing back and force between 2 teams, the camera behaviors like shaking. It is not a pleasant user experience. A good soccer mobile game needs either outstanding gameplay, or has a stunning graphics with real soccer player that you can collect and watch them play automatically. But this game unfortunately has none of them. The only advantage it has is it’s the only soccer game in Apple Arcade.

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So, I really wanted to like this game. And yes, there's something there - but it's a long way away from being enjoyable. As many of you have noted in prior reviews, playing the game actively is nigh-impossible. The controls are *bad*, on any of the supported platforms, whether by touch or controller. The worst bit is switching defenders. But nearly as bad are the controls for shot strength and bending a shot. Alas, I was still hoping I could enjoy this in management mode, without using the controls actively. But the little player figures stumble around like blindfolded four-year-olds in an ice rink. No dribbling *ever* works (the defender takes the ball every time). Your players pass rarely, the goals' wood plays a major role in every game (unbelievable to watch), players move about totally erratically. Tactics exhaust themselves in formation picking... and the only thing that's good for is massing your forwards so that the pachinko effects of the wildly bouncing ball result in a goal for your side a little more often, statistically speaking. Special mention: the penalty shoot-out. I watched one today that was goal-less for 24 shots. At which point I took pity on those little men and manually sunk a shot to end their misery. Needs work. A lot of work.

As everyone has mentioned, the controls seem nearly broken at times. There is a huge learning curve when getting your feel for curving shots and varying power. It’s very frustrating starting from scratch, but once it finally clicks after a dozen or so matches the game starts to become really fun. If you’re angry playing the CPU, switch to ranked. Playing online in ranked matches and win streak put you up against players who are trying to master these controls and are much more evenly matched. The CPU switches when intended, has perfect shot accuracy etc. Play against real people and it’s much more fun. After a few days you’ll start to develop some strategy and it won’t be so random. Some improvements are needed though. Stat tracking would be great along with possibility for longer matches. All in all very fun game with great potential!

Not sure whether improvements were made or I just got used to it but the game plays much better now. Lots of fun. Still have issues with lack of defensive control (the whole defense is easily left chasing the ball meaning the opposing team has players all alone elsewhere ready for a pass) and problems with throw in power (should be able to control how far I throw it). Otherwise, game play is smooth and enjoyable. Matching is better now, as well. I might ask that leveling up be made a bit more difficult because the game runs out too soon, i.e., you’ve got the top players and have them fully upgraded, when you’re at or near the top. This is a game that could be playable for a long, long time if leveling up was slowed a/o there was a wider selection of top-level players.

I’ve played probably 100 games now, win most of them, and I have fun . I don’t have any idea how many games I’ve won or lost, though, because there are no such stats anywhere. In fact, I’m not sure who I’m playing, why, or what it means. I just know that if I go into ‘League’ and press ‘next’ enough times, a soccer game starts, and from there, I’ve figured out what to do. After the game is over, I click next a bunch of times until I get put into a new game. Am I playing against AI? Am I playing against other humans? Am I playing against a group of well-trained monkeys? No idea. How do I change my team? I dunno. I’m an ignorant American and I have no idea if these soccer teams are real. I chose Newport at random. There isn’t any explanation of what’s going on, so I try not to care. I just play a dozen or so games each night, and enjoy it. Is my won/loss record and and other stats kept somewhere? No idea. It would be nice to know what it is. Maybe I’m just playing in a parallel universe, where nothing means anything? Whatever the case, thanks for making the game itself.