REMATCH: An undeniably fun but flawed game with bags of potential
REMATCH, the football video game developed by French studio Sloclap, generated a huge amount of hype during its beta period earlier this year, but has it delivered on the hype upon full release?
The online multiplayer game draws immediate comparisons with Rocket League but, despite its appearance, it's less arcade action and more of a pure football simulation.
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You take full control of a single footballer and their actions during 3v3, 4v4 and 5v5 matches. Whereas in EA FC everything is almost automatic, the ball moving between players and darting towards the goal like a magnet, here it is completely up to you to put the ball in the right place.
The skill bar is set very high. It's very easy to underhit a pass or send a shot totally waywards. That's because REMATCH plays a lot more like a third-person shooter than your traditional sports game, aiming your shots with a reticle as you would in Helldivers 2 or Grand Theft Auto. Confusingly, passes are instead aimed with the analog stick.
Getting used to this takes a lot of practice and patience, but once you do it can lead to tonnes of fun and fluid gameplay. That said, the control scheme is not intuitive, although Sloclap say that button mapping is on the way.
I can't say I've gotten particularly good at the game just yet and my struggles have been compounded by consistent glitching. During one of my turns in net I was ready to collect a harmless long punt up the field, only for the game to stutter momentarily and so the ball flew past me into the goal.
Read – Wirtz explains why he chose Liverpool over Bayern and Man City
Regardless, I've been coming back for more, eager to try more tricks and flicks, maybe finally pull off a bicycle kick after bouncing the ball off the wall, and get one of those sweet, sweet overtime wins at the end of a back-and-forth contest.
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As enjoyable as REMATCH is, there is a distinct lack of content on offer. There's the online matches, practice mode, character customisation (and the monetisation that comes with that) and… that's it. Not even a single player mode.
For the £20.99 price tag you might be forgiven in expecting there should be more available at launch. Its free-to-play equivalents provide a wider array of content, although they have obviously been around longer.
Still, Sloclap could be in danger of losing the attention of their already large player base. One day after launch they revealed REMATCH attracted one million unique players across all platforms. On Steam it peaked at over 92,000 players on its first day, retaining the majority of them over the following days. How long before they crave something new and move on to the next thing?
Another drawback is the fact there is no crossplay at the time of writing, meaning you can only play with players on your system of choice. Again Sloclap say that will be remedied in due course.
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REMATCH is an undoubtedly entertaining game set against some wonderful artwork, with arenas ranging from your standard giant bowl stadium to the desert and, my personal favourite, a jungle (sometimes it even changes between goals). But it does come with its flaws.
You will definitely be seeing viral clips of this game pop up on your feed over the next few weeks, and potentially months, maybe even years – if it can meet its vast potential.
Rating: 7/10
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S (GamePass subscription required), PlayStation 5 (PS Plus subscription required), Windows PC.
Read – Every footballer signed for £100m as Wirtz joins Liverpool
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