I can finally start talking about the soccer phenomenon, Rematch, which recently entered “Season 1”. Rematch kicked off a very popular weekend with free-to-play for all players, and I, as someone who previously bought it, had many more players to compete against. This was both an advantage (as I could play with a friend), and a major disadvantage. As you’ll easily notice in many free-to-play games, the competition level can vary from extreme to extreme. Some players may not care as much if they didn’t pay for the game, which helps me justify the price of the game.
Rematch is an arcade-action style sports game where you control one player on a field of many, working as a team to win a match. The namesake of the game comes from the ability to “Rematch!” after each game, where you can automatically requeue. The mechanics come in many different forms and provide different levels of challenges for players. From simple dribbling to air dribbling (yes, you can do that even in this game), Rematch’s skill gap largely varies. Now that the game has officially released cross-play servers, after a full 24 hours of playtime, I feel I have enough knowledge to give this game an honest review.
Pay Barrier
Let’s first quickly get this out of the way, as I think many people will hesitate to take the leap at purchasing a game when there are so many free games out there in the world. Games need to have barriers, especially competitive sports games. When you take a look at popular sports games (EAFC/FIFA, NBA2K, NHL), the large price keeps the majority of casual gamers, as well as those who don’t care enough, away. When Rocket League first released, the servers were perfectly balanced with players who genuinely cared to play well. Since the purchase of Rocket League from Epic Games made the hit game free, the servers are filled with people who purposefully throw the game, or don’t care enough to genuinely try to win. It is frustrating, but every time I see a pay barrier to play a game, I understand it.
Over the weekend, Rematch was filled with people throwing, going idle, or not caring about the match. This made it very difficult to play as someone who enjoys the competitive nature of the game. I believe it would have also turned off many people from wanting to purchase the game. In other, more familiar words, it is a necessary evil.
Gameplay
It’s hard to describe the gameplay of Rematch without using comparisons to other games. In the title, I said it was the lovechild of Rocket League and EAFC (formerly, and more popularly known as, FIFA). It combines the “arcade style” of Rocket League with the “My Player Career Mode” aspect of FIFA. You can exercise all of the motions of passing, shooting, and saving shots as goalie. But in addition, you can skill dribble, self-pass, and do things that are unrealistic to actual soccer. This makes the game a quick-paced skillful match when at its best.
The Word is “Teamwork”
Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. You’ll hear me say “teamwork” hundreds of times when talking about Rematch. The way you win games is through teamwork. The way you score goals is through teamwork. Do you want to rank up and soar up through the ranks? Teamwork. Personally, I’ve had a lot of difficulty when it comes to ranking up because of teamwork. Many players will take it upon themselves to do everything on the field, not including passing. This creates a toxic atmosphere where you won’t see the ball being passed to you. These, more often than not, are the games that you will lose.
The games that I typically win involve all five players on my team, passing expertly to each other as we make our way down the field, until the open man is found in front of the net and scores a goal. There are times where individual efforts are needed (i.e. goalie or dribbling into open space). However, without teamwork, games will not be won consistently. Unlike Rocket League, if you have possession you have possession. The ball will be locked onto your player, until someone else takes it. While I’m not suggesting changes to the game itself, I recommend coming into Rematch with a solid squad of friends that can help you (and in turn, you can assist as well).
Other Tweaks
I could go on in-depth on my issues with a bunch of these bugs/features, but I’ll go rapid-fire to save you some time. Ball tracking is so inconsistent, sometimes the ball will land on you and end up flying a mile over your head. The scoreboard should disappear but sometimes latches onto your screen during replays. Ranks are stupidly unfair in terms of how you rank up through RP and who you’re facing in matches. One game you’ll get a team full of people way below your rank and the next you’ll have expert ball-chasers. There’s no punishment or reporting system for players who break rules of the game. This will only encourage poor behavior to spread.
In Conclusion
Rematch is a fun arcade style soccer game to help pass the time, but it’s needing a lot of work. I think the developers behind Rematch should’ve taken more time between the first release (on Xbox) and this major release across all platforms to iron out all of the bugs the game currently has. I think this free weekend has shown the community who hasn’t bought the game the potential, but it has also shown the community the downfalls of the game in its current state. This game, I believe, is one that could and perhaps should be purchased, as I’ve had a lot of fun through it, but in no way should this be the game’s final state. Otherwise, this game will take a similar path of failure so many games experience.
Give Rematch a try and speak for yourself. Don’t let my words persuade your ultimate decision. Maybe I’ll see some of you on the field. But I request that you at least pass the ball every once in a while. Thanks!