That’s right, Captain Tsubasa, the incredibly popular anime you may not have heard of, is once again being made into a game. In a time where some may think football games are floundering as FIFA and PES produce lacklustre titles, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions brings a new, fresh take on the genre, mashing it with supreme anime intenseness.
We played the title at Bandai Namco’s anime showcase and it felt, fun, refreshing and at times overwhelming, but in the best possible way. I found my self drawn to the title and wanting to play game after game with the same two teams, over and over.
I actually was not familiar with Captain Tsubasa prior to the announcement of this title, however when I found this was a video game based on an anime about football, I couldn’t believe my three favourite things were being combined. And now that I’ve played it, I can say I’m even happier knowing how fun it is.
Captain Tsubasa is not a complicated title, you’re given the basic controls for any football game, giving you the ability to make regular passes, through balls, crosses and shots while you’re in possession. And when you’re in defence, you can slide tackle your opponents or simply outmuscle them by sprinting in their direction, however you must time it correctly or your opponent can dash past you. Each time a big tackle is made, or you charge your shot up to a certain level with specific players, a fun scene plays showing the crunch of the tackle or the power being thrust into the shot, giving the gameplay that injection of anime intensity.
This is also however, a game of gauges. The keeper has a special gauge that when full allows him to pull off superb saves and have incredibly safe hands. However, the more shots you take, the lower the gauge gets and the easier it will become to score. Outfield players have gauges for stamina and when that depletes it becomes very difficult to perform tasks such as sprinting which is used to beat players when timed right or tackle them as we mentioned earlier.
The game certainly kept me engaged just playing exhibition matches, so the prospect of the story mode that we have had confirmed makes me even more excited.
Captain Tsubasa has instantly become my most anticipated anime game of 2020 and we’re excited to learn and see more in the months to come.
