Captain Tsubasa is always great memories. Memories of college or high school, but also of primary school for some, whether you are from the old or the new generation. Memories of manga devoured here and there, episodes of anime seen on his small screen, with deep wonder at the prowess of talented young boys, defying both the laws of physics and game, going up lands measuring several tens of kilometers. Well yes, that's the magic of Captain Tsubasa, better known in Spain several years ago under the name of Olive and Tom. And for those who missed the reboot of the series on the specialized DNA platform, know that the names of Olivier Hatton, Thomas Price, Ben Becker, Bruce Harper, Julian Ross or Mark Landers have indeed disappeared to make way for the Japanese names: Tsubasa Ozara, Kogiro Huyga, to name only them and to name, probably, only the two most important.
O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!
Inevitably, when Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions was announced at the beginning of the year, the hype rose on its own. Easily. Because we've been waiting for a game around the Tsubasa universe for a while. And that we expected above all an original football title, just to get out of the endless war that FIFA and PES engage in every year. A hype cleverly maintained by Bandai Namco, with the revealing of the content of the game and the teams present within it. A first grip (from friend Laurely), a few months ago, had suggested a certain promise but also some reservations about the life of the game and its potential interest.
This time, no timed time, no supervised session: we were able to put Rise of New Champions to the test over several hours. The first thing that strikes is the game interface, quite basic, while the whole game, especially what affects the cutscenes, is absolutely successful. This is not the nerve of the war of this new Tsubasa, but we would have liked a little more effort on the navigation menu (knowing that we spend a little time there anyway), which already denotes d an obvious lack of care or rather a rather simplistic choice. Which is felt on other aspects of the title.
AN ADVENTURE OF WHICH YOU ARE ALMOST THE HERO
Rise of New Champions offers us a lot of things on the menu, which is good given the wait around the game. Online play, local play (up to four players) and, two modes in one, namely the adventure, which is divided into two parts: one where you follow the path of Tsubasa - and which is simply called "Tsubasa" - and the other, called "New Hero", in which you will have to create your own avatar , choose one of the three famous academies of Japan, in order to prove themselves there and try to integrate the national team some time later. The first mode mainly allows you to become familiar with all the mechanics of the game and serves as a junction for the second, more advanced and longer to tame, with about ten hours to plan to see the end. In the first case always, you try to offer Tsubasa and his friends a third national title at the expense of Toho.
If the in-game cutscenes are successful, those that frame your matches are more or less missed, with static characters, lengthy and uninteresting dialogues.
And it is during this ascent to happiness that the first flats of Rise of New Champions arise. If the in-game cinematics are successful, because they fit well into the game (an important tackle, an injury, a victorious shot) and into the original story, those that frame your matches are more or less unsuccessful, with static characters, lengthy and uninteresting dialogues. Fortunately, these can be skipped, but skipping them immediately causes a loading time… and there is enough for almost everything in the game. Between matches. Between two dialogues. Between two menu changes. It's too much and although they are illustrated by player sheets, it's quite boring all the same.
A SPECTACULAR FOOTBALL, BUT ALSO SUPER DATED
The second, deeper mode offers an RPG side to the title, which cannot be overlooked. Each match, each training allows you to unlock bonus points and skills, which will, according to your choices, improve this or that aspect of your avatar, the one you will have taken care to create from scratch at the start of the adventure. . For skills, you can develop them, either by succeeding in challenges offered by the star of your academy (if it is Toho that you have chosen, it will be Kojiro), or by accomplishing objectives during matches or in . .. chatting with teammates (yes, yes, quite simply) or by making friends with players, opponents of yesterday or tomorrow or not, via a card system not very well explained, a little obscure at the beginning and which would have gained in simplicity.
There is nothing classic or simulation, or even sufficiently equivalent to a traditional football approach in this episode.
This simplicity, it is on the green rectangle that we feel it on the other hand, with rather particular sensations. It's simple: if you are not a follower or a fan of Captain Tsubasa, you are likely to become disillusioned and move on. Because there is nothing classic or simulation, or even sufficiently equivalent to a traditional football approach in this episode. Blame it on deep passes that often take target players the wrong way, corners that are anything but controllable, loose balls that no one really seems to care about or have the desire to attack. Blame it on a lunar ball physics (it never rolls on the ground huh, it just bounces)... but ultimately, that's also Tsubasa. Players who run at top speed for a few meters (kilometres in the anime, yes we know) and who can trigger in extremis tackles at the last moment, prodigious strikes from all four corners of the field and sensational dribbling at any time. All that is there, all that is well transcribed on the ground, with a balance mechanics that will have to be reviewed, especially with regard to the special shots of certain characters. We think here of Kojiro, who can score with his tiger shot from almost anywhere, while Tsubasa will have to be in the box to score for sure. If the gestures are faithful, the atmosphere too (thank you for the Japanese dubbing) and the very successful cutscenes, we regret their redundancy. Too often we tend to see the same animation for a shot, the same animation for a dribble, while the latter is different.
The handling in defense is a bit of a lottery sometimes, with a lack of cursor choice, linked to a somewhat capricious camera and which sometimes gives you control of a player out of your field of vision.
Let's quickly come back to the balance of the game. If we salute the stamina bar of the goalkeeper, which reduces as he blocks shots and which will end up yielding at one time or another, we regret the omnipotence of the stars on the field (logical on a certain side) to the detriment of other players who are sometimes well placed, knowing that the first (we come back to Kojiro) really have no trouble concluding their actions. Tactically, the game has resources and offers strategies that the anime would not have denied, with sequences on the wings, combinations suitable for triggering the combo shots of certain characters (Twin Shoot, for example), or even a player as a last defense, offering his body to slow down or deflect the ball at the last moment.
IMBALANCE WHEN YOU HOLD US...
On the other hand, on the handling in defense, it is a bit of a lottery sometimes, with a lack of choice of cursor, linked to a somewhat capricious camera and which sometimes gives you control of a player out of your field vision or too far from the action to be able to intervene. Fortunately, the referee is absent and tackles from behind (with an extraordinary reach from the players in passing) are highly recommended. Just like dribbling or striking, these require to be perfectly executed, under penalty of immediate sanctions. The cooldown is present for shots and technical gestures, which tries to balance everything and avoid exploits too often repeated on the ground. Finally, a special team gauge can be charged according to your performance on the field and be triggered at any time, giving your eleven a definite advantage in certain game registers, depending on what you have chosen beforehand (iron defense, counter-attack game, collective expression).
In short, all is not perfect. Rise of New Champions has the merit of offering something to eat and drink, with a local multiplayer welcoming up to players and an online mode with classic matches or a rather original division system, since you will have to build your team respecting a total of points not to be exceeded. Associating Tsubasa and Kojiro is therefore possible, but to the detriment of other stars on the ground. A mode that should hold you in suspense for many hours, including the editor system, which allows you to create or modify almost all the squads and players present in the game. A good initiative, just like the Collection mode, which allows you to update yourself with cutscenes worthy of the anime, on the history of Captain Tsubasa. Enough to melt a manga lover, with such an abundance of fan service. And that is perhaps THE strength of this game: that of getting Tsubasa fans to agree. Not sure that they can really speak to others, since it doesn't really fit into the “classic” box of a football game. It would have had the merit of it, it has the potential, given the technical slag to be corrected and which would not necessarily be insurmountable for a development team. But that doesn't seem to be the real purpose of Rise of New Champions. Who knows… with the hype and expectation surrounding this title, it might give Bandai Namco ideas in the future.
