Games worth discovering

This turn-based football game with gacha elements convinced me to try more soccer games

8K View2023-06-02

EA SPORTS FC™ Tactical

7.5

Turn-Based TacticsSportsStrategySimulationCard

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I’m not a total fan of soccer or football, whichever way you’d like to call it, but EA SPORTS Tactical Football has convinced me to give the sport a chance. Well, maybe not the actual sport itself but games about football like these. Tactical Football is a turn-based tactical soccer game with gacha elements and RPG-like gameplay where you build a team, upgrade them, and send them into matches. It's also currently in early access in Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.

In Tactical Football, I could choose to play different game modes; limited-time, ranked, world tour, and friendly match are some to mention. In these modes, I assembled a team of players and sent them into matches where they’d automatically move by themselves. It was only when these players encountered opponents or aimed to score a goal did I interact with them in a turn-based format. When this happened, I could instruct the player to intercept, tackle, block, pass, or use a special ability to either advance toward the goal, defend an area, or score a point.

Whether it was tackling or blocking, each action had a statistical score that corresponded to whether it would be successfully carried out or disrupted by an opposing player. For example, if I decided to block an incoming player who was kicking the ball toward my goal and that opponent had a lower stat score in their shooting ability and my player had a higher blocking stat, I’d very likely successfully stop this attack. Essentially, the higher the stat, the better the chance of carrying out the action in the match. Tactical Football gets a lot more complex and interesting with counters, percentages, and a whole bunch of other smaller details that revolve around the match and each player, but this turn-based gameplay and stat mechanic is the gist of the game.

Besides its turn-based gameplay, another interesting aspect of Tactical Football is its gacha rolling and upgrading system. I’m not an expert when it comes to different European leagues and football players, but there are hundreds of characters to acquire in Tactical Football that all vary in rarity, stat, skill, and role. I’ve already acquired over fifty characters from gacha rolling alone. That said, the only way to get more characters is to either continue playing to earn in-game currency or purchase this currency with real money. But with the characters I have, I upgraded them using materials to make them stronger. By doing this, I could go against more formidable teams with ease and play harder matches.

After playing for an hour, it’s hard to tell whether the gacha system and general gameplay feel pay-to-win, but I haven’t encountered any paywalls or major disadvantages while playing for free. The gameplay itself is enjoyable and entertaining. The visuals and animation are really well-made and polished and the interface feels terrific. The game performed exceptionally and I encountered no lagging, crashing, or freezing at all. Tactical Football looks and feels great, but plays even better. I think football fans and even general sports enthusiasts will really appreciate this game, but I also reckon that anyone who’s touched an RPG or gacha title will find Tactical Football enjoyable too. I know I have and I don’t even like football.