Another game I played because my brother recommended it to me, like with Hollow Knight (which I enjoyed). I will not sugarcoat my opinion however and I will analyze it seriously as it deserves because I don't want to be dishonest: it's a football RPG where the characthers have ridiculous superpowers and have to compete against a caricaturesque evil man with daddy issues so extreme he intended to murder countless people and at one point near the end even poisons an entire town and tries to brainwash them because he hates football.

It sounds like a typical shounen anime premise (because it is) but my biggest problem is that it doesn't know if it wants to go full wtf or take itself extremely seriously, and as such it stays in a comfortable middle point where it's just an overall average experience that leaves a very bland taste in the mouth. The villain muredered the protagonist's grandfather and his own dad was an alcoholic that made his kid obssesed with victory over enjoying it, but it's not something that allows more introspection, it just stays at background info. Also there are a lot of controversial stuff for a kids game here, like legal corruption and use of drugs apart from what I mentioned but this is the game Nintendo brings over to the west and not Mother 3 -_-

And there's some things I had problems with already with the plot. Fresh in my mind: Mark's family just allowing him to keep playing despite the fact he could be murdered at any moment (better mother than the one in Pokemon games); Alex's sister just waking up before the final match despite being in a coma a full year; or the fact the villain brings a new team and a giant stadium out of nowhere (and very well prepared despite the fact he hates the sport, it would have been more of a surprise to the player's expectations and made sense thematically if the final match actually took place in a very torn down building), among other stuff like asspulling special techniques or not using them when they obviously should to lenghten the story when the script feels it's necessary. My brother says a lot of my critiques of inconsistencies get answered in the sequels, but that doesn't change the fact this game by itself feels sloppy.

Gameplay-wise I don't have much complaints with the mechanics apart from the fact most of the time finding players that are not part of the main story isn't put to a good use because you are forced to use the ones the story demands, but the implementation with the story is often too idiotic. Instead of wasting cartridge space in the hundred of recruitable players and forgettable NPC dialogue, wouldn't it be better to waste space to check if the special techinque the characthers had a lot of trouble learning through the chapter wasn't put to use in the match proper? This happened with a special involving Nathan, who always stayed at defense for me. Couldn't there be a single comment after the match saying the training wasn't worth the trouble? At one point the team gets their stats decreased so I change them with other players I had recruited and win the match. The game proceeds to act as if it was the main story cast who had won the match despite not being in the team -_-

The techniques are often times also too ridiculous for their own good and makes them frustrating instead of funny. Being sent flying to the stratosphere, being electrocuted, moving the position of the goal net. Why wasn't the referee doing something? The player's abilities are also sometimes too weird. My brother said I was exaggerating when I complained it was illogical that one requires a player on the other side of the field to use, but it comes to being extremely ridiculous when one technique for scoring a goal requires the goalkeeper to do it despite him being literally all the way across the field. I simply hate superpowers in sports, and more so when implemented like this.

Sorry Maxi, but I didn't enjoy this game. It sometimes has good ideas but it uses too much tropes to go ahead with them to the point it ends up being too childish.