I'm having a very hard time deciding what I feel about this game. I've played both Strikers games for hundreds of hours in the past, so of course I was thrilled to play the newest entry, Battle League. And wow is it bare bones, and have some downright bad online as far as structure goes.
This game is not worth full price, it's worth a third of the price, and the rest is an investment hoping the free updates will justify it, which I am both optimistic and doubtful of. My big issue is, if you were gonna add free updates, just add them to the base game and make the offline modes actually worth playing besides practice for online. Could've easily had tons of unlockable stuff like the original two games, instead everything in the game is available as soon as you boot up the game. There's nothing fulfilling here in that aspect.
The reason I'm not giving it a super low score is the actual gameplay is very good. I enjoy the experience of playing the game, controlling shots, and the classic Strikers style of two goals for your hyper strikes which now requires an item. Lots of items have been outright removed, once again streamlining the experience for a much more competitive environment. Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing, it's one thing to limit items, goals, and hyper strikes for a competitive format, but for casual players it's a huge disservice since all the mechanics and design of this game is catered to people who will master it, rather than having mindless fun.
Online is the last thing I'll touch on. My friends and I made a club, coming out to three. We tried to figure out how to play together, only to find out you can only play with one other person unless two of them were on the same switch. Not only is this ridiculous, but outright outdated. There's plenty of other games on Switch that allow up to Eight players in the same lobby, all on different consoles, like Splatoon. Everything else from Strikers I enjoyed is mostly gone, which is a shame since I was super excited for this game especially, as someone who thought Strikers was the best, most unique, and had the most personality for a Sports game I've ever seen. This game? Just feels like it's lost its identity.
Patch the game, add more options for players to play with friends, and please make it worth the price. Despite what I've said, I do want this game to be looked at with a smile by everyone, including me, but it's not there yet, or ever potentially. Music is insanely good at least, but once again focuses too hard on a single aspect of Strikers which was the more rock-themed music. Strikers in the past had way more variety.
Overall, don't buy this game full price. Wait for a sale, or all the updates to come out, as it stands, this isn't worth it. Though again, I do hope and wish it will be at some point.
This game is not worth full price, it's worth a third of the price, and the rest is an investment hoping the free updates will justify it, which I am both optimistic and doubtful of. My big issue is, if you were gonna add free updates, just add them to the base game and make the offline modes actually worth playing besides practice for online. Could've easily had tons of unlockable stuff like the original two games, instead everything in the game is available as soon as you boot up the game. There's nothing fulfilling here in that aspect.
The reason I'm not giving it a super low score is the actual gameplay is very good. I enjoy the experience of playing the game, controlling shots, and the classic Strikers style of two goals for your hyper strikes which now requires an item. Lots of items have been outright removed, once again streamlining the experience for a much more competitive environment. Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing, it's one thing to limit items, goals, and hyper strikes for a competitive format, but for casual players it's a huge disservice since all the mechanics and design of this game is catered to people who will master it, rather than having mindless fun.
Online is the last thing I'll touch on. My friends and I made a club, coming out to three. We tried to figure out how to play together, only to find out you can only play with one other person unless two of them were on the same switch. Not only is this ridiculous, but outright outdated. There's plenty of other games on Switch that allow up to Eight players in the same lobby, all on different consoles, like Splatoon. Everything else from Strikers I enjoyed is mostly gone, which is a shame since I was super excited for this game especially, as someone who thought Strikers was the best, most unique, and had the most personality for a Sports game I've ever seen. This game? Just feels like it's lost its identity.
Patch the game, add more options for players to play with friends, and please make it worth the price. Despite what I've said, I do want this game to be looked at with a smile by everyone, including me, but it's not there yet, or ever potentially. Music is insanely good at least, but once again focuses too hard on a single aspect of Strikers which was the more rock-themed music. Strikers in the past had way more variety.
Overall, don't buy this game full price. Wait for a sale, or all the updates to come out, as it stands, this isn't worth it. Though again, I do hope and wish it will be at some point.