After delivering Absolver and Sifu, I would have never figured Sloclap's next offering would be a soccer game. Once you think about it, it's not that shocking after all. Most modern sports games have quite a bit in common with fighting games. NBA 2K, especially, has so many dribble moves that mastering Street Fighter 6 may be easier.
Rematch doesn't have quite as many moves, but there's still a powerful dance that goes on between the defender and the attacker. Even the decision whether to pass the ball or keep it (for those players that actually pass) can yield any number of interactions.
This One is Strictly Multiplayer
Rematch made the all too common choice these days to forego any single-player game modes. Even the game's attempt at a "story mode" consists of just cutscenes during the tutorial. We learn that you're a high-profile player scouted by a big time coach, and Rematch begins teaching the lesson that even the Ronaldos of the world must occasionally trust their teammates.
I suspect there are some players who will simply be too obtuse to ever learn this lesson. I forget what forum I saw this next tip on, but it's proven largely true. If a player is designed to resemble a character from any popular sports anime, or if their Gamertag/PSN refers to one, they will never, ever pass the ball.
Titanfall tried to do something similar to this, telling its story in cutscenes between multiplayer battles. I never figured out what the hell was going on with its story through those, I don't expect Rematch to fare any better.
Consider This A Player Simulator
While titles such as EA Sports FC 25 attempt to simulate an entire team's performance, Sloclap has termed this game a "football player simulator." That's a very accurate description, and it explains why Rematch needs to exist in a world already full of soccer titles. You control only a single player, and you feel the helplessness when the game's biggest plays unfold without any real input from you.
But the opposite is true. When you assist a game-winning goal, or are lucky enough to score one yourself, it is one of the best feelings you'll get in gaming. Sloclap made a huge effort to ensure that passing is rewarding. The walls of the arena have tremendous bounce, allowing you to do pool hall tricks with the ball once you've mastered the angles. Yes, in desperate times you can even use the wall to pass the ball back to yourself.
The game's sprint/turbo is called "extra effort." Like a pinch of salt, it makes everything just a little better. When two players are running toward a ball, the one who gives extra effort will win it. Applied just before a tackle, you'll leave the would-be defender grasping at air. It refills faster when your stamina meter is full. But even when you're completely out of stamina, you'll still have the extra effort bar available unless you have already hit L1 or Left Trigger to activate it.
Like a real life footballer, you'll need to figure out when to go all out and when to jog, conserving your stamina for a necessary big play.
Great Players are Great Communicators
Rematch's ping system is the quickest way to learn what kind of teammates you have. That anime Messi wannabe I described earlier? They're open, even when two people are on them. They will never stop calling for the pass.
Sloclap has given us the tools to be good teammates. Emote options include Good Job, We Got This, and Sorry. Playing goalie is randomly rotated after each score. I apologize every time one gets past me, even if I had three World Cup-level saves before that.
But the worst people in the world will instead use Good Job ironically when someone makes a mistake. As I said, Rematch has given us the tools, it's up to us to use them. When people use the power given to them to set up great plays, uplift each other, and execute great strategy, it's something special.
The Bad, and There is Sadly a Lot of Bad
Sloclap waiting until right before launch to say "Oops, there's no crossplay" is not the way to win hearts and minds. What's more disturbing is that even without crossplay, there has been a lot of lag and serious problems with the game's servers. It's hard to imagine that it improves when our computers and consoles begin speaking to each other.
Again, if there were anything at all to do in this game offline, that would be much less of a problem. Patches appear to have fixed some of the glaring issues, but it's concerning that the game launched with glaring issues. A lot of players in the beta were unsure if Rematch would make its launch date, or if it should attempt to.
Up until the last patch, the fastest way down the field was not sprinting, or the extra effort button, but "dolphin flopping" or combining diving and sprinting. On its own, that might have not been that bad. But combine it with the other issues and it's hard to argue that Rematch wouldn't have benefitted from a little more time cooking.
All that said, the core soccer is fun enough that I'm going to keep trying to learn it. The glitches I encountered over the past week constitute the first time Sloclap has let me down even a little bit.