Does watching hours of World Cup football every day leave you feeling hungry for more? Looking to squeeze some extra soccer in between punter analysis, replays and stats-gorging? Or is this World Cup your entry point into the sport, and now you want to learn how it works? Whatever the case, let me introduce you to Football, Tactics and Glory.
This PC soccer game has taken over the part of my life that isn’t already consumed by the World Cup.
Football, Tactics and Glory lacks the glitzy finesse of EA Sports’ FIFA series. It has nothing of the depth and complexity of Sports Interactive’s Football Manager. But despite its retro animations and transparent strategies, I’m completely hooked.
When I first came across this turn-based football game, I thought it sounded goofy. Yet it works, for the exact same reason that turn-based battle games work. Developer Creoteam has simply merged two successful forms of play. It’s a combat game, rolled into a sports game.
Each team has three actions per turn to score a goal, using a grid-based pitch. When the turn ends, the opposition takes over, no matter where the ball ends up. The little football players can run, pass, shoot or protect the ball. The best players have special moves which, when executed correctly against the opposition, earn an extra turn.
Each player also has a set of basic stats, for shooting, passing, defending and controlling the ball. When two or more players go head-to-head (say, a striker shoots against a keeper), their stats are rolled. So a level 70 striker is highly likely to score against a level 30 keeper. But within these caps, the numbers are random. Top-level strikers can, and often do, fluff their lines against lowly opposition.
This is the essential attraction of sports, and especially of soccer. If this year’s astounding World Cup teaches us anything, it’s that football is surprising. It is drama. Football, Tactics and Glory shines because it provides lots of stories, triumphs and disappointments.
This randomness, of course, operates within a structure that allows for strategic planning. Football, Tactics and Glory is a sports management game in which I make tough choices. A promising 20-year-old can be shaped into a formidable 30-year-old. But soon, he will age and retire. The transfer market must always be exploited for good deals, while players who’ve peaked must be sold for maximum advantage.
Formations must be changed, according to the team’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping in mind the opposition’s own formation. Players must be rested, or replaced when they’re injured. Crappy young players must be bloodied in order to raise their stats, either for the future, or for the transfer market.
This ecosystem of players is fed by a rich progression system. Teammates’ stats improve improve, depending on the player’s managerial choices. RPG-like upgrade trees allow for customization, matching a host of individual skills within the greater team.
This is a simple game, but it’s not an easy game. A middling strike force will always struggle against a solid defense, because the forward’s offensive stat might be pitched against multiple defender stats, especially if they have been trained in specific skills. Turns must be sacrificed in order to gain advantageous position, More often than not, these efforts are fruitless.
This is a fair approximation of real professional football, where good teams mostly beat average teams, but with just enough randomness to create shocks. In one extended game, I found myself unable to break free from the third division. That’s how it is for third division clubs.
Building a great team can be a relentless grind. Each promotion to a new division is a major jump in difficulty. The transfer market is gated, so that, when funds are low, only a limited number of options are available. This is clearly an attempt by Creoteam to encourage internal development, but I find it limiting.
That said, various difficulty levels are offered, so if you’re the sort of player who needs an artificial lift, you can take advantage of more generous stats rolls, with numbers starting at 30 percent instead of one percent.
Football, Tactics and Glory has no official license, so the teams are generic versions of the real deal. London Red, for example, has a gun for a logo, while London White has a bird. Teams and strips can also be created from scratch.
Player names verge on the ridiculous. And although their facial features can be completely modified, their individual names can’t be altered, so far as I can tell.
Football, Tactics and Glory is an old-fashioned strategy game that’s pulled me in, demanding that I keep playing and slogging towards in my quest to build a better team. It makes great use of turn-based battle grids to create a convincing simulation of soccer strategies.
The time will come, all too soon, when the World Cup will be over and the Premiership will seem months away. If the dreary prospect of MLS isn’t quite enough to stave off footie starvation this summer, I recommend Football, Tactics and Glory.
