Football Drama is a strategic original inspired by the world of football. Here is our review
Why do people love football? The developers of Open Lab Games have started from this far from obvious question to create Football Drama. Our small reality has tried to focus on the sport most loved by Italians from a diametrically different perspective than the one we are used to experiment with themed titles like PES, FIFA or Football Manager. At the base of the project, born from an idea by Pietro Polsinelli, there is an exploration that in essence goes beyond the football competition itself, with its economic interests, the controversial passions of the curves and the whims of the transfer market. On the contrary, Football Drama draws its origin from a deepening of the literature referring to the world of football, also thanks to the contribution of authors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Umberto Saba and to cinematographic influences such as the Forgotten Mundial (2011) and Prima del Calcio di Rigore (1972 ). All these ideas have therefore served as a springboard for the realization of a particular strategic football background, in which the trend of an entire season can vary based on the choices made by the player inside and outside the field. If the idea teases you, all you have to do is continue with our review of Football Drama to learn more.
A strategic football theme
Seven long years have passed since Mr. Rocco Galliano came out of the scene abruptly. The spotlight on the Marseille coach suddenly went out, the press seems to have quickly forgotten him, but the man still retains a glimmer of hope to get back on top and go back to the old glories. The opportunity comes when Boris Aluminovitch, a wealthy president of Calchester FC, decides to entrust him with his team in search of redemption after a disappointing season. Thus begins a journey along eighteen championship days, during which the protagonist will have to do his best to try to bring his new line-up to the conquest of the Thiefa League championship, possibly trying to keep his name high and not end up with sadness in the list of illustrious exemptions.
In Football Drama you do not physically descend on the playing field to control your players. The management of the game is entrusted to an interface that regulates the progress of the match by pressing simple buttons. During the phases of possession you can decide whether to limit yourself to managing the ball through the "Control" function, waiting for a more favorable opportunity to hit, or if you launch the formation forward by selecting the "Risk" button. Once in the vicinity of the opposing area the two alternatives plan to go to the shooting performing a solo action or to work for team play in an attempt to stow the ball in the net. When, on the other hand, the game is in the hands of the opposing team, it becomes necessary to decide whether to limit oneself to being in marking or to come into conflict with the risk of getting a card, while in the most delicate moments one must choose whether to lean towards passive defense or active defense.
To enrich this rather basic game setting we find a system linked to the management of action cards that can be selected before the start of each match. Each of them basically corresponds to indications given by the same Galliano to his boys to try to unblock the inertia of the match with tricks that can more or less be corrected. Ideas such as the increase in pressing in midfield, the passage of the ball to the most talented of the formation, the tiki-taka and the change of form, but also to simulate non-existent fouls or look for a fight to waste time, just to name a few examples. This range of alternatives varies and extends throughout the season, also due to the fact that by reaping results new opportunities can be activated from the available deck.
Before the meeting it is possible to select the training of one's own training based on some predefined alternatives. This choice will affect the team's state of fitness and propensity in the attack and defense phases, also giving bonuses for values such as Karma and Kaos, which are constantly tracked during the game. When Galliano does not sit on the bench there is also a sketchy system of dialogues with multiple choices which in turn influence the coach's relations with certain key players such as journalists and the club president. In some phases of the season it will also happen to come across disreputable characters who will not be concerned about tempting the coach with easy shortcuts such as doping or corruption of the referees, or purely opportunistic situations such as the kickoscommesse.
Although the concept behind Football Drama seemed interesting to us, the realization on balance shows a series of obvious gaps. The main one is undoubtedly linked to the depth of the game structure: being a strategic title we would have expected a greater depth with regard to the range of indications and strategies imparted to our team. On the contrary, the system of choices proposed by the game was poor in variations despite the presence of the action cards and winning the games seemed too easy. Taking into account the narrative context and the weight that the choices should have on the narrative progression, it would also have been possible to expect a better variety of dialogues, which instead appear to be particularly repetitive, especially when interfacing with journalists in the post game or with the patron of the Calchester. Also the management of the commentary is slightly in focus, characterized by superfluous and very repetitive comments that unnecessarily break the rhythm of the game.
