Sports manager games are quite a niche sub-genre, they’re designed almost exclusively with the devout fans in mind (because who else would be interested?) and fairly rigorously adhere to simulation and complication because, well, managing a sports team is a complicated business. It’s quite a surprise then that Nintendo have decided to release a digital title for their 3DS platform with Nintendo Pocket Club Football. Nintendo, by reputation, are about as far away from realism as a games company can get and their history in sports games goes as far as Mario being shoe-horned into any sport possible and the Wii Fit/Sports add-ons. The idea of them releasing a football manager game that doesn’t feature Mario is somewhat mind-boggling but also struck me with a level of curiosity that, obviously, caused me to check it out. What unfolded was not an experience I expected, but still one that left me feeling entertained, even if it was an odd form of entertainment.
Upon turning on the game for the first time, you’d expect to choose your team and be given your position within a league and told to win everything. You do have to win everything, that’s the ‘story’ as it were, but you don’t ‘select’ your team, really. In order to avoid the frivolities involved in licensing teams, something I’d imagine Nintendo wanted to avoid like the plague, or making up a load themselves, the game makes you choose your own region and create your team. The world map is broken into tiny squares and you select your little four-squared plot and then go about naming the team and creating the logo and kits. It’s actually quite refreshing to play a sports game where it’s mandatory to start from scratch with your own creation – gives a greater credence to you wanting to succeed and be the very best, like no-one ever was.
Once you’re all settled in with your team name and create your kits and logos (mine were the SmegHeads, in case you were wondering) you get straight down to business with learning the ropes of how to manage the team and take care of the players. From here, the experience gets a little odd altogether; the popping up of helpful staffers, who consistently provide help for around the first two hours or so, is regular and very much needed as it becomes exceedingly obvious this is not a regular sports title.
Just imagine, for a second, right, you were a manager at the side of the pitch watching your team play. You’re watching them perform and making constant calculations on who should go where and what should be happening. You’re screaming at the top of your lungs for a particular player to pick up the slack as he starts to drift off position and you’re taking note of another mid-fielder you’ve put in the slightly wrong position as the seconds count down. There is approximately none of that in Nintendo Pocket Club Football. You are completely powerless as the match plays on in front of you, bar the option to substitute players from your bench should any of your roster get tired and amend certain limited tactical choices at half-time. Instead, your Mii pops up regularly through the match whenever any of your players screw up and points out what area they’ve screwed up and gives you a card for training. These cards aren’t just a list of what needs to be changed, oh no, they are the MEANS of making the change.
That’s right, this football manager game contains a CCG element. These cards aren’t just your standard kicking, sliding and defending either – stuff like karaoke, judo and oil therapy make appearances to boost your boys stats and help them be the best they can be. Nintendo have always had a somewhat subtle, strange sense of humor and it shows in how Club Football presents itself. Not only is there the CCG element in the training, but when you’re watching the matches unfold – which is always mandatory, by the way – the players have a cartoony look to them more akin to small toy figures that creates an air of surreality to the action that will either prove charming or irksome, depending on your humor. Outside of the matches and training, the game features a very regular, familiar set of options with transfers, injuries and your league standing to be looked at and dealt with. These provide a backbone that keep the game coherent and remind you that you are still, in fact, playing a football game.
Nintendo Pocket Club Football is a fun game, it’s just a strange sort of fun. Genuinely, it feels more like a game someone made after being described football and having only table football to go by as a reference point. The lack of control in matches is a little draining at times, but the delivery is quirky and without even noticing it you’re invested in your self-created team. I sank about 6 hours in before I found myself thinking about how to improve my team while doing mundane day-to-day tasks; now, almost 20 hours in, I’m not sure I can stop. Nintendo have an age-proven knack for making fun, distinctive titles, and this is no different.
[easyreview title=”The Arcade Verdict” cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”Cartoony and light-hearted, functional but could have had some more detail” cat1rating=”7 out of 10″ ]
