REMATCH (all caps, to stand out in your Steam library) is a third-person soccer game in the same vein as FIFA Street, or Volta Football, as it was later known. Essentially, it's Rocket League without the cars since you're in control of only one player in a massive pitch surrounded by a solid ceiling and walls to ricochet the ball around in an attempt to score a glamorous goal that lights up the arena.
"Rocket League without cars IS just soccer, though".
Yes, I know, and I hear you. However, that really is the easiest way to describe the gameplay in REMATCH, a new game from the developers of martial arts beat-'em-ups, Absolver and Sifu. It officially launches on Thursday, June 19, on PC and Xbox, and yes, it will be available on Game Pass on both platforms.
However, I paid $39.99 (technically £29.99, since I'm British) for three days of advance access to the game on Steam, and I'm seeing a strong theme among its community that I've noticed since the developers at Sloclap launched invite-only beta tests and more open-ended server stress tests that followed.
What's the right price for microtransactions?
To reiterate, REMATCH is not a free-to-play game, much to the chagrin of several community members who repeatedly discussed this topic during the game's beta testing stage in its Steam discussions forum.
The developers at Sloclap manage dedicated servers in Europe, the Middle East, and in the northeast and southeast of Asia, as well as in Australia, South Africa, South America, and across the US, including Central states, plus the East and West coasts.
Servers aren't free, so these kinds of competitive multiplayer games usually opt for a free-to-play with paid microtransactions (MTX) model, or add a price tag to the base game and supplement ongoing costs with a battle pass system supported by paid cosmetics.
REMATCH is the latter, but it uses the same trap that practically every other MTX-filled game has: you need to buy coins to purchase the cosmetics. Naturally, you can't buy the perfect amount of coins to purchase a playable skin of legendary football player Ronaldinho, instead fronting for extra coins that you'll probably feel compelled to spend on other digital wearables.
3.99 for a haircut are you joking?
Blink, REMATCH Steam community
I've already paid for the "Pro Edition" of REMATCH, which earns me a Captain Pass Upgrade Ticket. It's essentially this game's version of a battle pass filled with extra cosmetics that unlock as I play, and I'm rarely the type to be tempted by microtransactions in any game (unless they're really good). Still, I understand the frustrations with systems like this that force gamers to overspend.
Crashes and server lag leads to frustration
Above all, the primary disappointment among early adopters stems from crashes linked to Unreal Engine, which powers the game's underlying code, and the spotty performance of its global servers. REMATCH "Initializing" and "Waiting for game" messages on the splash screen alongside an Easy Anti-Cheat logo are regularly followed by the game's sudden exit on my PC, and I'm certainly not the only one.
The unreal engine crashes from the beta are still here, just a heads up to anyone not playing yet. There is also no rejoin feature for when it does.
Riggs, REMATCH Steam community
It's not all bad, though, and I'm having just as much fun with REMATCH as I did during the beta tests. Thankfully, reviews lay at "mostly positive" on Steam as I'm writing this, and I haven't suffered any seriously upsetting losses due to any mid-game crashes. Nonetheless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that server issues settle down by the time REMATCH hits Game Pass on Thursday, June 19, and subscribers will be as enamoured by this Rocket League-like as I am.
..Maybe I'm just spending too much time in the Steam forums.
