Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is basically a successor to the original Captain Tsubasa, which was released on last-generation consoles. It features a story centred on the World Youth Arc from the manga while also continuing the story from its predecessor. As the subtitle suggests, this one has a more international flavour to the narrative, with a focus on the U-20 tournament that features national teams from all over the world.
The gameplay centres around a custom character created by the player, who himself has no personality to speak of. Instead, his dialogue and actions are picked by the player. The storyline deals with the events of the manga and features famous sequences from it, including playable matches. This is also true for the main single-player mode, called Story Mode, which is divided into different episodes.
Each episode in the game usually involves a match, after which more content related to the episode is unlocked, such as side events or conversations with characters called Link Stories. There are quite a large number of playable characters, which are all part of the main roster. More teams are unlocked after playing through the Story Mode. What I liked was how this optional content is seemingly integrated with the main narrative under the direction of the original manga creator.
A big issue that I had with the Story Mode was how the cutscenes interrupted the gameplay. While it was cool to see sequences from the manga play out in the game, the frequent interruptions break the flow of the game. Even though this is technically a sequel, one positive aspect here is that, with the introduction of a new character, it can also work as essentially a new game that is suitable for both returning fans and newcomers to the franchise.
While the Story Mode is good and stays true to the roots of the manga, it can also drag on for too long. The pacing is slow, and it takes a considerable amount of time to get to the playable parts of the game. Loading screens are also frequent, even on a PS5 Pro, while the dialogue can tend to become a little too repetitive. The choices made by the player-created custom character unfortunately do not feel like they have any impact on the outcome, so they feel like a mere distraction instead of a meaningful gameplay addition. The main character is also quite bland and lacks any personality to make him stand out, which means that the main cast of the manga is the only one carrying the game and its story.
The gameplay in Captain Tsubasa 2 is fun and an improvement over its predecessor, but it also carries some drawbacks. It is fun to control the players and perform anime-style football moves, such as taking a shot at goal, dribbling, tackling, or passing to other players. However, it eventually reaches a point where the animations play out so many times that everything starts to feel repetitive. The difficulty level of the game can be adjusted, but I settled on the normal difficulty, where the game was just challenging enough to keep me on my toes.
To score a goal, a charging shot is required, which can change into a special shot depending on how far the meter is charged. Each goalkeeper has a health bar for stamina, and after a certain point, they are unable to defend the goal. When it comes to defence, goalkeeping is honestly quite cumbersome and random because it requires quick reflexes to block shots. A short directional menu appears at the bottom of the screen, and players have to guess and pick the direction to defend in a split second.
The game also uses a special move system called Max Actions and Super Moves, which trigger cutscenes and special effects for passing, dribbling, tackling, and scoring a goal. There are also higher-tier moves called Miracle Moves, most of which are tied to scripted story events, while some are related to how players perform certain actions on the field. Every episode usually has some objectives to meet, which can lead to further unlocks.
If we talk about replay value, in addition to the Story Mode, there is a multiplayer mode available as well. It supports VS Battles against the CPU offline and against other players, as well as online battles in a private room with other players. The game also has plenty of unlockables, from movies to music and artwork. Visually, it nails the aesthetics of the anime, but the environments appear drab and bland, while the stadiums look lifeless. This leads to a weird look where the character models shine up close, but the rest of the background does not. Surprisingly, I did not notice any usual image quality issues like aliasing when I played on the PS5 Pro, and the game was quite clean and looked nice.
Overall, Captain Tsubasa 2 feels like an improved sequel to its predecessor that expands on the gameplay mechanics, but it is bogged down by the slow pacing of the story, somewhat lacklustre offline mode support, and a generic online multiplayer mode that only offers private rooms. If you are a fan of the manga, this is a faithful adaptation of it in video game form.
Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters Game Information
- Price: $59.99
- Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Developer: TAMSOFT CORPORATION
- Platform: PS5 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the publisher
