tldr; good content creation base, multiplayer-only at the moment but there's the Discord server for finding people
♥♥♥♥ Soccer is an arcade-styled soccer game that plays more like a platformer than real soccer. You can move around, kick the ball somewhere, and jump - with the ball! This base movement is as simple as it is because most of the gameplay is based on what level you'll be playing. The maps can range from being so tiny whoever gets the ball can score immediately, or being hazardous enough that you'd be struggling more with the level itself than to get the ball.
In other words, the map decides the gameplay!
Speaking of which, many maps are made using the ingame level editor and so I'll be telling about it.
The editor has great potential because you can essentially pick any object - be it a traffic cone, a white box, or an entire school bus! You can rotate these around, make them gigantic objects to be used as a platform, honestly, whatever you can think of. Because the gameplay mechanic is so simple, so is the base to designing a "fun" map.
But how does the editor feel to use?
The controls aren't exactly like Blender, but it does feel pretty organic. You move a cursor around by using WASD, select an object from the top right scrollable list, and left click to place as many objects as you want. And then you can use Q to move the cursor or object vertically, and press Space to rotate/scale objects!
It's an alright system though, since every key that you need to know is always at the bottom of the screen, and there's a bit more that the game tells you if you press the F1 key.
Expect to take 5-10 minutes getting used to the controls.
As I'm writin' this the map editor does have several flaws:
1. You can't copy and paste objects, which means placing a lot of small objects is a pain.
2. You can't test maps very easily - currently the flow is "save map, get my controller from some storage cupboard somewhere since I don't like using it, go to main menu, press A for player 2, to enter, make a match, .... which takes 1 - 2 minutes and distracts from the workflow if we're being honest. I have to actively think how the map would play like in a real game before, and when, I am making it!!
3. Oh, and no autosave when I was last making my map. Like why?????
Finally, it's worth noting the game has SPLITSCREEN, but you need an Xbox-ish controller to use it. I'm a bit dissapinted 2 players using keyboard isn't possible yet to be honest lolol. I understand operating systems can't tell between two serparate keyboards, but one should still be able to map an unique set of keys for each player...
As of 2022-02-03, is the game worth it?
The game is fun to play because of the sheer chaos nature of the levels, and if you don't take the game seriously. Speaking of which there should be a lot more of that "♥♥♥♥ Soccer!!!! Hehahahahahaha!", and there should be a lot more other sounds like when someone gets a ball, jumping, optionally ambient-volume running sounds ...
Thankfully, the developer is very interested in playing with people, and you can find people that might be available on the Discord server (if not, try to schedule a game!)
Hop on Discord voice chat, laugh about everything of the game, good or bad, have a fun lovely time.
