Game, set and match

Some ideas work because they are simple. It's not for nothing that the most successful business cases (ui, fancy words) can be put on a napkin or be presented during an elevator ride, the so-called elevator pitch. Looking things up on the internet: Google. An online games database with regular discounts: Steam. Be so left that you come out right: Sahra Wagenknecht.

It is also possible to take existing ideas and expand on them. In the case of Rocket League the simple and ingenious idea at the time was: soccer with cars. What worked on the German show TV Total also worked brilliantly on the PC, so much so that the game is still very popular today. And then, of course, you can also simplify ideas. This is what happened with Rematch. The developers of Sloclap probably took the aforementioned Rocket League as a template and scrapped the cars. So basically soccer?

Not quite. Instead of realism, the martial arts masters, who have already proven their penchant for duels in Absolver and Sifu have opted for arcade football pitch action. In the 3vs3 and 5vs5 matches with a fly goalie, there is more of a Mario Smash Football feel than that of top dog Fifa . And the use of skills such as sliding, feinting and sprinting even adds a pinch of tactics. As an outsider, I cannot judge whether the genre mix has achieved its goal or failed scoring, but the mixed reviews suggest mediocre gaming fun.

The original soundtrack (OST) by Frenchman Rémi Gallego, also known under the pseudonym The Algorithm, is suitably small in scale. However, should Rematch be granted a similar future to its genre cousin, the following seasons will presumably deliver even more (musical) content, but for now we'll have to make do with a total of ten tracks. All of them are in the techno/electro vein and convey a seriousness that doesn't quite match the comparative lightness of the corresponding game.

By contrast, tracks such as Road to Victory or Desert give the impression of being related to Call of Duty or the Forza Motorsport series with their driving beats and dramatic horns. Flower Field, meanwhile, takes a turn towards Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Furi. The pressure seems to be on, pushing us forward. Perfect for fast action, impressive scenes and at the same time miles away from the relaxed attitude of Rocket League. But well, the comparison is probably unfair. The score works and is as repetitive as it is modular due to the similar structure (slow start, followed by full throttle from the halfway point). However, it lacks its own identity, the big idea.