There’s an previous concept that second efforts typically aren’t pretty much as good as the primary. It’s known as the sophomore stoop, and there are a dozen causes for it. Sophomore college students do not care as a lot as freshmen; bands have much less time to write down, observe, and report a second album than the “breakout” hit they labored on for years earlier than anybody knew who they have been; athletes who’ve distinctive rookie years regress to the imply; and so forth. There’s no denying the facility of recent automobile scent. I feel a part of the explanation School Soccer 25 popped off as arduous because it did (and belief me if you happen to’re not sure: it popped off) was it’d been greater than a decade since NCAA 14 and folks actually, actually wished a brand new sport based mostly on school soccer. It didn’t harm that it was additionally a superb sport, however the yearly “it’s the identical sport as final yr” fatigue of the sports activities style hadn’t set in but. That makes School Soccer 26 the actual check.
I’ll be sincere, reader: I haven’t had a ton of time with this sequel but (I have been busy ending up my assessment of Mecha Break, which I assumed was fairly nice), so these impressions are going to be fairly mild. One of many issues I’m thinking about as I play extra is how this automobile handles after we’ve put some miles on her, and if it falls into the identical stoop so many video games, bands, and college students have hit earlier than it. However whereas that continues to be to be seen, I’m having a reasonably good time to this point.
A part of that’s School Soccer 26 is constructed on a extremely agency basis. School Soccer 25 was a superb sport, and it nonetheless has that infectious spirit and sense of custom that made it a pleasant change of tempo from the extra straight-laced Madden. From what I’ve seen, School Soccer 26 builds on that in good methods. One of many issues I’m appreciating most is the Trophy Room, which tracks the actual world trophies you’ll accumulate throughout your whole profession, it doesn’t matter what mode you’re in. It’s cool to see stuff just like the Heisman Trophy, the Unitas Golden Arm Award, and the Orange Bowl Trophy collected in a single place, and have the ability to find out about them, too. There’s plenty of historical past to varsity soccer, and I recognize that EA has tried to seize that.
To date, most of my time has been spent sneaking Fast Play video games in the place I can, so I haven’t actually dug into School Soccer’s main modes an excessive amount of but (one thing I plan to treatment this weekend), however I’ve seen some on-the-field stuff that makes me pleased.
The little change I’m happiest about is to how defenders play the soccer when it’s within the air. In the event you’ve performed School Soccer or Madden in the previous couple of years, you’ve in all probability been intercepted (or had one in every of your defenders intercept) a go that they’ll’t see with out turning round. They’ve basically received eyes at the back of their heads, and it might be very irritating. EA has stated they’ve modified that, and in my testing, it’s confirmed true. Now a defender has to see the ball to select it off, and also you’ll discover defenders turning their heads (or not) earlier than the ball arrives. In the event that they don’t, nonetheless, it doesn’t imply that defender can’t make a play on the ball. They’ll nonetheless swat it. It’s a superb change as a result of it’s two-fold: you now even have a motive to swat the ball down as an alternative of going for the decide each time, and higher defenders can now make performs common ones can’t.
I’m additionally a giant fan of dynamic subs and customized zones for defenders. The previous permits you to swap gamers on the sphere and never simply on the playcall display screen (thank God), although you’ll have to attend a play for the substitution to take impact, and the latter is the defensive model of final yr’s customized stems for routes on offense. I benefit from the defensive sport greater than the offensive one, so having the ability to set the place I would like my zones to be on the sphere in real-time and never in a menu is welcome. I’m having fun with enjoying round with these things, and I think about I’ll be utilizing it fairly a bit.
Now that I’ve the time to essentially dig into School Soccer 26, I’m excited to see all the brand new additions to Highway to Glory, the place I’m actually wanting ahead to having the ability to play my highschool profession, in addition to all the brand new bells and whistles in Dynasty, which is the place I think about I’ll be spending most of my time. However the on-field stuff is the place it counts. I can’t say but if EA has averted the sophomore stoop with School Soccer 26, however I’m going into this yr optimistic, and that’s not nothing.
