Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is legitimately the best arcade sports title to come out since Rocket League.

Excitingly fresh, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of Champions captures a fun arcade and anime-style, and prioritises a zany, wacky experience. There are a couple of performance issues that could have been improved before release, but nonetheless, these can be overlooked since the core-gameplay mechanics are fun and rewarding to master. If there was ever a time to try out a new football game, then this is it.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is an excellent anime adaptation. It has vibrant matches and a story mode that will make us revive some of the most fantastics moments of the series. Furthermore, it allows the player to drive its favorite characters. Its simple gameplay and its reduced difficulty may lead us to win almost every match without mayor effort and after a few hours it may be boring.

As a traditional football game, Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions falls flat in many ways. As its own unique interpretation of the sport, though, there's something oddly compelling about the way it gives each goalie an energy bar as if it were some sort of ball-based fighting game (Street Striker II, if you will). Play it with an open mind and as long as you're not against a game that tries something different – as well as plenty of cutscenes – you'll have fun with this one. If you're a fan of the wider Captain Tsubasa franchise, then you're going to love it even more.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions takes arcade football and puts a new spin on it, resulting in fun, frantic and frustrating gameplay. When the final whistle blows though, that marvellous manga magic makes it easier to forgive its shortcomings.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions creates a fun and unique twist on a well-grounded genre. While it can often suffer from an identity crisis on exactly what gameplay style it’s trying to achieve, there’s still a whole lot to love once the dust finally settles. Those who fancy some over-the-top otaku action with their half time oranges will revel in the combustion of far-fetched fantasy football. As for the soccer purist? You’re maybe best off just sticking with FIFA.

An over-the-top arcade football title that’s more frustrating and complicated than it ought to be. While it’s clearly faithful to its source material, that’s unlikely to convert newcomers to Captain Tsubasa.