The presentation of the new football simulation UFL ended with a bang last night. Developer Strikerz Inc. introduced a new ambassador in addition to some game content: CR7.
Last night it was time: Strikerz Inc. dropped the curtain. Announced as a gameplay trailer, the event turned out to be the introduction of a new brand ambassador. And that is none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.
This is mainly a finger pointing at the competition, as the Manchester United player had a bone to pick with FIFA developer EA. “In order to show a wider range of football” – with this justification given by the company to kicker eSport, the Portuguese had to give way on the cover. After just twelve months.
Now CR7 joined the supposedly strongest FIFA competitor. What this means for the EA football simulation remains to be seen. As for UFL, the new UFL ambassador already had clear words at his introduction:
“I am delighted to announce my partnership with UFL. It is truly a revolutionary project in the football video game genre. UFL aims to provide a competitive and fair gaming experience for every gamer. “
What this gaming experience will look like was shown in a short one player. But could it leave as lasting an impression as the CR7 story?
Mix of FIFA and PES/eFootball?
UFL will feature a standard FIFA-style kick-off mode where players can compete in 1vs1, 2vs2 or 3vs3 – off- and online. On top of that, there will be “special events, missions, challenges and more” in the game.
So far, so unspectacular. However, the so-called “Flagship Mode”, the heart of UFL, sounds a little more interesting. In this online league, players can build up their own club by signing players and managers and continuously advancing in the various divisions.
Never change a winning team – possible in UFL?
While the description is similar to competing products such as MyClub from PES/eFootball or Ultimate Team from FIFA. However, there is an interesting twist: UFL will not have annual “resets”. At the end of a season, the best UFL player will be crowned champion and keep this trophy. After that, it will go on to the next season.
This idea actually sounds promising. Instead of forcing players to build a new team every year, hobby managers in UFL will, theoretically, be able to compete with the same club for years.
However, the structure has not yet become completely conclusive, especially as far as the clubs are concerned. Will there only be the previously announced cooperation partners in the game, such as Borussia Mönchengladbach, Sporting Lisbon or the traditional Glasgow clubs? Will there also be other clubs – but unlicensed? These questions remain unanswered.
Minimal glimpse of the actual gameplay
While there are some nice ideas in the design of the modes and the competition shows that different ways of playing can be fun and work. But what about the action on the pitch? At the end of the presentation, a short gameplay trailer was shown, but it couldn’t deliver a lasting impression.
The glimpse consists mainly of staged cutscenes and quickly edited scenes. There was little real gameplay to see. However, the game doesn’t look bad at first glance, even if you shouldn’t expect any graphic hits.
Fair and free-to-play – release date still unclear
Some animations, especially on completions, still look bumpy. Otherwise, the gameplay reveal wasn’t a disappointment, even if there wasn’t too strong an impression left otherwise. How good and entertaining the gameplay really is will only be decided with the controller in hand anyway. For a free product, however, UFL seems quite decent up to this point.
For example, everyone will be able to try out the game for themselves at no extra charge, and “fair-to-play” is the focus of the campaign. In addition, “new features and updates will be introduced regularly, without mandatory payments or annual fees”. Exactly what microtransactions or funding in general will look like, however, has been kept completely under wraps.
There is still no exact release date. However, UFL is scheduled for release later this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S.