Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters (PS5) Review: Unique Soccer Game Is a Blast

2020’s Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions was one of the coolest anime games in recent memory. Based on the hit soccer anime, it was a (mostly) traditional sports game with lots of anime flair and special moves. Now six years later, Tamsoft and Bandai Namco are back with a sequel titled Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, which sees the gameplay enhanced and is based on the World Youth Arc of the manga.

Fans of EA Sports FC or Konami’s eFootball series of soccer games will feel right at home here. The base gameplay of Captain Tsubasa 2 is a traditional sports game. You’re making tackles to steal the ball, passing to your teammates, and trying to dash around defenders. However, there are a ton of special skills and incredibly stylish super moves that range from powerful shots to incredible dashes and defensive moves. There’s also an added focus on defending, as you’ll have to guess where shots are going to stop goals. It’s a much deeper, yet still satisfyingly easy-to-pick-up sports game.

Once again, a great story mode is included, this time based on the World Youth Arc. You get to create and customize your own character, which is both fun and a helpful plot reason to get you up to speed with the series’ many characters (it features 110 playable ones) that I had forgotten in the past six years. With challenges, plenty of cutscenes, and getting to go up against some fearsome rivals on the pitch, it’s another satisfying cinematic journey as nations clash in the tournament.

It’s a longer, more fulfilling experience than the first game. It’s helped by the side scenarios (including some fun “what if” situations) and link stories, which give you more challenges to do and more background on your teammates. Just like real sports, you gain attachment to the characters, and the matches are more than just two teams going at it, as you are seeing personalities and storylines playing out. Original creator Yoichi Takahashi oversaw the plot, so it never feels like filler and is fun for fans to see.

While the in-depth story mode is the main draw, there are several ways to play World Fighters. There’s an impressively detailed tutorial, which goes over most of the game’s tweaks and additions (like wearing down your opponent’s goalkeeper), and a practice mode where you can hone your game. Once you’re ready to compete, there’s also standard and private online matches, plus offline play against the CPU. Those who get sunk into the competitive play will find a lot to like here, although it’d be nice if there were more in-depth online modes like tournaments and so on.

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters Review: Final Verdict

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is a sequel done right. It builds on the original’s strong foundation, adding content and refining its ideas into an experience that looks and plays better. Tamsoft has put together one of the most unique and fun soccer games ever made, blending the real-life sport with the over-the-top anime it’s based on.