We always love when a game is listed as "co-op" on the digital store. Sometimes, however, games with the co-op tag end up not actually having cooperative multiplayer. This can happen when the game's developer or publisher mistakenly considers all multiplayer to be co-op, or when they consider team-based competitive multiplayer to be co-op. When that happens, we'll say the game is Not So Co-op.
REMATCH is a freshly launched arcade-style soccer/football game on consoles and Steam from Soclap and Kepler Interactive. It features a striking visual style and uniquely streamlined gameplay. In the game, two teams of three, four, or five players face off in a soccer match. Each gamer controls only a single player, so there's a focus on working with your team to succeed rather than doing everything yourself.
On top of the colorful and slightly cartoony visuals, REMATCH looks so good because of the camera perspective. The camera follows slightly above and behind your player, much like in a third-person shooter. This shows off plenty of visual details and keeps players closer to the action than traditional soccer game camera angles. Players can even aim their shots with a crosshair, though it's not the only way to fire a shot. Oh, and goalies can run out and play with everyone else on the field if they're feeling ambitious.
Quick Match and Ranked Match are the two main game modes, both of which match the player or party into a team that will face off against another team of human players. There is a custom game option, and it does allow everyone in the room to join one side and start a game. However, there are no AI players, so in that situation, the team will just be playing without no opposing team at all. If there was only a way to add CPU players, we'd have some co-op. Another feature on my wish list: the option of displaying the controls on the screen during gameplay, maybe in the corner or somewhere.
Although REMATCH's Xbox and Steam pages list it as having online co-op, the game is not so co-op at launch. That said, the developer does have several improvements in the works. One of those is crossplay, but there's also this:
Casual play features: besides new quick play game modes, and a rotating game mode queue, we will be working on implementing AI-controlled bots so that players are able to train with and against AIs, in workshops or in dedicated game modes.
Hey, dedicated game modes against AIs would qualify as co-op! Despite co-op and cross-play not being available at present, REMATCH is still an impressive arcade sports game. With continuous updates and care, this game should have some real staying power.
REMATCH costs $29.99 on Xbox Series/Windows, PlayStation 5, and Steam.
A Steam code was provided by the publisher for this article.