Today, Ubisoft announced Pure Futbol, an entirely new sports brand that is being developed by Ubisoft Vancouver. The game will be available worldwide in May 2010.
Pure Futbol is a new and unique vision of soccer video games, emphasizing the intense, physical and spectacular aspects of the sport. The over-the-shoulder camera and visceral audio dynamically react to the context of the match, placing the gamer in the heart of the five-a-side soccer action, as opposed to the feeling of watching a TV broadcast.
Pure Football is a disappointing attempt at an arcade football game, with its main downfall being the frustrating and repetitive gameplay. The campaign may be nicely structured and even quite addictive despite the slog of the gameplay, but even if you can overlook this basic flaw, the lack of game modes, including Tournaments and Cups, is a real problem. There's some potential in the "no rules" premise of the game, and it can be fun in short bursts, but a complete lack of depth means that Pure Football is far from entering the premier league of football games.
Pure Futbol is Ubisoft's attempt to put together a faster paced, arcade style soccer experience. Despite the "Authentic Soccer" label that Ubisoft placed on the game, Pure Futbol is more akin to Nintendo's Super Mario Strikers series than EA's FIFA series. It seems like a good idea to incorporate real life players with a more arcade style of gameplay, unfortunately the execution here is not quite up to snuff for a variety of reasons.
Ian Fisher writes: Pure Futbol is a game that will make soccer/football fans shake their heads in dismay. The game isn’t an unplayable mess but it’s far from providing us with a rich and entertaining experience. Hardcore soccer games should do themselves a favor and stay away from Pure Futbol as it isn’t the arcade soccer game we’ve been waiting for.
