Soccer video games are a sub-genre of sports video games. The largest association football video game franchise is FIFA by Electronic Arts (EA), with the second largest franchise being Konami's competing eFootball (formerly known as Pro Evolution Soccer or Winning Eleven).
However, the latter is not on PC. In this article Gurugamer is going to showcase the top 5 football games to play on PC in 2022.
1. FIFA 22
I honestly think this is the best FIFA for about 3/4 years. The gameplay is slightly slower than last year and player movements aren't as erratic giving the game a little bit more of a realistic feel. Goalkeepers are actually making saves that they should be and making a string of saves in a row. People complaining about goalkeepers are OP but I find it makes the game more interesting and if you're playing Premier League football, you expect a keeper to save a fair amount of shots and not concede 4/5 goals every game which is a problem I detested in FIFA 21.
I've also noticed that passing has a more realistic note to it. Rather than have every pass going to the target there's more of a highlight towards the players' attributes as well, for example in FIFA 21, you could pretty much long ball with any player with any long ball stat and hit your target 8 times out of 10 whereas now the long ball attribute will play a big part in just how often and how accurate the pass will be.
Defending has definitely improved, tackles are more realistically executed and also players throwing themselves in front of shots is also a lot more common which is something that was lacking in FIFA 21. Impulsive interceptions are more common rather than letting the ball roll past a yard ahead of the player they actually actively try and sometimes succeed in intercepting. The create a club mode is a nice touch, reminds me of PES, and it's something that I've always wanted to be put into a FIFA game and I've finally got my wish.
2. Football, Tactics & Glory
Ridiculously addictive "one-more-turn" matches of strategically explosive bite-sized tactics scenarios, all in the form of the exciting and exhilarating hype of a stadium soccer career. I'm definitely not a huge soccer fan and this is not a game I ever saw myself being sucked into, but thanks to a concretely solid system of accessible and easy-to-execute commands on the field and an incredibly addictive management loop to deliberate on between matches Football, Tactics, and Glory was not an easy sports game to put down.
The absolute unpredictability of a real sports match is present here in full force, with random chance factors playing into the outcome of each decision. Of course, these factors aren't totally random, with a bit of help from the base stats of your individual players having a big role in the general strength and weaknesses of your team. It's definitely important to pick the right man for the job, and strongly consider each of your members for their most worthy position on the field making the management aspect between matches an important and addictive decision-making process.
The real pleasure in Football, Tactics, and Glory is how smooth and quick it gets you into the actual action. No long-winded animations, no complex series of inputs for simple moves like a lot of other bogged-down strategy games, just the core action of inputting your movements and carefully deliberating on where to place your shots and your body blocks. This is the core of soccer/football distilled into the careful routine of planning and acting out the tactical steps that lead you to victory, and it just feels really good.
3. Football Manager 2023
Football Manager had undergone some notable changes in 2021, and was well-received by users. This new title “Football Manager 2023” can also be seen as an extension of that trend. For example, the evolution of the graphics and physics engines, improvement of detail in animation and directing such as dribbling, an intuitive UI, the subdivision of the scoreboard, rework of quick judgments and time shortening of VAR, the refinement of AI difficulty, etc. Considering these points, this game deserves to be called the “time stone” of this era that truly takes away the time of football enthusiasts.
If you are not interested in football (soccer), this game will have a rather high barrier to entry. However, once you get through the tutorial, you'll get more and more familiar with the game. This game is well known for being particularly addictive. If you're new to the game, it can be a good way to understand and learn the game if you're a little involved in the game's progress. It’s also advised to try to deal with only the main parts of the game. For the rest of the details, proceed as recommended by the staff or just set out to complete the task you want to do. The customizable editor elements provided by Football Manager are the best features and strengths of this series. You can create endless challenges in this game, and it allows you to create matches in any way you want.
Football Manager 2023 is still a great football simulation management game. Honestly, of all the games in this particular genre, there are few things better than Football Manager. Of course, it is not without its drawbacks. However, the interesting gameplay counteracts these drawbacks well. If you have the time and patience, it's always good to try a new title. If the price is a bit too much for you, it might be a good idea to try the 2021 version, which often has a big discount and is very similar to the mechanics of the latest series.
4. Rocket League
Rocket League is less of a "sports game" and more of an actual sport. In FIFA or Madden you have a "pass" button, but to make a pass in Rocket League you have to drive your car into the ball at the right speed and angle to send it over to where your teammate is going. You have to create the pass yourself, and it can be anything, from a hard bounce off the back wall to a soft lob over the defender.
Passing, shooting, dribbling, tackles, jukes, they're all in the game, but you have to make them happen yourself, not just press the right button. At first, just driving the car to the ball is a challenge, but as your skill grows, the freedom to create any play you can imagine and execute is unlike anything you'll find in a "sports game". Together with the mechanical skill to do what you want with the ball, you'll have to develop positional awareness and learn proper rotation and game sense.
There are very few games that are consistently rewarding for hundreds or thousands of hours, that can keep challenging you as you improve, and improve, and improve beyond what you ever imagined you'd be capable of. In fact, this is the ONLY one I know.
5. Captain Tsubasa - Rise of New Champions
It's a love letter to all the Captain Tsubasa fans out there. The gameplay is fun and has very high replayability and a ton of things to do. Remember this is not a football simulator like FIFA or PES, it's an arcade with legit blood-pumping gameplay so don't expect hundreds of teams.
I spent so much time creating new characters and trying different builds and team comps, if you are a fan of Captain Tsubasa and Soccer anime I can't recommend this enough. Story mode is amazing, you get cut scenes and special events from the manga if you were able to perform specific tasks during the match, and oooh boy how satisfying it is and how beautiful they look
The graphics of the game are pretty nice and the background is colorful and full, with no empty spaces. You are rewarded the more you play the game, not just you get better since getting the timing is important to build that muscle memory, also tons of collectible items and characters. The characters actually feel different from each other so building teams is a lot of fun.
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