| Our Score | 1/10 – Terrible |
| The Good | … |
| The Bad | The controls, the gameplay, the graphics, the lack of content – basically everything. |
| Release Date | July 14th, 2022 |
| Developed By | KW-SFF |
| Available On | PC via Steam |
| Reviewed On | PC |
Serious Fun Football is neither serious nor fun, and I’d argue that it’s barely football, too. It is, in a word, awful. And that’s putting it kindly.
Taking the beautiful game and shrinking it down to 4-a-side (three outfield players and one keeper to a team) isn’t the worst idea. We’ve seen FIFA Street do it and do it well – and I mean real FIFA Street, not that kack in the latest FIFA games. But most other games, and I’m looking at Street Power Soccer here, too, do it very poorly. Without the budget, licenses, technology, and know-how, pulling off a half-decent footy game is seemingly nigh on impossible.
It should be noted that Serious Fun Football is an Early Access game that has been on Steam since the summer of 2022. So the shambles I’ve played here in November 2022, is actually not the worst version of the game. Prior to the “revolution” update – no, really, that’s what the developers called it – the game had cardboard cutouts to stand in as keepers. Now the nets are manned by actual players, though they seem to be missing brains. The AI in general is ridiculous, and I watched more mishaps in one game than Harry Maguire has managed so far this season. To be fair, he has been riding the bench a lot, and we still have the World Cup ahead of us, but still…
Rubbish isn’t the word, but our content guidelines won’t let me say the word.
Oh, and the game is missing most game modes – the Career Mode is not yet available, though I can’t say I would have stuck through an entire season anyway. Still, poor value for money.
And then we have the controls, which are also awful and actually broken. During one game – I’ll be honest, I played three matches in total, so let’s say for a third of my time with the game – the controls just gave up. They started fine, but through the course of the match, my sticks started behaving strangely. Moving the stick forward moved my player to the right. Moving my stick to the right moved my man backward, and so on. It was funny at first, but then I remembered this game is selling for actual money, which is not so funny.
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When the controls actually worked, I still struggled to have anything resembling fun. Movement is clunky and stuck in the days of FIFA 96 – directional movement that belongs on a SEGA Megadrive gamepad rather than the analog sticks of an Xbox controller. It was tedious to play, and when I actually got the ball, I never felt like I was partaking in a facsimile of the sport, but instead playing a game of a run from one end of a small fenced pitch to another and kick the ball and hope it goes somewhere near the net. Mind you, whenever the ball did go toward goal, it almost always went in. The keepers are rubbish and will dive when their own players are hoofing the ball in the opposite direction. Rubbish isn’t the word, but our content guidelines won’t let me say the word. You know which word. Hint: It’s not bird. Bird is not the word.
You know what – writing that awfully crap Family Guy reference in this review was the highlight of the game. That should tell you everything, but I will cap it off with a clear, concise warning: Stay away from Serious Fun Football. Seriously, it’s not fun, and it’s certainly not football.
