Five A Side Football 2023 4+

Good Concept - Many basic improvements needed

I don’t often write reviews, but this game deserves one. It is a great concept, but needs some significant tweaks to improve playability. Please take this as constructive criticism, because I truly believe there is an excellent game in this shell that could fill a huge void in the market if done well.

1. Transfers.
A) Why force someone to sell each time they buy? Give us a squad limit. If we’re at the limit, yes we have to sell before we can buy. This can be accomplished easily, set a squad size parameter and split the current transfer button into Buy & Sell.
B) Give us credit for our sales. I sell a $5M player and buy a $10M player but my funds are reduced by $10M?
C) Show stamina and form so I know what I’m buying. Does not help to buy a superstar and they are absolutely exhausted halfway through a game every time.

2. Players.
A) They really need a stamina stat. I need to know if they are fully fit, they can last a game and recover quickly.
B) They really need a form/performance stat. I’m NOT asking for a detailed analysis of shots, passes, tackles, etc. just a single digit from 1 to 10 showing how each player performed. The form could be a simple (weighted is better) average of the last 5 games performance score.
C) Their performance in a game needs to somewhat reflect their abilities. Currently it feels like every team has the exact same chance of winning no matter how strong or weak each team is.

3. The Match - currently very unsatisfactory.
A) Please enable switching to landscape mode. It will give you more real estate to work with.
B) The field display needs to be much bigger. Currently there are only about 4-5 possible positions that a player can occupy during a match. It needs to be much much more and not as jerky. Players need to move from position to position rather than appear at next position, wait half a second, then appear at next position. Very repetitive to watch.
C) The players need to make different choices. One game I saw my GK pass to defender A who passed across goal to defender B who lost the ball. The opponents shot and GK saved. This EXACT SAME sequence was repeated 6 times until the opponents scored (a much weaker team against my super strong team) and the game was lost.
D) There has to be at least a few more “tactical” choices than just attack and defend. At a minimum wide/narrow, High/low tempo and aggressive/passive. These buttons should be visible during game and can be changed during play.
E) Performance Stat. Please! Even just one number! I need to know who is letting the team down. If you’re using landscape view, the player names can easily appear along the side of the field with their fitness and form.
F) player “Dots” need to be identified. Instead of A or D , use a player number so I can see that Alan Shearer is not shooting as often as he should.

Overall, I love the concept! Please consider making teams from 1975, 1995, 2005, 2015. Good effort!