I think it’s safe to say that the revival of Inazuma Eleven games has been a success with Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. Now, Inazuma Eleven: Cross hopes to capitalize on this newfound popularity and deliver another exhilarating game, this time for mobile players. Inazuma Eleven: Cross is the newest (unreleased) iteration in the Inazuma Eleven series, developed by Level 5 and Aiming.
However, if they really want to capitalise on the fanfare from Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, the game will need to meet certain expectations. As with mobile games, we don’t expect the same level of graphics or gameplay, but things like the UI and story should be upto the mark. With the game just recently being announced in mid-January, it’s hard to say what shape it’ll take. But here’s everything we want from Inazuma Eleven: Cross.
What We Want From Inazuma Eleven: Cross
Operation Sports App
Your ultimate companion for sports gaming. Access in-depth coverage, thoughtful discussion, and a community built around the games—and sports—you love.
Your ultimate sports gaming companion.
Pricing & Monetization
Pricing is the biggest factor that can make or break a game. Especially since it is a mobile game, fans expect it to be free on the App Store. With the rise of monetization in video games, anything else might steer fans away from this upcoming mobile adventure.
The next part is monetization. We know, without a doubt, that microtransactions will be present in the game. But what will spending some cash get you? Players often complain that microtransactions just aren’t worth it in some games. No one wants to spend money on buying a plain T-shirt in multiple shades. If players decide to spend in the game, they should receive fair compensation. And in a game as diverse as Inazuma Eleven, there’s definitely a lot to play around with.
Team Building And Strategy
The fact that Inazuma Eleven: Cross is a mobile game doesn’t excuse it from having substantial team-building and synergy mechanics. Its console counterpart is considered one of the most complex arcade games today due to its various archetypes and player synergies. While not as many, fans expect Inazuma Eleven: Cross to have some semblance of strategy going into team building.
This is also something which isn’t that hard to factor into a mobile game. Characters might not have as many skills and traits as the console version, but I definitely hope to see a vast catalogue of characters, each bringing something unique to the table.
Meaningful Story Content
Single-player story modes are the backbone of video games today. A game without a captivating story can seem dull quite quickly. We don’t know much about what path the story will take, just that it will be centred around a player-controlled coach aptly named Protagonist. Since players will act as the coach, we can assume that a lot of the game will be centred around managerial decisions vs field gameplay.
But simply having a story is not enough. Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road led players on a thrilling adventure with a plethora of fresh faces. The story worked quite well in tying all those characters together, so none seemed out of place. Now, whether Inazuma Eleven: Cross will be able to follow suit remains to be seen.
Unique Gameplay
If you’ve played Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, you’ll know the gameplay was unique compared to standard soccer games. That’s exactly what the community would like to see from this edition as well. Mechanics like Focus, Zone, or Scramble allowed the game to stand out and build its own identity. And players would like to see at least some of them implemented in the mobile version as well.
Now, we already know the game is centred around a coach, so the amount of on-field player autonomy is up in the air for now. Things become a bit more complicated considering that mobile games are built for smaller screens as well as touch controls rather than controllers. Will Level 5 and Aiming be able to smoothly translate those mechanics into this game? We’ll just have to wait and find out once we know more.
Accessibility Over Everything
I’ve talked extensively about the game and drawn numerous comparisons to what we want to see compared to Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. But what about platform-related requests? The biggest issue developers have while developing mobile versions is accessibility. They either make the games too simple, leading to the game losing its essence, or the game becomes too difficult to manoeuvre on the phone, dissuading players from grinding it.
So here’s what we really want to see from Inazuma Eleven: Cross. The game should run smoothly on a variety of smartphones without lagging (games tailored towards the latest generation will have an extremely limited playerbase). Touch controls shouldn’t feel clunky or out of place, especially during matches. If they do decide to add additional mechanics, it should not be at the cost of comfort. And the UI should allow for maximum accessibility, leading me to my final point.
UI Clarity & Long-Term Engagement
No game is complete without a proper UI, one that is easy to understand and gives you the highest functionality. Especially for mobile games, where you don’t have much screen space to work with, UI clarity is paramount. I’m hoping that Level 5 and Aiming will be able to translate Victory Road’s interesting UI in Cross without too many drawbacks.
Long-term engagement is also something fans are looking forward to. Launching the game on mobile will greatly increase the playerbase, so long as there is enough content to keep players engaged. Regular updates, bug fixes, and new events and features are something the developers will have to keep an eye on if they wish to retain their playerbase.
