"Copa City" on trial: Between fan march and misplanning
"Copa City" turns not the team, but the entire match day into a management problem. The unusual perspective is initially convincing, but is hampered by cumbersome controls, shallow systems, and quickly recurring processes.
Two days until kick-off. Nothing has happened on the pitch yet, but the evening already feels like work. The first fans are gathering in the city center, and bottlenecks are forming in front of the stadium. One fan zone is more crowded than expected, there's a lack of catering elsewhere, and somewhere between the train station, city center, and stadium, my planning threatens to fall apart.
Normally, in football and manager sims, I decide on pressing height, wing play, or the next transfer. In "Copa City," it's about whether the fans arrive on time, have enough to eat, and don't get in each other's way.
This idea is the game's great strength. "Copa City" isn't interested in goals, tactics, or sporting drama, but in what classic football games omit: arrival, security, fan areas, catering, media, stadium logistics, and public mood. It's a football game about everything that has to happen before the ball rolls.
The game before the game
This change of perspective is one of the freshest ideas the football genre has produced in years. But it doesn't always go as far as it should. "Copa City" conceives of match day as an urban state of emergency, but too often translates it into tame management routines. Where chaos, atmosphere, and crowd dynamics could arise, the game lacks the friction that should actually emerge from this initial situation.
Thus, "Copa City" remains a clever and unusual management game, but also one that seems more exciting in theory than it actually is.
The city becomes the playing field
My most important tool is not a tactics board, but the city map. There I buy areas, set up fan zones, and distribute catering, entertainment, and security. At the same time, I have to make sure that the routes between the train station, city center, and stadium work.
Planning doesn't end outside the arena. Entrances, supply areas, and fan blocks must also be sensibly organized around and within the stadium. Rival groups should ideally not meet. Families need different offerings than ultras, and excessively long routes or overcrowded areas dampen the mood.
"Copa City" is strongest when this interaction visibly works. Then thousands of fans stream through the city, stay in the designated areas, and reach their seats on time. For a moment, there is actually the impression of a carefully organized match day.
However, the system usually remains simpler than it initially appears. I solve many problems by placing another module or increasing a value. If there's a lack of catering, I build a food stall. If there's a lack of entertainment, I set up the appropriate attraction. The three different fan groups (family, ultra, and core) change my planning, but rarely fundamentally.
This makes the city seem less like a living space and more like a large task area. The fans look like they're moving, but in terms of game mechanics, they often behave like a resource that is guided from one station to the next.
This is enough for some satisfying moments. However, for a truly dynamic simulation of football chaos, it is too predictable.
A tutorial as the first away hurdle
Before the campaign allows me to plan events independently, it guides me step-by-step through the most important systems. In principle, this makes sense given the many planning levels. However, "Copa City" explains its processes particularly poorly precisely where it should provide orientation.
Tasks are displayed, but their practical implementation often remains unclear. For example, the game asks me to buy a certain area or place an object, but it doesn't reliably show me where to find the corresponding area or function. Then I'm not looking for a clever solution to a logistical problem, but for the right button in a nested menu.
The frustration doesn't arise from the actual planning. I don't fail due to complicated connections, but because the game poorly explains important functions or hides them in confusing menus. Instead of thinking about my strategy, I'm looking for the right button.
It's particularly annoying that the introduction extends over large parts of the first campaign sections. Many missions still introduce individual functions and give me little freedom. If you want to plan directly yourself, you can switch to free play. Within the campaign, however, the entry feels unnecessarily long and fragmented.
Apparently, I'm not alone with this criticism. The developers have since reacted and announced that they want to revise the onboarding. The campaign should be able to be started in the future without a completed tutorial. Adjustments to the user interface are planned for next July, and a new tutorial and an in-game reference work for August.
Even after the introduction, the operation remains unnecessarily clunky. The game switches between different planning levels, map views, and detail menus. Not every click leads where I expect it to. When zooming, I sometimes unintentionally end up in a different view, and objects cannot always be selected precisely.
Individual inconveniences could be tolerated. In their sum, however, they slow down every planning. I struggle more often with the interface than with the actual challenges of match day.
Lots of micromanagement, little real planning
Once I've come to terms with the controls, "Copa City" occupies me with many small tasks. I place facilities, observe needs, and react to new requirements. However, challenging decisions rarely arise from this. Mostly, I recognize a deficiency and provide the appropriate solution.
How abstract these systems remain is shown by the volunteer center. There I acquire additional helpers who then have neither names nor recognizable tasks. They are not figures that I assign or develop, but merely numbers that must be high enough for certain requirements.
This would be less problematic if the game regularly forced me to make difficult trade-offs. Space requirements, revenue, security, and satisfaction could compete with each other. "Copa City" hints at such conflicts, but rarely deepens them enough to allow for several equally valid solutions.
So I spend a lot of time with individual actions, without feeling a corresponding amount of strategic influence. I fulfill requirements and increase values, but rarely design a system that truly feels like my own solution.
After the game is before the same planning
After several events, another problem becomes apparent: hardly any of my work has a lasting impact. I prepare a match, fulfill the necessary requirements, and then start the next task. The city is less a place that I develop long-term than a backdrop for separate match days.
The title "Copa City" awakens other expectations. I had hoped to expand traffic routes, plan hotels and parking spaces, better connect train stations, or develop the stadium over years. Instead, a connecting framework like a complete season, a long-term competition, or the permanent development of a home club is missing.
The manageable scope also quickly reveals the repetition. With Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Flamengo, Beşiktaş, and Olympique Marseille, there are only six licensed clubs to choose from. Games are played in Berlin, Warsaw, and Rio de Janeiro. The clubs bring their own colors, chants, and fan groups. However, the fundamental planning changes only to a limited extent.
A new pairing therefore provides more of a different backdrop than a new gameplay experience. Again, I check areas, place facilities, fulfill needs, and increase Match Readiness. After a few events, I not only know my tools, but also a large part of the solutions.
A career mode could have given this routine more meaning. Revenues from successful events could flow into permanent improvements, poor organization could damage the city's reputation. Clubs could offer long-term contracts or pull out, tournaments could combine several matches with increasing strain. A cup final would then not only have to demand higher target values, but also put my infrastructure, developed over a longer period, to the test.
Thus, each event largely stands on its own. "Copa City" keeps me busy from match day to match day, but hardly gives me the feeling of actually building a football city.
"Copa City" was provided to me by Triple Espresso S.A. The game has been available since June 16 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
In a nutshell
A fresh perspective, straightforward implementation
‘Copa City’ approaches football from a perspective that other games almost entirely overlook. Fan zones, crowds, catering and stadium logistics form the basis for a management game that stands out clearly from traditional football titles.
All too often, however, it remains just a good idea. The cumbersome tutorial and clunky user interface make it difficult to get started. Behind this lies a game that keeps me busy with lots of small tasks, but rarely presents me with truly interesting decisions. Needs are met by appropriate facilities, volunteers remain anonymous numbers, and different clubs or fan groups hardly alter the flow of the game.
The most serious shortcoming is the lack of long-term development. Without a season, long-term investments or a genuine career mode, routines, clubs and venues quickly become repetitive. As a result, ‘Copa City’ remains original, but is significantly more superficial and monotonous than its concept deserves.
Pro
- an unusual, fresh perspective on football
- an inherently appealing combination of urban and stadium planning
- licensed clubs with their own colours and chants
Contra
- a drawn-out start to the campaign
- cumbersome operation and poor user guidance
- A lot of micromanagement, but little strategic depth
- no long-term development of the town or the club
- Fans, stewards and volunteers remain a rather abstract concept
- a manageable scope and frequently recurring processes
My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.
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