Well, how about you with the mood for the World Cup? I thought about it for a long time beforehand, but ultimately decided to boycott this World Cup. I don’t watch a game on TV or click on any World Cup posts on websites. I get the results that way, that’s enough for me. Although as a football fan it hurts a little in my soul when you consider that as far back as I can remember I watched every European Championship and World Cup as best I could in front of the television.
I would be lying if I said it was easy for me. Some days my fingers are itchy, but after the silly idea of a winter World Cup with air-conditioned stadiums in such a hot country, there are plenty of other good reasons not to do it. I’m really happy that Retro Goal was released for the Nintendo Switch almost at the same time.
A small but mighty arcade soccer game from the makers of Retro Bowl that I had fun with earlier this year. At its core, Retro Goal follows the same formula, although soccer has fewer breaks than American football, so the gameplay flow is slightly better. But one thing stays the same: when you play, it’s only your team’s attacking moves. You only see those of the opposing team as text overlays and have no opportunity to intervene.
As in Retro Bowl, you only play your own attacking moves.
This tight format means you’re basically constantly on the attack and the games only last a few minutes overall. Good for a quick round in between and since you only actively play your own offensive actions, there is no idle time either. The controls are simple but effective. You pass low and high, shoot, head and tackle. The basics are there and you don’t need 1,000 tricks and other things to have fun here. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a claim. Depending on your position, you have to aim fast enough so that the ball doesn’t go over the goal, because the longer you wait, the higher it flies. But you quickly got used to it and get along well with it.
It’s all held together by a small management part in the background, which in turn is miles away from the Excel spreadsheet charm of a Football Manager. You take care of a few club issues, expand the stadium, training ground and youth department and take care of signing and training new players. You can also use different formations. Ultimately, the following also applies here: These are the basics. Again and again there are smaller decisions that you have to make and that affect your reputation, the morale of the team or your account balance, among other things.
The basics of football are there, it never gets complicated.
All of this serves to send you from game to game quickly, which is also what gives Retro Goal its appeal. You make good progress, several games in between are made in no time and are entertaining fun. On top of that you have numerous leagues, albeit without a license, which doesn’t bother us in the slightest. It’s almost a bit addicting, like the “just one more round” feel of Civilization. It’s just a match here. For 4.99 euros, I can absolutely recommend Retro Goal if you don’t feel like playing the World Cup or FIFA and would like to enjoy a little arcade football.
Developer: New Star Games – Publisher: FiveAcesPublishing – Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Mobile – Release: 24.11.2022 (Switch) – Genre: Simulation, Sports, Arcade, RPG, Soccer Price (RRP): 4,99€ (Switch), 1,19€ (Mobile)
