Retro Goal Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

For this Retro Goal Review, we get to play it our way. From the Hollywood pass to the hospital ball, an absolute screamer, or a simple tap-in, We ponder questions such as will your game day skills match our managerial know-how? Are we a great man manager or will we lose the dressing room? And most importantly will that new striker you’ve just signed be able to perform on a cold, wet, night in Stoke?

Retro Goal Review Pros:

  • Detailed pixel art graphics.
  • 71MB download size.
  • Own in-game achievements.
  • Football gameplay.
  • Full touchscreen support for all the menus and playing the game.
  • Controller/Joycon support.
  • Four difficulties – Easy, normal, hard, and extreme.
  • Five save slots.
  • Choose which side of the screen you want to be on every game.
  • Optional and repayable tutorial.
  • Turbo mode – 1 to 5 stars.
  • Camera settings – far, near and dynamic.
  • Scanlines can be turned on and off.
  • Weather types – on/off.
  • You run and play a football club. You can choose to work your way up from the bottom or pick your team.
  • Full team management from buying and selling players, hiring and firing coaches, formations, and tactics.
  • Players earn exp and level up to earn coins and improve their ratings.
  • Overall team rating.
  • Coins are used to upgrade team facilities, and stadiums and buy players/coaches, etc.
  • The game plays out where you can only do limited actions like move up and down, shoot/volley/header.
  • It’s not an arcade or Fifa-style gameplay setup.
  • Constant replays of plays and goals.
  • Fast forward/rewind and skip replays.
  • A huge referee avatar pops up when issuing cards, free kicks, penalties, etc.
  • The game flow is you take over the game at key points and the rest is simmed.
  • Uses the same controls and gameplay flow as Retro Bowl if you have played that.
  • Shots can have a guide arrow come up to help with aiming/power etc.
  • A lot of fun.
  • A refreshing take on the sport.
  • Highly addictive.
  • Your club/team has a morale rating for the players and conditions for how well you are doing.
  • Achievements pop up as you earn them.
  • A little flag will show above a player’s head if they are offside.
  • At the end of a game, you can choose who to praise or scold which affects bonuses and rewards.
  • Newspaper reports will show off accomplishments.
  • You can have teams approach you about sales and loan players.
  • Optional radar at the top to show player locations.
  • Tackling is automatic for the most part, you just line the player up but you can press for a hard tackle.
  • The controls are surprisingly tight and precise.
  • All upgrades to facilities take time to build and are measured in games.
  • Full stats and breakdowns of players, the team, and other teams.
  • Player info can tell you about them, their star rating, and then stats on performance and their overall fitness.
  • Set up to do a half or full season.
  • Set your favorite team.
  • Has multiple leagues in all European and world countries.

Retro Goal Review Cons:

  • Takes a while to get used to the controls regardless of the touchscreen or controller.
  • Not real names but the team names are very close.
  • Your teammates get in the way a fair bit, especially in the box.
  • When your opponent is playing you just get a text pop-up saying what’s going on.
  • The changing of your lineup is confusing as it doesn’t give feedback on the dynamics of the team or even if the player actually plays in that position.
  • No way to rewatch previous games.
  • Can’t upload or share replays.
  • No goal celebration variety or control.
  • Full or half-season is the only game mode, doesn’t have tournaments or one-off matches.
  • No online play.
  • Doesn’t have world teams just domestic.
  • Cannot create your own team and kit colors.

Related Post: Tad The Lost Explorer Review (PlayStation 4)

Retro Goal:

Official website.

Developer: New Star Games

Publisher: New Star Games

Store Links –

Nintendo

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Length - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
7.4/10

Summary

If you have ever played Retro Bowl, then you know the deal here it’s the same gameplay loop but in a different sport. For those who haven’t played Retro Bowl, it’s a football game where you have limited control, and the parts you play are set highlights of the game so you won’t do much defending really but it can happen. You will be surprised at how easy and fluid the game is to get into, the controls are so tight and responsive no matter if it’s a touchscreen or the controller, it really is impressive. Retro Goal lets you be a player and a manager/owner where you can sort your staff, deal with players and upgrade the stadium. I wish it had more game modes than just the one campaign-style season but it’s a small cheap game that is really fun to play and a great fit for the Nintendo Switch. One for football fans but also one for casual players.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!