Golazo!

Golazo! is a competent love letter to '90s arcade football games, accurately capturing both their strengths and weaknesses. Playing alone against the CPU can be a frustrating affair, but get some pals involved and this one's got post-pub entertainment written all over it.

The idea behind Gozalo! is a great one; provide gamers a friendly pick up and play soccer/football game for those who feel like the FIFA or PES series might be too daunting. Unfortunately, the game is a missed shot. Despite being filled with content and its friendly approach, the A.I. is frustratingly rough around the edges; the opposition can often come off as insurmountable while your teammates are dumber than dirt. If you have the time and dedication, which ironically could be used for a soccer sim, you can end up enjoying Gozalo!, however this is the perfect party game to play with friends.

For lack of a better term, Golazo! is a pretty run-of-the-mill arcade football sim. It does well to channel a '90s aesthetic and it is sure to create some memorable moments despite the hiccups in its design. The controls are simple enough to pick up and play and the gameplay solid enough to warrant whipping it out for a night of arcade fun with friends, but it certainly isn't going to hold most players' interest when it comes to playing solo against the CPU.

We missed a soccer arcade from the old times, and in this case, Golazo! try to fill that gap. A totally arcade football, crazy and without rules, but that has his issues, such as an AI difficult to predict and quite inconsistent, and a discrete graphics. Even so for quick games, and if you don't try to understand what is happening on the field, it can be an interesting option to remember those 90's classics.

Golazo! is an action-based football experience that chooses to focus on what's fun instead of trying to create a realistic simulation and it does a very good job at that - intense, enjoyable and with a well-crafted local multiplayer, Golazo! will not become a fan favourite among those looking for serious simulators but it will be very appreciated by players looking for a less structured, rule-based experience.

I sincerely enjoy the presentation as it has a wacky yet still grounded feel. The single-player offerings aren't all that deep, but in a multiplayer setting, this is an enjoyable sports game. It's light and breezy with just enough strategy that it could rouse amusing competition out of a local multiplayer session.

The lack of raw numbers, let alone variety, in the sports game genre has no doubt been a letdown...