Goal! review - Nintendo Entertainment System

After the ghastly shambolic mockery they called Nintendo World Cup, I thought that maybe this would be a decent soccer game. I couldn't have been more wrong. Goal! is another Nintendo footballing debacle, a dire travesty purporting to be a simulation of our top national sport. The sprites are laughably awful - they don't look or move like footballers at all, and instead resemble sad phantom ice skaters slowly wobbling around a featureless green rink. The gameplay is even worse. The control method is very vague, the player logic is very poor and the player selection is terrible, making passing plays a completely hit and miss affair. Goal! is one of the most dreadful console sports games around, and should be avoided at all costs - especially if you're a football fan.

I didn't think there could be soccer game worse than Nintendo World Cup, but I was wrong and how! Goal! is a crippled, retarded excuse for an NES football game, featuring stick insect-like main sprites and pathetic pitch graphics (for some reason the penalty area hasn't got any grass on it!). I have no idea why Jaleco chose to warp the action through 45 degrees, but I can safely say that the effort was wasted. Gauging the height and speed of the ball is made all the more difficult because of it. Having all manner of options tarts up the game very slightly, but there's simply no hiding the fact that Goal! must rank as one of the worst soccer games produced for any console. It's a sad day for NES footy fans.