Goals Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

Goals’ attempt to bicycle kick a ball into the back of a net at breakneck speed is admirable, to say the least. It’s also a breath of fresh air, in ways, given the fact that football, as a highly digitalized sport, is annually plagued with the looming shadow of a seemingly unavoidable cult franchise. But, at no point does Goals aim to reinvent the bicycle kick, or even demote EA FC from its long-standing position as the almighty haymaker of star-studded football games. Instead, it opts to keep it to the point, with as little as an online service that allows for free-flowing matchmaking, an organic player development ecosystem that rejects prestigious monikers and favors procedural generation, and a dedicated gameplay style that feels both fresh and satisfying.

Behind its lack of career progression and offline presence is a belt-and-braces football game that grows with you, not before. For example, rather than pitting you against global champions and drip feeding you fickle promises of a successful career via a conduit of rare trading cards, it hands you the opportunity to forge and develop your own players. Not celebrities. Not Cristiano Ronaldo. People. And that’s the thing with Goals: you don’t alternate between teams and build your prestige across a wide spectrum of tournaments; you take the reins of a single team and gradually witness their evolution as regular athletes. Players learn, adapt, and after enough time, retire. As the curator of this unknown team, you simply have to roll with the ball and lean into your strengths and weaknesses.

Of course, Goals is, first and foremost, a free-to-play football game that actively rejects paywall threats and hidden agendas and, in an effort to harbor a level playing field, promotes organic development. Unlike EA FC, you don’t immediately take control of a star-studded club with an impenetrable roster of attackers, defenders and goalkeepers, but rather, a bunch of fledgling players who each come equipped with their own procedurally generated attributes. As a result of that, you never truly know which cards you’ll receive. Moreover, as players are known to retire, you also have the task of unlocking fresh-faced athletes to mold from scratch after so many matches. But, that’s sort of the point here: to juggle your assets and to learn how to adapt with the cards you’re given.

Sure enough, Goals plays like a fantastic football game, with fluid controls, intuitive physics, and an AI system that responds both naturally and efficiently to your each and every input. Unlike Rematch, it forces a habit of cutting out the flamboyancy of the game and leaving the authenticity perfectly unscathed. It might not deliver a visually striking snapshot of the sport, but it does make dribbling, passing, and shooting feel both natural and perfectly in sync with your actions. That, to me, is a huge plus here. It might not be stylish, but when it’s responsive enough to fool you into believing that you’re better than you probably are, it doesn’t really matter.

I won’t pretend that Goals is a perfect football game, because frankly, there are still a few loose screws here that ought to be brought to the developer’s attention. The gameplay, for example, while still fluid, clean, and responsive, often struggles to outshine its frequent AI jitters and mid-game formation issues. Don’t get me wrong, passing feels great, as does booting the ball into the net from short range. But, it’s the little things here that frequently dampen the experience—the sluggish animations, for example. While by no means awful, several teething issues do take the thrill of the chase away here. In time, perhaps these minor setbacks will be resolved with a lick of elbow grease. At the time of writing, though, I have to acknowledge the lack of technical polish.

While Goals might lack the professionals, the card-based tiers, and the celebratory atmosphere of a jam-packed stadium, the game itself does make for an excellent entry-level 1v1 experience. A perfect experience, no — but a good one, nonetheless. Even in its teething period, it shows a tremendous amount of promise, more so given that it isn’t shying away from its true intentions to bring a free-to-play model to a level playing field—a game that anyone can jump into and learn on the fly. As for whether or not it’ll latch onto mischievous paywall schemes in the future is another question. With any luck, it won’t. Sadly, though, only time will tell on that one.

As I mentioned before, Goals doesn’t come with a full-fledged career mode, nor does it come suited and booted with the same cinematic charm as a big-budget sports franchise, for that matter. If anything, it aims to focus on its core gameplay mechanics and its AI-driven hooks. Visually, it’s Fortnite with a football. Mechanically, it’s a slight cut above the rest, and not to mention a lot of fun to play from both a newcomer’s perspective and as an avid fan of the sport. And to be honest, that’s the most important aspect here: the gameplay. It isn’t FIFA, but honestly, I’m kind of glad that it isn’t. If anything, I’m over the moon about the idea of an underdog stepping up to flaunt its colors.

All in all, Goals feels like a breath of fresh air to watch unfold, especially whilst under the influence of EA fatigue. It’s a welcome addition to the field, not because it constructs a seamless football experience, but simply because it turns a blind eye to licensing deals, celebrity cameos and unnecessary marketing, and instead opts to cast its focus on the sport, the thrill of the game, and the competitive spirit that orbits the field. It might not be a beautiful game, but it is one that proudly wears its heart on its sleeve and dares to represent the sport as one of the few ambitious underdogs to ever hold a candle to EA FC. You can’t ask much more of Goals than that. At least it has balls.

Verdict

Goals doesn’t aim to raise the goalpost with its free-to-play schematic, though it does make a solid effort to establish its own goals and exceed them with its organic ecosystem and grass roots gameplay style. Visually, it’s all rather mediocre and lacking in any form of cinematic flamboyancy. However, from a gameplay standpoint, it holds its ground as an intuitive experience that knows all too well how to capitalize on its target demographic’s itchy trigger fingers. To that end, I’d say that it earns the right to hold a candle against several of its biggest adversaries.

Of course, while the lack of offline compatibility and licensing prowess is likely to rock the proverbial apple cart for a lot of die-hard fans of EA’s prestigious catalog, Goals should make for a worthy addition to the competitive field — especially in the Esports community which, in all fairness, has been dying for a substitute to enter the game for the best part of a decade. Here’s hoping that, with enough support from the player base, it’ll surpass expectations before EA find the chance to release another installment in its undying anthology.