After the disappointment of Mario Strikers: Battle League, I was pumped for an arcadey soccer game, but Golazo! 2 doesn't go wild enough to hold my interest.
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- Title: Golazo! 2
- Release Date: September 1, 2022
- Price: $14.99
- Suggested Audience Age: Rated E for Everyone by the ESRB
- Availability: Switch and Steam
- Recommended for fans of: Ted Lasso, Bend it Like Beckham, and Shaolin Soccer
Geek to Geek Media was provided with a review copy of this title.
When the chance came up to check out Golazo! 2 I jumped at it. I never played the first Golazo game, but ever since we were disappointed by Mario Strikers, the most recent Mario sports game, I’ve been itching for a goofy, arcadey soccer game. What I ended up with was a soccer game with pretty basic mechanics but an extreme lack of content.
Basic Gameplay
Golazao! 2 is a soccer game that controls just about like every other soccer game out there. You've got basic controls for running around the pitch, passing, shooting, and trying to steal the ball away from your opponents.
It really seems like soccer games haven't updated their controls since the days of the Nintendo 64, which is just fine for me. I never have and probably will never spend more time with a soccer game than when my sister and I played World Cup Soccer 98.
The downside of those reliable controls is that any tiny change to them feels like a massive betrayal. When you are on offense, in both Golazo! 2 and every other sports game since Ice Hockey, passing the puck immediately changes your avatar to the player you pass to. For that reason, I equate the “pass” button with “change player.”
Unfortunately, in Golazo! 2, the B button is pass, and the left trigger is change defender! When you are on defense, the pass button attempts a steal, so every time I try to get control of a defenseman who could make a great play I just wail on the B button and a player nowhere near the ball does some fancy footwork.
Outside of those control issues, the gameplay is pretty solid. This is a straightforward soccer game, so there are no big flashy special moves or manga-styled cut-scenes like in Mario Strikers. Instead, it's just straight-up soccer.
Street and Sport
Well, one play mode is straight-up soccer. The other mode in Golazo! 2 is called “street” and is a 3-vs-3 match played on a small field with walls instead of out of bounds, and no goalie.
When you jump into the Quick Play or Tournament modes, you can choose either version of the game, and then they each have their own version of a season-long mode.
The street mode is faster and more aggressive than the traditional soccer mode, but it’s kind of not different enough. Your characters still move and play exactly the same, so the game doesn’t feel as “arcadey” as I’d want in an arcade soccer game. This isn’t NFL Blitz or NBA Jam, but it’s maybe as arcadey as Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey.
Final Thoughts
Other than the lack of refs calling penalties, I’ve not really found what makes Golazo! 2 an arcade soccer game and not just any other standard soccer game. Aside from my personal issues with the controls, the game plays just fine, but there isn’t a lot of game to dig into. There’s no online play or build-a-character or custom teams… just three different ways to play two slightly different soccer games.
There’s nothing wrong with this package if it’s what you want, but if you want to go wilder you may be better off with Behold the Kickmen or Strange Field Football.