Goal!

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Game Review

Dino Dini's Goal (also know as Goal!) is a soccer game created by the famous British game designer and programmer Dino Dini, author of Kick Off and Kick Off 2. The game was sponsored by Adidas and it was published by Virgin in 1993 for the Amiga and PC. The Atari ST version followed one year later, like the Sega Mega Drive version, that was a bit different and got another name (Dino Dini Soccer).

In 1993 Dino Dini was not working at Anco anymore, that's why he didn't take any part in the creation of Kick Off 3 (that Anco released in 1994). This explains why the fans considered Goal! the true sequel to Kick Off 2 - the most popular soccer sim of the early '90s, before the arrival of Sensible Soccer.

The huge success of Sensible Soccer, released in 1992, influenced Dino Dini. In fact Goal! is a bit easier compared to KO2, it's possible to zoom out the view, more or less at the same distance from the field of its competitor and there are now real players name.

Despite this, Goal! was not able to replicate the success that Kick Off 2 had in 1990, Sensible Soccer was unbeatable. But this doesn't mean Goal! doesn't have its fan base. There are people considering Goal! a superior game, more a simulation than an arcade, more challenging and more difficult to master compared to Sensi. The decision is entirely up to you. Go, play and decide!

See Also: A legendary video games music composer: Allister Brimble

Review by: Manu
Published: 14 November 2017 2:20 pm

Users Reviews

Wow ... people ... the football game of the legendary Dino Dini ..... "GOAL". Also for this game I have to give you my compliments for having downloaded it. Well ... Gentlemen, in my humble opinion, this is the best football game produced in the 90s ... I'm sure, much better than the well-known "Sensible Soccer", again in my opinion, too acclaimed.

When in a recent impression of me about soccer games and the fidelity in reproducing penalty kicks, I wrote that I had not met one that simulated well the shooting from the spot ..... Well ... I was wrong ... here is "GOAL" which manages very well to simulate almost everything in a football match, including penalties. The game is not very difficult to master, extremely intuitive but at the same time gives all the "suspense" and uncertainty of a football match. The options are valuable, and include everything, cups, tournaments, friendlies, demonstration matches and ... most importantly ... training.

Here you can seriously master every aspect of the game. For example, in these training sessions, you can see how the game "memorizes" some of your moves, in order to perform the game actions in rapid sequence. Now ..... look ......... You are running down the side of the playing field, you have almost reached the end line, suddenly you stop, holding down the "fire" button and you turn towards the opponent's goal, release the fire button and immediately afterwards press as if, with your cross, you had already arrived in the area where you should find your partner, pushing the movement forward. If you have calculated the times well, you will see your teammate shoot on the fly, as soon as possible, with the head, chest or foot ... Nine cases out of ten is a guaranteed goal and you will have made a supergoal !!!

Fouls are foreseen in the course of the match; yellow cards and red cards.
To find a flaw, it could be said that in some cases the colors of the club shirts are wrong. For example, the Inter shirt is the same as that of Milan ... but they are really trifles. If you take into account what was running on computers in those years in terms of football simulation, this game is a gem!

Review by: Maurizio Petta
Published: 10 July 2022 12:51 pm