I think I’m a good person in general, but in football I know I’m not at all. I am a simple and lacking fan: I enjoy playing with my team, but I enjoy it when things go wrong for the rival and, if I can, I prefer to watch the game in the cheering stands than with the pimps. So when I saw a soccer video game 2D in which the local ultras jumped onto the field to cause a ruckus, the title caught my attention. It was Pixel Cup Soccer Ultimate Editionand I just wanted to get my hands on him. After a few hours at its controls, I can confirm that it is everything I expected: an arcade soccer video game with a classic airbut also with very marked humor and a great story behind its developers, Batovi.

Founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Charrúa studio has taken its first steps in the territory of advergaming, that is, video games for advertising purposes for big brands, but they also made a name for themselves in football territory with a first project in 2010 called Garra Fútbol. He followed Pixel Cup Soccer 16 in the times of the centennial tournament of the Copa América and its sequel, Pixel Cup Soccer 17. Although the game came to Steam and Switch, the great success of the Uruguayans was on iOS, a platform on which they distributed millions of units. The Ultimate version represents the outcome of all the advances made in the previous steps, building a complete, ambitious and very interesting experience for any lover of classic football.

Bet on a playable scheme like that of Pro Evolution Soccerbut the differences with the game of Konami they end after the placement of the shoot, kick, center and pass buttons: here the arcade game prevails, the simulation is left to the usual. The first match could not surprise me more: mix fast and snappy gameplay with special abilities ranging from super shots worthy of Captain Tsubasathe most barbaric defensive attacks since the days of Pablo Alfaro or the improvement of sprinting or dribbling skills in the purest David Martínez style of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners with his Sandevistan. The first friendly match seemed very satisfying, but I decided to explore other modes until I found Career mode.

When I face the third match of my team, Fakespanyol, my assistants urge me to celebrate the day of the mascots in the stadium. What could go wrong? After being defeated by the Brewers on Saturday, a fan complains on Monday: he has lost his hedgehog on pet day. In another meeting with the team representatives, I see a strange animal at the back of the room: It’s the hedgehog! As the game begins, it doesn’t take long for the porcupine to appear on the lawn and wreak havoc with its quills. We lose again and I already feel like Diego Martínez. The owners of the club, given the poor results, recommend that I hire the services of a witch, to which I desperately agree. The hiring transcends the media and the fans find out, who respond to my grotesque decision by throwing garbage and explosives onto the field in the next game. And this has only been three days of career mode.

Career mode isn’t just wacky and fun, it’s also challenging. You have at your disposal a band of real twisters incapable of doing the or with a joint that you will have to improve game by game. You will win in the first days, you will anger your fans with your surreal decisions and you will have to face inclement weather and emerging elements that decide to stand between you and your victory, but you will progress. You can configure your entire team, coach and leave it to your liking to face the season successfully. Are you looking forward to other challenges? Don’t hesitate to take on the different club and international tournaments in Pixel Cup Soccer Ultimate, with teams inspired by their real namesakes from the main leagues and teams on the soccer planet.

But, as I say, Being the Career mode very fun, the reality is that I have been absorbed with its general gameplay. Because one had already given up hope of finding a casual and fun football game, in which you could shoot from the center of the field without thinking about how unreal it would be to knock down the goal of an absurd pepinazo that takes a few ahead. defenders and the goalkeeper. I thought that there was no longer a place for fantasy football these days and that the possibility of taking a few games with a few beers at a football game should be accompanied by previous minutes in the lineup editor looking at statistics and changing strategies. Don’t get me wrong: I love all of that, but I also I want to have the option of the other and it had been a long time since I found it with such good taste and good work. I don’t look at anyone dino dini.

Even visually he makes great decisions: the game runs in Unity, and although the models are based on two dimensions, the decision to take it to three dimensions allows him to show beautiful stadiums, magnificent lighting and great effects during the game. A bit of music from Super Sidekicks or World Cup Italia 90 would have crowned the experience definitive retro-football game that promises to be Pixel Cup Soccer Ultimate, but the reality is that I think we are facing a game that can be enjoyed by nostalgic fans and players of all ages on Steam and soon on Switch, a platform on which I have no doubt that it will be a great success if it arrives in time for the World Cup.