Football Game is inspired by classic 80’s point and click adventure titles. Tommy is the local high school football hero in the small town of East Bend, USA. It’s game night for the Purchase County Turbines and his sweetheart Suzy is waiting in the bleachers. However, something is amiss; she is nowhere to be found and it’s up you, Tommy, to find her.
The gameplay is linear – you click around to navigate and on certain objects to interact with them. Items are clearly sign posted that you need to interact with to move the story along. Every now and then you’ll trigger a flashback cut scene which helps you piece together Tommy’s backstory.
The graphics are shocking. There’s going for a retro vibe and then there’s this – it feels as though this game was put together in a day. In particular, the faces of the characters you interactive with are terrible. It makes me wonder; did they try and make them look this ugly on purpose?

There is a lack of audio too which is noticeable. Other than listening to a cassette in your car and an eerie tune as you approach the closing scenes, it is a very quiet game. Perhaps this is to limit distractions from the story, but unless listening to the odd noise of crickets chirping is your thing, you might find it disengaging. I did however kind of like the way when you did get some it emphasised the point. I think it was done deliberately and it kind of works.
Be prepared for lots of reading, because the lack of audio means you have to read all dialogue. The game is very short – you can finish it within an hour even if you interact with every object and character. It is very obvious what you need to do to progress meaning there is no challenge whatsoever. If you enjoy these type of point and click games you’ll probably be disappointed because there’s not as much going on as you’d expect.

What was frustrating is that you spend the majority of the game trying to understand what’s happened to Tommy, and just as the mystery starts to be revealed the game ends. It could have been explored further rather than leaving you somewhat in the dark when the credits roll.
My main issue though is – I have no idea why it’s called Football Game! Sure, Tommy used to be on the team and it’s set on game night, but it’s about teenage angst and melodramatics, not football.
Conclusion
It’s hard to write about, and recommend, a game that has so little content and so little going on. It’s probably one of the more poorly made titles Ratalika have published, but by the same token it wasn’t the worst hour of my life either. The silver lining is – as always – at least it’s an easy 1000G.
This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by the publisher.Want to keep up to date with the latest Xt reviews, Xt opinions and Xt content? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.