One of the staples of every generation is the ways that they entertain themselves. Everyone knows of classic games like Subway Surfers and Angry Birds, but what about the new games breaking into the scene?
Retro Bowl, an 8-bit styled mobile football game has been around the scene for a couple of years now. Recently, it garnered almost 1,000,000 Apple App Store reviews and the title of #2 sports game. The game, simplistic at first, shows the depth of its features as you dive deeper into the fun. For this review I’ll evaluate Retro Bowl based on 4 categories: graphics, gameplay, immersiveness, replay-ability in order to further understand why 53% of the student body plays.
While some may believe that the graphics are sub-par, I believe that they fit the game perfectly, after all the game is called ‘Retro’ Bowl. The graphics, which appear to be loosely based on Tecmo Bowl (NES), help hide imperfections while giving users the same great old-school vibe. As far as 8-bit graphics go, these are the best I’ve seen, as even with the incredibly low number of pixels, each team and player are easily distinguishable.
The graphics may look retro; however, Retro Bowl is just as fun and immersive as modern mobile games. Retro Bowl is all about offense. While some users may complain that they want to be able to control their defense, it certainly adds to the dramatic effect and can be crushing when you continuously read the word “TOUCHDOWN” as your defense fails to protect your 31-point lead. The touchscreen controls are perfect allowing for users to pass, juke, and dive to a tee. Games flow quickly, and depending on how you like to play, you can choose between 1-minute, 2-minute, and 3-minute quarters.
When it comes to immersiveness, this is where Retro Bowl tops other mobile games. Every season you have the opportunity to draft new players, sign free agents, customize players, and manage upgrades to help your organization succeed. One of my favorite aspects of the game is how well it replicates the job of a football coach, as you must maintain team morale, fan happiness and player plahealth, to make sure your team is still successful. You have the opportunity to sign, cut, and draft players from different positions on both sides of the ball to best suit your needs, along with customizing your players’ likeness to imitate professional players or some of your friends. With an in-app purchase of $.99, the unlimited version of Retro Bowl is a great way to mix up some of the fun, as it gives you the opportunity to customize uniforms, weather, endzones and more.
“If you’re looking for a game that blends old-school charm with addictive, fast paced gameplay, Retro Bowl is worth your time.”
The replay-ability of Retro Bowl is unmatched. Although some may think that it is the same repetitive plays and seasons, but in reality, no two seasons are the same. Thanks to the immense detail put into the game, it is hard to replicate the same play, let alone an entire game or season. To add extra goals and motivations for players to continue to play, New Star Games, the developers of Retro Bowl, added over 70 achievements for players to continue working for even after winning the Retro Bowl. These achievements can be as easy as “Make a Pass” and as difficult as “Win 10 Retro Bowl Titles” and keep the game fresh and exciting.
If you’re looking for a game that blends old-school charm with addictive, fast paced gameplay, Retro Bowl is worth your time. Check out Retro Bowl on the App Store, Play Store, Nintendo eShop, or on the web and see what makes it a standout among mobile games.
