''Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island'' is a platform

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Denki and published by

Rage Software Rage Software plc (formerly Rage Games Limited) was a British video game developer founded in Liverpool in 1992. Games developed See also * Network 23 (company) References External links

* ''Football in the New Media Age'', Ra ...

for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

. It was released in Europe in 2002 and was not released in other regions. The game follows the main character,

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

, on his quest to defeat the evil Mister Woe in order to restore peace to Soccer Island. Beckham can use his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in order to collect items and to remove enemies from play.

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

's Tom Bramwell called the game the best original platform game on the Game Boy Advance released in 2002. As of 2009, ''Adventure on Soccer Island'' has received a compilation score of 75% from

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

Gameplay

The gameplay focuses on completing levels and collecting items to progress; there are around forty levels to complete. The fantastical

level design In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, mission, stage, course, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively incre ...

is similar to the type seen in '' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' and other 16 bit era games, while the gameplay is reminiscent of ''

Soccer Kid ''Soccer Kid'' is a 1993 Side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Krisalis Software in Europe for the Amiga. The player assumes the role of the titular Protagonist, main protagonist who travels across se ...

''. ''Adventure on Soccer Island'' utilizes the

skills of its real-life protagonist,

, as game mechanics. David Beckham must use his soccer ball in order to defeat enemies, collect items and progress through levels. Beckham normally dribbles the soccer ball, but the player can kick the ball in any direction to collect items and defeat enemies. Beckham can level up certain attributes after performing them enough; for example, his kicking skill can level up after he has kicked the ball enough. The plot of the game centres around Mister Woe, who has invaded Soccer Island; Mister Woe has taken all "precious things", and turned all the animals of the island into monsters. It is up to David Beckham to save the island.

Reception

The game received mostly positive reviews from critics, who were surprised at the game's quality; currently, the game has received a compilation score of 75% from

's Tom Bramwell noted that the game beat his low expectations, and called the game the "best original platformer on the GBA this year."

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

's Ben Cartledge felt that the game beat most other third-party platform games for the GBA. Jeuxvideo's Nicolas Charciarek had a more negative impression, comparing the game unfavorably as a "clone" of '' Super Mario Advance''. Criticism focused mostly on the game's short length and ease of play. IGN's Ben Cartledge noted that the game was easily finished quickly, but that the real time spent in the game was focused on collecting items throughout gameplay. Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell felt that the game was too easy, and wished there was more content.

References

{{reflist 2002 video games Europe-exclusive video games Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Advance-only games Platformers Rage Games games Single-player video games Video games based on real people Video games developed in the United Kingdom