The Top Five Football Video Games of All Time

Football video games have been around for more than 40 years.

Even the earliest Pong-style games in the seventies bore a resemblance to real football, long before Kevin Toms or Dino Dini etched their name into the subconscious of a generation. Of course, any 40-somethings reading this will immediately be taken back to their youth reading those names, agonising over signing Paul Mariner, or desperately trying to apply aftertouch to a wild effort on goals.

Video games have come on in leaps and bounds, and now there’s football on every device. Mobile games are as good as anything people played back in the eighties and nineties; you only have to see the graphics of FIFA Mobile or the depth of Football Manager Mobile to understand that. Even games that are football related have better graphics and sound than anything Dino Dini put out; the online slots from Gala Bingo are a great example. 11 Champions and Top Trumps Football Stars have crisp graphics and great music, far more so than anything on 8-bit machines. Even 8bit-Football football on Android and iOS feels fresh compared to some classics.

That doesn’t mean 8-bit games should be ignored; one, in particular, has a special place in football game history, and it’s one that we include in our roundup of the top five football video games of all time.

5: Kick Off 2

We’ve mentioned Dino Dini; his crowning glory was Kick Off 2, the quintessential video game of the early nineties. After a decent start with the original Kick Off, Dini’s product cornered the market as it tried to be the first true football simulation. It feels rudimentary now, but with kit design, aftertouch on shots and fast gameplay, it became a firm favourite. It wasn’t so strong on the 8-bit machines, but it thrived on Atari ST and Amiga. Sadly, a recent revival was deemed as one to avoid by Eurogamer, proving that some games are best left in the past.

4: Actua Soccer

Actua Soccer is often forgotten in video game history; it came from a smaller Sheffield-based development house and was eventually bullied out of the market by FIFA and Pro Evo. However, it featured groundbreaking motion capture using Sheffield Wednesday players Chris Woods, Graham Hyde and Andy Sinton, as well as the first live-action commentary of any game.

3: Pro Evolution Soccer…