Goal Hunter features 90 levels. The difficulty ramps up in a steady progression across all 90 matches. Every enemy type is introduced by level 10; from there, the story unfolds with the opposition conspiring to stop the superstar's winning streak at all costs.
Arcade Mode shares the exact same story and difficulty progression as Normal Mode. However, manual saving is disabled; to make up for the unforgiving challenge, you earn significantly higher bonus points when beating the goalkeeper and collecting water bottles at the end of each match.
Each match awards points in four ways. Taking out the red defenders, the rivals trying to halt your run, is worth 22 points in level 1, increasing by 2 points each level up to 200 by level 90. From level 4 onwards, a bonus target called the Southern Lapwing appears: it starts at 150 points and climbs by 25 per level, capped at 450 from level 16. Both bonuses pay out the same in Normal and Arcade Mode.
The other two sources are where Arcade Mode changes the game: defeating the goalkeeper is worth 500 points in Normal Mode and 850 in Arcade, while each water bottle collected along the way awards 150 points in Normal and 350 in Arcade. Bottle points are tallied on the post-match screen. Everything else scores identically, and your high score is saved to the same global leaderboard, regardless of which mode you choose.
In Goal Hunter, stopping the superstar's winning streak is a team effort by a rather eccentric cast: the red defenders are there from level 1, ten per match, sprinting down the lanes unpredictably and spitting on the turf to make you slip up; the referee charges in with his whistle in relentless bursts from level 2; the obsessive fan turns up from level 6, rushing down to the superstar's line and standing firm to block the lane; the contaminated-water drone arrives at level 8 as yet another moving hazard; and the line marker appears from level 10 to cause havoc in his own unique way.
In every single match, the ultimate test is the goalkeeper, guarding the net right from level 1 and darting across the goal line to stop everything while hurling obstacles in your path. There are no obstacles in level 1, and the number ramps up to a maximum of 4 from level 8 as you scramble for an open shot. Pulling the strings behind the scenes without ever setting foot on the pitch is the Man in the Suit, the game's ultimate villain and mastermind orchestrating the rivals, referees, and every match hazard, driven solely by an obsession to keep the star from claiming glory.
At the end of every match comes the ultimate challenge: the goalkeeper. Regular shots won't reach him. The only way to bring him down is by landing one of your three Super Kicks while dodging the obstacles he hurls across your path as he darts along the goal line. If you hit the keeper, on top of the takedown bonus, the extra points from all the water bottles you collected during the match are added up cumulatively. Miss him, however, and the keeper gets away, forfeiting those extra bottle points entirely. Every Super Kick counts.
Collecting yellow water bottles grants the player an extra life, and whenever you beat the goalkeeper at the end of a match, they tally up as bonus points towards your total score. Avoid shooting the bottles during play to stop them turning contaminated (red). If that happens, steer well clear; picking one up will cost you a life.
Yes, you can use any controller paired or connected to your Android mobile device. The controller is fully functional during gameplay, allowing you to move the star player between lanes and fire both regular shots and Super Kicks. Menu navigation remains exclusively touch-based on your device screen. Input latency may occur depending on your connection type, so a direct USB connection is recommended to minimise control lag.
The regular kick is your bread and butter: fire at will to bring down the red defenders, strike the birds, and scare off the obsessive fan. Regular kicks have no effect on any other hazards in the game. The Super Kick is another matter entirely: limited to just three per match, it packs serious punch and is the only weapon capable of wiping out all enemy types and reaching the goalkeeper at the end of the pitch. Because it is so formidable, the Super Kick has a cooldown period between uses, so make those three count: squandering them mid-match could leave you completely out of ammo when facing the keeper.
Developer's Note: For players looking to progress, holding down the regular fire button continuously is not recommended. Plan your moves, time your strikes, and shoot with precision to master the game.
The game cannot be paused mid-match; you can only take a breather between fixtures.
Shift between lanes with calculated precision. As the pace quickens and the pressure mounts, erratic movement will almost certainly bring the star's campaign to a premature end.
The game does not save your progress automatically. You can manually save before kick-off ahead of each match, starting from Match 2. Saves are disabled in Arcade Mode. Each save file is strictly tied to your active player name and is overwritten with every new save. If you change your player name, your existing save file and campaign progress will be permanently lost, though your high score will remain logged on the global leaderboard, provided your previous run reached a proper Game Over. Once a player name has been replaced, there is no going back to the previous one.
Yes, you can load your progress directly from the title screen, provided you are still using the exact player name saved previously, and only in Normal Mode. Arcade Mode permits neither saving nor loading. If you change your player name, your save data and campaign progress will be permanently lost, though your high score will remain logged on the global leaderboard, provided your previous run reached a proper Game Over. Once a player name has been replaced, there is no going back to the previous one.
For gameplay itself, no. However, to log your high score on the global leaderboard upon Game Over, an active connection is required. If you are offline at the exact moment the score is submitted, it will be lost and cannot be recovered. We flag this prominently right at game start, so consider yourself warned. No whinging later! :-)
At present, Goal Hunter is compatible with any Android mobile phone or tablet released from 2018 onwards. A future Steam version is on the cards, but that rather depends on you picking up this initial Android release and spreading the word to your mates. Keep the coffee flowing, and we'll almost certainly get that Steam port across the line soon enough! :-)
Drop an email to appsolutelabs@gmail.com. Someone might actually reply. ;-)
Goal Hunter is a proper retro-inspired arcade shoot 'em up that collides classic shmup mechanics with chaotic football parody, where everyone battles using whatever they have at hand, or at their feet. Sprinting down five lanes across a 90-match narrative campaign, you'll evade relentless rivals, biased referees, obsessive fans, and contaminated-water drones desperate to halt the superstar's quest for glory. Success demands disciplined timing and tactical lane-switching over frantic button-mashing, whether you brave the high-stakes, save-free gauntlet of Arcade Mode for leaderboard dominance or take the softer, save-friendly route in Normal Mode, all narrated by a brutally sarcastic stadium commentator dedicated to keeping your ego firmly in check.
Goal Hunter was born out of a genuine passion for the unforgettable classics of the 1980s, those vertical grid-based rail shooters that pushed our coordination to the limit on 8-bit hardware. We set out to recapture that addictive, sector-by-sector thrill where every split second demands razor-sharp reflexes and tight spatial awareness, while reimagining the entire experience through a modern, witty lens steeped in the chaotic world of football. It is a proper love letter to golden-age arcade shmups, only traded in for boots, relentless referees, and pure stadium folklore.
Goal Hunter operates on a freemium model, meaning the first 15 matches are entirely on the house. If you fancy pushing forward to Match 90, you'll have to chip in to sort our morning cuppa, the kids' milk money, our streaming subscriptions, gym memberships, Friday night pizza, the odd holiday abroad, and the various other little comforts that keep morale high...
Goal Hunter is the brainchild of the founder behind AppSolute Labs. He is rather reclusive and keeps his identity firmly under wraps, mostly out of sheer dread that a big-name publisher might come knocking with business propositions and shatter his peaceful existence. Mind you, getting rolling in cash making little games isn't a terrible prospect. Then again, if you do fancy getting in touch with him, fire off an email to appsolutelabs@gmail.com. There is a decent chance someone might actually reply.