PC Futbol

Fifty minutes in and I haven't even kicked off a match. PC Futbol is a simulator that gives you the feeling of working as a scouting department head in some Spanish office — papers, spreadsheets, decisions. When you finally get to the pitch, you'll see players of varying quality shuffling around like they're dangling from strings.

This is a management simulation of the Spanish league from 1993 by an unknown developer who clearly drew inspiration from European trends. You've got a budget, you've got two or three seasons, and you need to build a squad capable of pushing into Europe or at least finishing in the top half of the table. You see the pitch from the outside — a dumb view behind the goal — and you'll have no clue how to control it at first, because everything works through menus and keyboard commands.

Playing is something you'll need to wrap your head around first. Formations are set via text, moves are bought with points earned from victories. Really, it's not very interactive at all — you mostly just watch things unfold, hitting pause occasionally. The graphics are crude pixelated paper, the sound is minimal. It's never going to be pleasant watching your players bumble around the screen with no clear sense of direction.

PC Futbol existed at a time when PC gamers weren't into management sims yet — that was console and TV territory. Here you had one of the first attempts, which paradoxically feels more detailed than it is fun. It's aged particularly poorly because it lacks the fundamental appeal — you don't actually want to watch what your players do on the grass.

Today you'll play it in a retro emulator purely out of nostalgia, or because old sports sims intrigue you. But if you remember Sensible Soccer or Action Soccer running at half speed, everything here will feel like managing a spreadsheet in Excel that someone suddenly turned into a game. That's not a flaw though — it's just a different kind of fun, one only appreciated by those more interested in football's infrastructure than the match itself.