Shootout Strategy in Penalty Shooters 2: Timing, Kicks and Points

How one match is played

Every match in Penalty Shooters 2 is a penalty shootout and nothing else. There is no open play before it. You and the computer take turns: the screen says YOUR TURN when you kick and OPPONENT'S TURN when you are in goal. Each side has five kicks, and the scoreboard in the bottom right corner has a row of five slots for each team. A slot turns green for a goal and red for a miss or a save, so you can always see how many kicks are left.

If the score is still level after both teams have taken five, the game goes to sudden death: one kick each until one side scores and the other does not. In the game's logic the shot count stops at ten and then runs one shot at a time.

How the aim target moves

When it is your kick, a red and yellow target sits on the goal and a yellow arrow points from the ball towards it. Before you touch anything, the target slides from side to side along the bottom of the goal and even past the posts. The game tells you to press anywhere and hold to aim. As soon as you press, the target starts to climb while it keeps swinging left and right. When you let go, the target stops, your player runs up, and the ball goes to that spot.

That gives you two things to time:

• When you press decides roughly where the target is across the goal when the climb begins.
• How long you hold decides how high it goes. Hold too long and the target rises above the crossbar, and the shot flies over.

Short, calm presses work better than long ones. If you let go while the target is outside the frame, the kick counts as a miss no matter what the keeper does.

The keeper can still stop it

A shot on target is not a sure goal. The computer keeper dives, and when it reaches the ball the screen shows MISS and your slot turns red. In our test kicks, a shot released high and to one side of the goal was still saved by a full dive. So don't expect one spot to work every time. Watch where the keeper went on your last kick and pick a different part of the goal next time.

Points: goals and saves both count

A POINTS counter sits in the bottom left corner during play. The game code adds points for each goal you score and for each save you make, and the amount for each one grows as you get further into the cup. After the final whistle a summary lists goals scored, saves made, points won in this match and total points in this cup.

So the best way to score points is a match where you score and save a lot, not just a narrow win. A 5-4 shootout and a 3-1 shootout can end the same way, but the one with more goals and saves gives you more points.

Strategy for the group stage

In the group stage the table has columns for points, wins, losses and goal difference. That makes the winning margin matter too: an extra goal or an extra save in a match you are already winning improves your goal difference against the other three teams in your group. Once the knockout rounds start, only winning counts, because a defeat ends the run with YOU ARE OUT OF THE CUP.

The cup itself, the leagues and how the groups are drawn are covered in our post about who made the game. Diving and saving have their own goalkeeping guide.