Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival - Steam Edition

Review

In 1989 the original Kick Off was released, one year before the World cup which was held in Italy. It was a frantic year and just about everybody had become experts in football - who’s going to win and why, etcetera and etcetera. Well, we didn’t want a bar of that! My friends and I were (eight in total) in a world cup tournament every Saturday in front of my old Atari St. As I write this I can see ourselves screaming in my small bedroom. So when I saw this game I decided it was time to revive my old skills by giving Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival a go!

Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival is an arcade Football game, but if you are into Football management, this game will probably not be for you.

Apart from the fun memories this game brought back, it’s bloody hard to master! The reason behind it is that you have one button mechanism for shoots, passes, headers and to those long sliding tackles which create interesting patterns when you reach half time and totally crazy at the end of the match. The other hard aspect to get used to is the analogue stick on your gamepad (by the way, you must have a gamepad to play this game); you’ll have to learn not to push the stick all the way in the direction you want your player to go on the field - you’ll lose the ball every time. By mastering this, you’ll be able to execute slow dribbles which will help your team greatly. I personally recommend that any old or new players to go through all the tutorials (it will help you a bit) and practice well before playing your first game. Otherwise, your national team might receive the thumper of a life time by an unknown team. I can’t believe Gibraltar flogged France in a friendly match! I can hear people saying that the French national team is not what it used to be, but THAT bad? - I don’t think so! This game is all about developing your skills in order to win a match. I must say, that I would have liked to have a better layout in regards to the practice session, as it is a bit confusing right now.

The gameplay is very fast and challenging even on the amateur difficulty. Your players can be booked or sent off if a tackle is deemed too aggressive, but the offside rules don’t seem to be implemented. In terms of free kicks, corners and penalties it comes down to how well you use the stick and the one button mechanism.

In this current build, you can play a friendly match, the European Cup and an online game and be part of the leader board. Personally, I didn’t experience an online game at this stage which is all to do with the time zone (that’s my guess).

Graphically, it’s a big improvement from the 8bits graphics but it could have been better. You must own a Gamepad to be able to play this game. As I mentioned above, this game isn’t going to be easy to master and if you manage to find yourself in front of the net, make it count! Also, we need more content, such as leagues, more cups, and maybe polishing the stadium up a bit.