Scott Watson reviews Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival…
Nostalgia – a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.
When Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival was mooted, it elicited in me a little yelp of joy. It was great to see one of the game-changers of football video-games getting back in the ring, it was great to see he was reviving what was for many (myself included) a 16-bit era classic that elevated football beyond the 8-bit days of Matchday and laterally Emlyn Hughes International Soccer. It should have been a beautifully nostalgic trip. Instead it turned into a stark reinforcement of why nostalgia, for some things, is best kept in that rose tinted corner of your mind and never let out beyond.
Kick Off Revival feels like Dino Dini has quite literally lifted the Amiga code from 30 years ago and pulled it kicking and screaming into the present. A game I remember so fondly, a game that was a huge part of my early Amiga years spent with friends, presented to me in a cold and hard light of something more akin to a nostalgic nightmare. They really don’t make football games like this now and we should be thankful for it. There’s a reason the likes of FIFA and PES are kings of the playground these days. Technology has allowed for so much expansion in sports games, football in particular, that Kick Off Revival is more like a curio of a time gone by. Something to remind us just how far we’ve come.
30 years ago, the original Kick Off WAS revolutionary. It was a breathtaking 100mph arcade fix of football, it made us feel like we were playing that Tehkan World Cup arcade machine with the rollerball you used to see on holidays to the likes of Scarborough, Bridlington et al. It scratched a footie gaming itch at home like never before. At least, it did until the all conquering Sensible Soccer arrived in that same era. But times move on, and Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival is a stark reminder of by just how much.
When I mentioned above that it seemed like a direct lift of the Amiga original, I really do mean that. It is a ridiculously sparse game (as was the original), budget price or not. On start you have the option to practice or go into a single player game, even then that is only a recreation of the current European Championships playing out across France just now. You pick your team and off you go. It’s the Kick Off you remember from your youth. There are a few graphical embellishments to the stadium, crowd and player animations but it’s limited to say the least. There’s a token nod to some kind of crowd noise during the game and some bizarre elevator jazz during half time. But it all feels empty and unfinished.
When your game kicks off, you think to yourself, “yeah, this is the madly frantic Kick Off from my youth, this is brilliant”. The ball rockets and thumps all over the pitch as your players slide haphazardly around, you try to remember the old pull back, push forward punt option that used to work. You watch and remember that the original Kick Off gave you no control of your keepers in any way (Kick Off 2 bringing that in if I remember right). You find yourself running in circles around the ball trying to get the right angle for a shot. You try to pull on memory muscles long since dormant in the vain hope you recreate the skills from a halcyon time gone by… until frustration bit by bit starts gnawing at your brain. Why can’t I seem to get my players near the ball anytime it’s punted by the opposition; why does the AI seem to be able to flight pin-point passes that land every single time to someone in their own team; why can’t there be more than one button for doing different things on the pitch; why can’t I tackle without a whistle going for a foul; why doesn’t the AI get penalised for slide tackles every two seconds the way I seem to? It feels like the more you play, the more the game is doing its best to make you want to throw the controller at the screen. It really is like an old-school trip in every way. All that’s missing is the Quickshot 2 Turbo lying in pieces on the bedroom floor, wrecked in anger at the unfairness of it all.
Even with a day 1 Patch that addresses some of the limitations of the game, plus the promise of things such as referees, yellow and red cards and more to come, I can’t help but feel by the time the game has the potential to be in some semblance of a finished state it will have already lost its audience.
I’m frustrated with Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival, and it’s a frustration born out of sadness and realisation. Sadness that the game I held in such high regard in my youth as the pinnacle of football gaming has aged so badly, and realisation that nostalgia is a thing that really should be kept in that rose tinted part of your mind.
Rating: 3/10
Scott Watson
Originally published June 30, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
