XingInteractive/
PlayClique/Oberon Media have recently introduced Kick N Rush (download free trial here), a casual soccer/football game, just in time for the World Cup. This is a basic version of soccer appropriate for a novice PC user, with a reasonable $10 price point and very simple keyboard controls. In general, it's a great example of the power of a simple casual game combined with all of the limitations of a sports game designed for basic users.
For a 7MB game, KNR is a pretty fun game. It requires a modest 3D graphics card, but has a full 11 man side on each team, decent graphics (including replays of goals), and a reasonable sound track. The controls are not well documented outside of the usual arrow controls, followed by a short or long CTRL key to either pass or shoot, but they work surprisingly well. As is difficult in all sports games, the artificial intelligence is a little tough to understand, making it hard for the human player to choose which of their players is going to attack the ball, but it works well once you get the hang of it.
There are multiple cool things here - you can choose the league to play in (Premiere, World Cup, etc), you can change the player formation (5.2.3 vs 4.4.2, etc), modify player names/skills, and can maintain a record of games in order. In addition, you can play by LAN or other multiplayer methods, although the game matching technology is pretty primitive by today's standards.
Obvious significant issues are the total lack of licensing (unlike our deal for our Meez avatars here), meaning that all players are subtle changes from actual names (Claudio Reina vs Claudio Reyna) and that the soccer stadiums and teams certainly don't match the actual world, but for a cheap casual game, it's pretty well done on the realism side.
Verdict - a good World Cup clone for $10, but if you're into soccer, stick with console games.
Screenshots
Comments