Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival Reviews
After over 25 years, Kick Off is back. But even for a budget proposition, the stripped-back package seems too miserly to be truly enjoy.
A weak football simulation that lacks any real depth, making you wonder what the necessity of trying to bring back was.
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is a bad game. If you want a retro take on football, this is not it. If you want a retro take on how to make a terrible game, you're in luck.
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival's merit is to put the original Kick Off series under the spotlight again. Use an emulator and go for the real thing: a game like Goal! is far better than this poor and lazy new version.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A bad idea poorly realised, it’s hard to argue that Kick Off has any place in the modern world and this badly made revival seems to prove it.
Quite how anyone thought this game was ready for release is beyond me. It’s more like a proof-of-concept demo, and for the many people looking for a nostalgic return to classic football games, a massive disappointment.
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival doesn't attempt to compete with FIFA and that's fine. There's a place on the market for simpler, old school sports games that rely on arcade fun rather than authenticity. But this reboot of the franchise is actually a step backwards for the series in some ways, and the lack of a tutorial or help of any kind results in the learning curve being more of a learning brick wall. There's nothing wrong with being difficult to master, but the game is difficult to pick up and play too, and the rewards too few to justify the effort. Kick Off Revival can be okay in short bursts, but the sheer weight of issues with the game make it hard to recommend to anybody other than fans of the original Kick Off games. And even they will likely be disappointed.
A oily, toxic pool of bad ideas, half-baked mechanics, and shoddy design masquerading as a tough retro-inspired football game. Kick Off Revival is just plain awful.
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is not a bad game, its gameplay, surprisingly, still works. But it�s meaningless snd poor. Kick Off didn�t deserve this kind of revival.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I would love the return of the classics, but not like that. Many bugs, awful animations, disastrous controls and incredible chaotic gameplay. Waste of money.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival can't be recommended. It doesn't even feel barebones; instead, it feels like basic gameplay elements stacked on top of one another. Everything is messy, incomplete and generally broken, and it's hard to tell if it is supposed to be this way, or if everything is just poorly designed. When all is said and done, though, this is just a bad game, and there's no other way to put it.
If there ever was a game that could use the definition of “Nostalgia Glasses” then its Kick-Off Revival. Its screams nostalgia, but practically offers no evolution to the revived series.
Despite its drawbacks and lack of game modes, there’s something to Kick Off Revival that makes me smile and wince at the same time. With friends, its fast paced gameplay and chaotic nature can be a blast in small bursts, but for some, the intricate controls with just one button may prove to be an issue. Kick Off Revival fills a void that football fans that are bored of FIFA and Pro Evo need, but right now it feels unfinished, and will need a few more updates and tweaks to satisfy players for longer than just a few hours. There’s potential in a different type of football game, but we’re not quite there yet.
Dino Dinis's Kick Off Revival is clearly a title designed to draw in fans of the original series and gameplay styles. Its downfall is more in its lack of effort in attracting new players and relying on the "git gud" philosophy of investing a lot of time for what is ultimately little payoff. Fans of the series will love the new audio and visuals, but anyone else should seriously consider any other soccer simulation game before this.