Here I wil place articles! You can see that I wrote a new one by the Whats New Page!


KickOff

The KickOff 2002 review: (added 10 May '02)

Sound: 6.6 (1x)
First I think not the most important thing in the game. Just starting the game gives a few menu samples. Good thing is that the music is from various sorts. Personaly I did like them enough so I never turned it of. The ingame sound was dissappointing because there is not much fan anthems music. Ofcourse you have got the options to import you own special fan waves but that cant change my opinion here. Then there is no commentator what I think is not that bad because the problem with commentator in other soccer games is that they repeat the same sentence all of over and over again.

Graphics: 6.6 (1x)
The graphics are way behind Fifa. We dont see any weather affects like rain, snow, sun shining. There are not that many player models too. But what ofcourse is the main thing why the graphics dont look superb is because of the top-down view. The ordians is in 2d
We do have different pitches and we can play on day or night. Ofcourse we can see the players in their team shirts etc I still give a 6.6 because I think the balance of animation is quite good.

Options: 7.5 (1x)
The game got the worldcup, qualification mode, cups, leaques mode, chalenge and practice. You are be able to edit the tournaments, cups etc all. An other thing you could also customize is the teams and players and make new-ones. The chanche to change the game to your own taste is great! You also got some intresting options to change rules and gameplay. I think its a shame you cant save the options for that you just need the patch! But this is not a KickOff with patch review! The bigest mistake is in my mind that you cant play over network or internet! Because Fifa Soccer can! Thats one of the reasons why it is not an concurrent to Fifa.

Gameplay: 7.8 (3x)
The way it plays is special. With that special feeling Steve managed to you create exiting games for you. Timing in the game is very important. So it takes time to learn this game! You can change the control of the ball from beginning, amateur and pro. I put it on beginning because otherwise its not playable atleast with the SideWinder I use! The AI is nice with passing, headers etc. You can change your stile of play using different tactics. One of the most unrealistic thing is that against easy teams you just can walk through the hole pith. Against strong teams you can forget this. The best thing about the gameplay is that if you play it longer you see some nice new things so the magic touch is not away after you played you first match! Its the oposite! It wil be more and more fun!

Final conclusion: 7.4
Yes my final mark is 7,4 because there are some drawbacks in the game! But on the other hand is very fun to play the game. If Steve managed you repair some bugs and improve the game even more. The score could be more higher! And knowing Steve Screech! Im sure that he wil improve the game as time goes by.

2002 patch 1.3 is on his way: (Added on 4th April '02)

Steve is not letting the community down! Because just after finishing the game! He listened to the fans and tried to improve the game even futher. Here you found the complete list of what you can see in the first KickOff 2002 patch. Thanks goes to Steve who is working very hard to get the best out of it.

Bug fixes:
1.Replay red screen bug and ball trace. 2.Menu link bugs.
3.Comp substitution bug.
4.Challenge round 110 bug.

Improvements:
1.Speed up and improve spread of ticker tape.
2.Options and Graphics Setup saved.
3.Improve Cross bar.
4.Darker day shadows.
5.Slightly upgrade Offside.
6.Up AI a notch or two.
7.Menu music on game re-entry. 8.Auto save custom team history
9.No wavs in practice
10.Duplicate [ ] keys to another set to allow for foreign keyboard setups. DONE (now page up page down will do the same)
11.Slow down CPU freekick.
12.Free up fk taker quicker after kick.
13.Wavs disable button (Delete)
14.Improve Keeper AI on THAT shot!
15.Challenge string overflow!
16.Dink Dink Dink dribble fx.
17.Overheadkick Height overhaul.
18.Sock colours of default teams.
19.Injury Time Display: Now the injury time is much shorter and realistic. Now you know how long to go (for defending or scoring the winning goal)
20.Spinning ball in replays.
21.Up and Down on position in editor
22. Allow created teams in World Cup.

Exta:
1.Add more SFX touches (booing team B dirty players etc)
2.Add more languages.

New features:
1.Play in position: Should improve the general gameplay! You can expect more about this feature shortly on this site!

Release: Middle of April 2002


KickOff out yet? (Added on 5th March '02)

The official release date is set to 8 march. But more and more people are claiming that they already has got the game. And not onley they mention that they have warez copies! Other problems are that it isn't exactly clear in wich countries the game wil be released! I shall try to get the countries in wich and maybe when the game wil be released and place them here. You can expect a list of sites where you can buy the game online too. Just 3 days left for the game wil be offical out! So look regularly around the web!


ISO News: KickOff Warez version out with negative review (Added on 4th March '02)

On the ISO news site (http://isonews.com) you find out that the KickOff warez is out! If you like this game and want to support Steve Screech (Acclaim)than wait til 8 march and buy the official version! The price is payable so that shouldnt be a problem. On the site also got an review! And it isnt a positive one. Some of the negative points could be understand! Lack of Internetplay, No Full Match Commentary etc. But the strong point of this game should be the gameplay! But is this review there is told the gameplay is also too bad. Although I noticed some gameplay issues this isnt fair at all. They think that number of button combinations is not enough to play a descend game. About the Graphics I can agree! I just have wait and than you can read my full-review after that I played the game long enough to see the positive and negatives aswell..

KickOff 2002: Looking forward for great suprises (Added on 27th Feb `02)

Yes I'am one the people who are waiting for the release on 8ht marsh of KickOff 2002. The Legend Returns and wil not onley give the fans of KickOff 2 a newer version of their lovely game but also give the fifa-junkies a alternative for the pc. While where are all just sitting and hoping the final game wil be even better than the demo there are a lot of rumours about hidden stuff in the game. Nobody except Steve know what they exactly are but already it is confirmed that their wil be great suprises in the game. Extra players, teams, competitions, balls are all posibilities we all just have to wait and see. Maybe we do have to unlock them but as soon as I find any I wil tell you! Just like all of you I can't wait anymore but the game wil be out soon!

KickOff 2002 Preview: (Added on 23th Feb `02)

Just after years of playing Fifa. Finaly there is concuration on the pc soccergame market. Years ago you had KickOff 2 now you have KickOff2002. I didn't play KickOff 2 so for me KickOff is an new experience. Playing my first game the game didn't feel so good. Everything seems to move fast, passing doesn't work well and keeping the ball on my foot was terrible. But after adapting the speed and the control level I start enjoying the game more and more. But still I couldn't give short-passes! But after going to the ko-gathering forum a lot of people told me how I could do it! Now playing on a daily basis I think I'm a little addicted. Still there are things that need improvements! If you run with one player! The CPU other players doesn't move good enough, that makes playing with only one player to simple. But playing against the more stronger teams! You could'nt try this truc! If you look at the grapics I could say they are okay! But needs room to development. I don't see weather affects, 3d animations of the public! Don't forget this game is all about gameplay! And some-times you have got the feeling of playing a real match!. The sound is average. The amount of options in this game are super. You can edit teams, tournaments, players, and put in you own sounds! An important feature in my mind is't included Internetplay and that wil cause in my final mark. Overall I think this an great game and has got a very higth replay value. The game let's place to improvements! But I'm 99,9% sur that in further versions this game wil be even better.