by Richard Leigh

Created on: April 24, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2008

As a huge fan of foosball I was greatly looking forward to having a game of MasterKick, the truth is however that the great fun of the real life game can never be replicated in computer game form no matter how hard anyone tries. There's nothing more satisfying than beating your friends at foosball in the flesh, winning against a machine whilst sat at your computer however just isn't quite the same.

MasterKick is played from a birds eye view, you look down upon the playing field and the ball moves from left to right. If you've played table football before you'll be familiar with the layout, there are several lines of players which you can shuffle width ways across the screen and spin in an attempt to get the ball in the opposing teams goal. Having long been a fan of soccer I must say that this game in no way, shape or form recreates the excitement of a real soccer game or even a real foosball game for that matter. The game play is simplistic, it's fun for a few minutes but soon you find that your mind drifts and your attention wavers. It's okay, the game certainly doesn't have great longevity however and lacks the complexity or depth for you to want to play it over sustained periods of time.

In terms of graphics things are kept very simple here. It's a birds eye view of a foosball pitch and there's little more to it. The full game offers a range of weather settings to mix things up a little and sustain interest for a little longer through not restricting the situation to a mere green football field; the change in weather conditions would not be enough though I feel to rescue this game from the simplicity of the game play. The game is nice to look at, the graphics are limited however and nothing particularly groundbreaking can be found here.

MasterKick attempts to recreate the excitement of a live soccer game and create a strong atmosphere through realistic' soccer sounds. In this department the game fails miserably, the sound is fairly weak and this manner the game is certainly not up there amongst the best. I've heard worse in terms of sound; that's for sure, there's nothing particularly brilliant about this game however and the sound often sounds extremely tinny.

The basic premise of making a foosball game is an interesting one I feel, as a massive fan of soccer however I just didn't feel that MasterKick was quite good enough. Over the years I have played many a soccer game, some a lot better and others a lot worse than MasterKick. This game is not one that I shall be remembering, I like the basic idea here and feel it was a good decision to make a game of this sort; I just don't find the game to be particularly fun or exciting. I enjoyed playing the trial but certainly wouldn't buy the full game.

Rating: 2/5

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