Game: Kickerinho World
Genre: Arcade, Sports, Action, Simulation
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Mobile)
Developer|Publisher: Orbital Knight | No Gravity Games
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £4.49 | US $ 4.99 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: July 1st, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to No Gravity Games
Kicking Into Gear
Kickerinho World is a football trick simulator game (or soccer if you live elsewhere in the world). It’s a game that has been ported over from mobile looking to make its mark on the Nintendo Switch. At a budget price and no micro-transactions in sight, this does appear to be a tempting pickup. Even more so if you have been engaging in the recent football tournaments going on in the world. The game appears to be a simple little title to pass the time in short gaming bursts, while the TV adverts come on between half-time. But does this have the tricks to hold your attention? Time to grab a ball and find out.
Keep It Up
When you begin the game you get to choose your character and engage in some light customization such as gender and hairdo. Once you have settled on your football superstar the game gives you a little tutorial on how to play the game. By pressing either of the trigger buttons your ball launches into the air. From there you need to closely follow the path of the ball and tap either the left or right trigger buttons when the ball is about to come in contact with the appropriate foot to kick it in the air.
Sometimes the ball will launch into the air towards your head and you need to head it by pressing down both triggers at the same time. As the game progresses you level up unlocking new tricks, some of which require you to hold the trigger down to hold the ball in place for a few seconds. And that’s about it, you just need to attempt to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. Follow the path of the ball and press the right button to keep the longest rally you can going.
In the tutorial, the game tries to get you familiar with the right moment to press the trigger with a closing circle. But once the tutorial is over this assistance disappears and it’s up to your eyes and your reflexes. This all sounds pretty good, a simple game with a simple premise. Unfortunately, the controls just didn’t gel with me.
Losing Rhythm
After spending multiple sessions playing around with this game on different days, I just honestly could not get into the rhythm of this game. I found it incredibly hard to tell when I was supposed to press the button to kick the ball on the right foot. Sometimes I just seemed to randomly do a decent rally only to fail with no obvious cause as to what I did wrong. The biggest issue was the headers. When that ball lifted into the air I dreaded it as I knew I would rarely get this right. I just could not tell when to head the ball. Most of the time I played this I just found it frustrating and inaccessible.
The game advertises itself as being very popular on mobile. So in an attempt to see what all the fuss is about I downloaded the free to play IOS version (which includes micro-transactions) to see if I fared any better. Nope, I was terrible here too. So in a final bid to see if it was just me I handed the game to my wife. It was here that I got some relief as she also equally found the controls frustrating and inaccessible.
You can also use the touch controls in this game where you tap the left or right side of the screen instead. The game doesn’t actually indicate this is an option and I just discovered it since I found out the game originated on mobile. This control system worked a lot better for me in handheld mode. But it didn’t improve my ability to head the ball or the times where I just seemed to randomly fail.
Unlocks and Graphics
The more you play the game the more coins you unlock, which you can use to unlock more cosmetics for your character. You can also unlock new city environments to play in. Since this is based on a mobile game, expect a huge grind to unlock these new cosmetics. The game also does the whole daily login bonus if you switch it on regularly, but since I really couldn’t get into this game I can’t see myself returning often to grab this.
The graphics for the game are OK. Your character looks like a cute kid from a movie with an innocent face. I did dig my character’s expressions of disappointment, which I got very used to seeing each time I failed to keep the ball up. The background environments feel very empty, just empty city streets with benches. I know I’m expecting quite a bit from a mobile game but I couldn’t help wondering where all the people are. Is this secretly some weird happy post-apocalyptic game?
Ball Buster
This is one of those reviews where I’m happy to concede that maybe I just don’t get this game. But I think what would help a new player know this for sure, is a demo. If you can, I strongly suggest downloading the free mobile version so you can test it out for yourself. It probably won’t take you much to be better than me. But it would allow you to discover if this is worth the investment on the Nintendo Switch.
Kickerinho World is a game that reminds me of a lot of old tricky mobile games like Flappy Bird. You’re either going to gel with the challenge or you’re going to play it a few times and never touch it again. I found the game to be confusing and uncomfortable to play. This would not be the quickfire gaming session I would try in the waiting room myself. But I do believe there is an audience for this type of game. It’s just not for me.
Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure
