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I'll be honest that I was a little worried about getting this game. some of the reviews haven't been good, and I've not properly played a football game since Fifa '98 on the original Playstation. So what was I going to make of this? I got the game Tuesday, being nicely surprised to find that it came with a limited edition t-shirt, and fired up my PS4. After waiting almost an hour for the console to update itself and install patches for my installed games (I really should play it more often), I started the game. I was actually quite surprised at how minimal the game looked. It had no options screen that I could find (unless it's hidden away somewhere) and there didn't appear to be any setup options for match length or opponent skill. I started a match and... Oh no! What hell is this? I couldn't get possession of the ball. I kept running beneath it thinking it was on the ground. I kept losing the ball when I changed direction. Every time I tackled I did a slide and fouled the opposing player and then the AI scored against me, following in quick succession by 4 more. I could feel the frustration mounting, and was all set for packing it in. But then I remembered that the original game had somewhat of a learning curve too. The ball wasn't nailed to your foot like it is in other games, you had to time your changes of direction like a real player would so that the ball was on your foot when you turned. I was pretty sure that the problems I was having were me, the way I was trying to play it, and not the game. So I took a break and went off to look at Dino Dini's live Twitch feed (link) where he's feverishly working away on the game and fixing bugs for the next patch. Honestly, I don't think he ever sleeps. He was working away on the game when I went to bed last night at midnight and he was still there when I signed in again at 9am this morning. I asked him a few questions about the game, specifically about the controls, and he told me what I was doing wrong. I learned that by holding the X button down I could tackle the AI players without sliding and therefore had a better chance of taking the ball cleanly. With this knowledge I went to play a couple of practise sessions and started to re-learn the timing for changing direction. The players in Kick Off dribble the ball by kicking it slightly ahead of them, so if you change direction when the ball isn't on your toe you'll lose it. I started a new game and... I lost! But this time I understood why I lost and I didn't lose by as much as the first game. I've been steadily improving and, even though I'm still losing, I'm not losing by much. My last game was 3-2. There's been a lot of complaints about the game, mainly by people who don't understand what it's really about. First off I'm going to address some of these by saying that the game is not a football simulation. It's an arcade game that somewhat resembles football, in the same way that Pitstop II is an arcade game that somewhat resembles Formula 1. You wouldn't compare Pitstop II to Project Cars, so you shouldn't compare Kick Off Revival to Fifa or PES. It's a completely different animal altogether. Pitstop II was designed to be challenging but fun, not realistic. The same can be said of Kick Off Revival. Okay, so there are no red or yellow cards and no off-side rule (and I think the game should have different skill levels for the AI so the player can learn the game at an easier setting and move up when they're ready for a bigger challenge). But there was no off-side rule in the original game either and I can't recall if the original had cards or not, it's been so long since I played it. It's a retro-styled football game done the way football games back in the 80's/90's, before gaming and gamers started to take themselves too seriously, were done. Now, I know that the game has issues. I think even Dino himself will acknowledge this. He's busy working away on a new patch to chip off some of the rough edges. He's also very open to people visiting his Twitch stream and asking questions about the game. If you're struggling with the game, give him a shout and he'll try his best to answer you. You may still find that the game isn't your cup of tea even after doing this, but that doesn't mean the game isn't any good, it just means that it doesn't suit you. For example, I can't play any Dark Souls game. I'm totally rubbish at it. But I acknowledge the fact that I'm the problem, not the game. If I sat down to play Dark Souls properly I'd probably work it out. However, it's just not my sort of game, so I leave it alone. So in summary: Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival is a football game designed the way football games used to be designed. It's an arcade game that resembles football, not a football simulator. It's difficult, but you can learn how to play it well if you take the time to, and the developer is willing to answer your questions and accept suggestions (if people are civil about it) for the game.