For more on Kick Off Revival, check out our full Kick Off Revival review. Or, for more of the best Playstation 4 games for a 9 year old, why not try our Family Game Finder
What is Kick Off Revival?
Kick Off Revival is a 2D, retro-styled arcade football game that's a world away from games like PES and FIFA. Eschewing realism in favour of ridiculously long sliding tackles, a ball that doesn't stick to your player's feet, and frantic button mashing scrambles every time the ball gets in the penalty area, Kick Off Revival is a blast from the past, and a rather different take on the beautiful game.
How do you play Kick Off Revival?
Although it only uses one button - the X Button - Kick Off Revival is more complex than you'd imagine. For starters, unlike most other football games, the ball doesn't automatically stick to your feet - whereas on FIFA or PES, you can turn around on the spot, and run in whichever direction you want, a sudden turn on Kick Off will leave the ball slowly trundling up the pitch away from you. In order to hold the ball close for changes of direction, you have to hold X, while taps, or longer presses will let you shoot or pass.
When you don't have the ball, pressing X will seemingly light a rocket under your player's feet, sending him off on a ridiculously fast (and lengthy) sliding tackle, while holding X will apply pressure to your opponent, letting you nick the ball more gently. The game in general is more fast paced, and a lot more arcade-y than other, modern football games, with games often degenerating into a button mashing storm of headers, sliding tackles, and shots out of nowhere should the ball even glimpse the penalty area.
With support for both 1 v 1 offline matches, and 1 v 1 online play, Kick Off Revival is a blast when played with friends. If you want to face off against the computer, you can try your hand at either single matches, or the game's European Cup mode, which lets you play through a tournament set up like Euro 2016 - although, without any official team or cup licenses, you'll have to make to with Harrison Cane upfront for England, and Jo Hert in goal.
How easy is Kick Off Revival to pick up and play?
While it may only use a single button, Kick Off Revival is actually pretty challenging. Those most familiar with popular, modern football titles like FIFA and PES may well find themselves having to spend some time getting used to the controls here, particularly the lack of a sticky ball, which will leave most new players spending more time running around the ball than dribbling with it - although that isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're playing against a similarly novice friend!
With nothing in the way of a tutorial, you're left to try and figure out the intricacies of Kick Off's control scheme on your own (how do you differentiate between a low pass and a cross, for example? You need to experiment for yourself to find out!). There's also nothing in the way of an adjustable difficultly level here, with all computer controlled teams being every bit as good as each other - so if you find the game too tricky, there's no way to make it any easier. It's something you either can do, or you can't. There's also no way to adjust half length.
On the plus side, there's no offside rule here, and while fouls may give away penalties or free kicks, there's nothing in the way of red or yellow cards. Even if you find yourself giving away countless free kicks, it isn't necessarily deadly - Wales missed 3 penalties in one of our games, yet we went on to win 3-1.
With nothing in the way of sex, violence or bad language, there's nothing for parents to be too concerned about with Kick Off Revival. The game does, however, allow for online play, and so will allow your child to talk to and interact with strangers, although this can be controlled/restricting using parental controls - for more, check out our guide on How to set up the Playstation 4's Parental Controls.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: Playstation 4
