Kick Off reboot is coming to PS4 and Vita

The original creator of football series Kick Off is back on board for a Sony-backed revival of the series.

Kick Off, which vied for dominance with fellow top-down football series Sensible Soccer, first arrived in 1989. Dini went on to make Kick off 2, Goal! And eventually Kick Off 3, although that bore little resemblance to the earlier games in the series.

The current games that we have have a tendency to focus on the spectacle but I’m going to go back to the basics. I’m going to focus on the sport,” Dini says in a video you can see below. It’s not going to be about you controlling a famous character on the football field with TV cameras and all the rest of it.

No, for me what’s important is to capture the sport so you will have the ability to express yourself on the field with how you control the ball. You will need to train, you will need to practise, you will need to have the mental composure so that you can pull it all together in that moment that counts so you score the goal right when you need it. This excitement is what makes football such an exciting and compelling sport and I’m going to take that and bring it back to where it belongs, bring it back to you.”

Speaking on the PlayStation Blog, Dini added that Sony has proved instrumental in this particular comeback.

As I saw that the industry was beginning to change and embrace the indie spirit again, I knew I had to try one more time. Talent is being valued once again and this is a wonderful thing,” he explained. The revival started when Shahid Ahmad, director of strategic content at SCEE, took an interest in my story and, to my pleasant surprise, offered to send me a PS Vita development kit.

At first the challenge was finding the time to work on a prototype in my spare time. Eventually I was able to show a demo, and Sony offered to help me get the game made. Now I am working on it full time.

What can you expect from the new Kick Off? The important things will not change. The ball is not stuck to your feet; you can shoot the way you want; aiming and swerving the ball will be 100 per cent under your control. The game is going to be in 3D, but only because it is actually easier to make games like that these days. I may offer different camera views, but the default views will be the classic top down approach of Kick Off 2 and GOAL!, perhaps with small adjustments.

The spirit will be that of the old games, but designed with the modern hardware in mind. This is particularly true of the controllers. 25 years ago home computers used an eight-direction joystick with one button. These were digital, not analogue. You could only aim in eight directions. The new game will make full use of the analogue controls, and the gameplay is tuned to work with these. The effect is that the feel and the spirit of the original game is retained, but the possibilities for precision and skill are vastly improved.”

Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival is due out in 2016.