By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), Onrpg Journalist
Kicks Online International is a Soccer-themed sports MMO from Run Up, the company that handles games Shaiya Online, Angels Online and Luna Online. The game centers around street-style soccer and gets you and your friends to go head to head with other players to know who really rules the soccer field.
Character Creation
In kicks Online, you get to customize the starting look of your character. Aside from that you are then introduced to the preliminary stats your character has and you are given ten points to allocate it on what you want your character to be.
You also get to decide what position your character is playing, you can either decide to become a forward, midfielder, defender or a goalie. Each type has its own set of predetermined stats that are suitable for the playing style of the position. As you progress through the game and level up, your character would grown from the starting class and would eventually become a more specialized soccer player.
Game Modes
In Kicks online, the standard matchup would be 3v3, but matches can reach to 4v4 and 5v5 if the room owner permits it. Street-soccer rules apply and everything goes. The whole idea in Kicks Online is to make sure you get the ball in goal. The team that has more points in the end wins.
Game Features
In Kicks Online, you can buy various clothes and accessories in the shop for your character. Unlike most games where the accessories have added attributes, in Kicks Online the clothes and whatnot are just mere eye candy.
Aside from the default controls you character has, you can also buy skills that help out by giving your characters more moves that it can do in the game. The skills are level locked however and so you must have enough credits to purchase the skills you want.
Another thing in Kicks Online is that the game has a quest system that gives you credits as you finish each quest. The type of quests and the difficulty increases as you play through each quest. The types of quests include as simple as participating in five games to trying to successfully tackling an opponent twice.
Character Growth
Kicks Online has a unique character growth system that keeps you up your toes as you play the game. You start off with the initial three positions of Forward, Midfielder and Defender. As you progress through the game and you allocate the points you earn per level you would then be given a new title later on.
For the forwards you can grow to become a Striker, Center Forward and Wing Forward. For the Midfielders you can grow into a Side Midfielder, Center Midfielder or Defend Midfielder. As for the Defenders you can grow into a Side Defender, Center Defender or a Sweeper.
Conclusion
Kicks Online is one of those games that has truly captured the essence of the sport their trying to make into. The game has everything covered when it comes to the player positions add that the growth system is a nice and unique way for players to get to know what position suits they’re playing style best.
The game provides enough encouragement for you to enjoy not only the game itself but also in making you try to reach for the goal. Even with the limited customization options you have the game provides you at least the freedom to clothe your soccer player as you choose, even if they’re not exactly that effective in real life soccer.
Aside from the novelties of the eye candy factor of the game, the other thing that makes the game such a fun MMO to play is that the smooth controls you have, it feels as if your character is reaction to a slight touch of the keyboard as you play.
However, the smoothness of the controls is connected to the internet connection of the game. This is one of the biggest determining factors if the game you are joining in would be smooth or not. As most games that has more than two players simultaneously, the lag factor of each player comes into effect. The problem with the lag is that even if nine out of then ten players who are currently playing the game seems to have a decent connection, the game would be affected if one of the players has a lousy connection the game would suffer.
Another thing about the game is that the controls can be too complicated especially for those first time users. The thing about online PC games is that the controls have been that simpler unless its an MMORPG. For an action game such as Kicks Online, the keyboard controls seems to be off, and the fact of the matter is that this would be better played using a gamepad.
However, the game doesn’t really give you that option so you would have to get used to being called names first because the players you’d be playing with are either those who have already played the game for quite some time or that they are just new alternate characters of old players.
Speaking of which, the game’s population seems to be small for an international game. It took me about two hours to see anyone logged in, and about an hour or so before I was able to join in a game. This would have been a nice game if there were just a lot of people playing but it seems that the game lacks that much players.
If you are looking for a sport MMO that really puts you into the position of a soccer player then Kicks Online is a game that might as well be suited for you, if you are patient enough for people to come in then the game would be a nice entertaining experience for you, just as long as those who are part of your game are not laggers.
Pros:
– You get to play against other players through soccer
– The games gives you enough freedom to grow into the position that suits you
– You can customize the look of your character.
Cons:
– There are too many things to remember when it comes to the game controls
– You would find it hard to join games specially when your alone
– Low server population.
