Kick preview: nostalgic football charm undone by clunky controls

Kick is a hand-drawn 2D side-scrolling football game. A preview that played a pre-release build describes bright visuals and a nostalgia-driven concept but reports control and animation problems that affect gameplay.

The preview notes the game’s release comes after a major international football tournament. Levels begin at a home and move through a neighborhood toward a school. The core loop asks players to run, jump and slide while keeping a ball in play and meeting level objectives.

Controls use common controller inputs. Players can run, jump and slide. Shoulder buttons perform ball actions: an air kick mapped to R1/RB, described as awkward in the preview, and a stronger ground kick on R2/RT. The character can head the ball or attempt bicycle kicks. Progression depends on meeting goals, often collecting coins by touching them or striking them with the ball. Contact with obstacles or causing damage generates faults; two yellow cards convert to a red card and force a level restart. Some stages add timers or racing conditions.

The preview identifies three technical problems. Control inputs feel imprecise. The ball often travels with inconsistent height, strength and angle, limiting player control during precision tasks. Animation shows missing frames for both character and ball movement, which the preview says makes collisions and interactions harder to judge and compounds issues in timed or speed-based levels.

Visually, the game is described as employing a bright hand-drawn palette with detailed static background images and simplified, faceless foreground characters. The preview highlights effective touches such as reflections but notes the missing-frame issue harms both the look and the play experience.

The preview calls for the developer to address controller responsiveness, ball physics and dropped-frame animation in the build ahead of final release.