Soccer Kid

Soccer Kid

Amiga cover art
Developer(s)
Publisher(s) Krisalis, Yanoman, Ocean, ReadySoft, Telegames, Songbird Productions
Designer(s) Matt Furniss, Neil Adamson, Nigel Little
Composer(s) Matt Furniss
Platform(s) Amiga, Amiga CD32, 3DO, Super NES, MS-DOS, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single player

Soccer Kid is a platform video game created by UK-based developer Krisalis[1] and released in 1993 for the Commodore Amiga, 1994 for the Super NES,[1] PC, Amiga CD32 and 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Its title for the Super NES in the United States is The Adventures of Kid Kleets. It was re-released for the Atari Jaguar in 2000, the Game Boy Advance on September 30, 2002 and the PlayStation on December 13, 2003.

The goal of the game is to guide a little soccer player boy through various levels, using his soccer ball as the main tool. The player character can perform runs, shots, bicycle kicks, headers and other sorts of soccer moves to either advance in the level or eliminate enemies.

Story

The game begins when Soccer Kid is waiting for the World Cup to start. However, the alien pirate Scab is scanning for trophies to add to his collection and starts beaming up the World Cup using his spaceship. While he beams the trophy into space, he collides with a satellite, blowing the Cup into five pieces that fall in random places around the world. It is up to Soccer Kid to recover the pieces. The Cup pieces are located in England, Italy, Russia, Japan, and the United States, in their respective order.[2][3]

Gameplay

Soccer Kid dodging an enemy in Italy.
Soccer Kid in Italy.

By pressing different buttons at the title screen, the player can change the colours of Soccer Kid's clothes. This way, the protagonist can be a fan of the player's favorite team. Each country has three levels that the player must navigate through. Soccer Kid can perform various types of soccer moves to defeat enemies and get to hard to reach areas. The player starts out with two hearts but by opening random chests scattered throughout the game, they can get more hearts. At the end of each third level, the player must fight a boss, based on stereotypical people associated with their respective country.[4] However, the player must always explore each level to find soccer cards, which are crucial to getting the cup at the end of the game. Once a country is completed and all the cards in that country are collected, Soccer Kid is transported to a bonus level where he must collect all the food against limited time in order for a piece of the cup to be obtainable.

Reception

Amiga Power gave the Amiga version a score of 88% with a review by Stuart Campbell. He criticized the player character's moves as being too "fiddly": "you have to stop, line up your shot, get into trick shot mode and then actually do it. This all looks great and stylish and everything, but it can really slow the pace of the game down on occasion - sometimes when you're zipping along, you'd give anything just to be able to jump on a baddie's head and sort him out then-and-there without a lot of hanging around." However, he praised the graphics and particularly the "fearsome" difficulty, saying it gave the game good value for money. He compared the game to the acclaimed Arabian Nights, saying it was even better due to the superior control and greater focus on platform action.[5]

The 3DO version received a 6.2 out of 10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. They praised the "technique" and "excellent graphics", but said the sound effects were lacking.[6] GamePro gave it a wholly positive review, citing smooth controls, strong sound effects, good variety of musical tracks, and exceptional graphics.[7]

Reviewing the 3DO version, Allgame's Shawn Sackenheim wrote that Soccer Kid is "an impressive action/platformer that manages to be just different enough to warrant investigation."[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Four Long-awaited Conversions". Super Play. Oct 1993.
  2. ↑ "The Adventures of Kid Kleets (Super NES)". IGN. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  3. ↑ "Adventures of Kid Kleets Game Download for PC". GameFabrique. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  4. ↑ "The Adventures of Kid Kleets". GameSpot. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  5. ↑ Campbell, Stuart (September 1993). "Game Reviews: Soccer Kid". Amiga Power (29): 28–30. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Soccer Kid Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (65): 46. December 1994.
  7. ↑ "ProReview: Soccer Kid". GamePro. IDG (66): 90. January 1995.
  8. ↑ http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=2410&tab=review
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