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First of all, Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Nemanja Bondzulic of Industry Entertainment for providing the product for this review.

As most of you know, I don’t play much games, much less any sports games so keep that in mind when reading my review of Industry Entertainment’s Masterkick game.

Masterkick is a table soccer or foosball game that is available for both Palm, Windows Mobile platforms. But don’t let the screenshot fool you, there’s a lot of fun features and settings you will find in the game that is more than just a foosball or table soccer game.

This is a game that will really give you the “feel” of a game experience. Not only will you hear the crowd cheers and chants, and notice their presence, but also the scrolling advertisements, the cloud’s shadow hovering over. This is one game that really creates that game experience and it shows that the developer has put a lot of detail into making this quite an experience.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Aside from being able to play the foosball game on your portable handheld, you really get to live the football/soccer (gotta insert that or I’ll get flamed, I know) game. By playing this game, I can tell the developer is likely a fan since he has incorporate the game into a very “live” game experience.

What do I mean? This game is very configurable and offers a lot of customization and features. Upon launching the game for the first time, you are immediately greeted by a game screen that looks and feels like an arcade game. You get the screen that shows a screen of Masterkick with a flashing INSERT COIN for a few seconds before showing the credits screen, similar to what you find at an arcade machine. The only thing missing is the typical demo game that most arcade machines play in between the credits and main screen (just thought I’d add this suggestion in if the developer wishes to consider in a future release). Very cool. In the background, this amazing game music is playing obviously showcasing the Modula sound engine also developed by Industry Entertainment. You can immediately get a feel that this game is different.

Tapping on the flashing INSERT COIN, you will be taken to a menu of options. You can do a variety of things such as change settings such as sound, language, play a game, etc. Tapping on any of the menu items will take you deeper into the menu and settings. Should you want to exit out of the menu, simply tap elsewhere on the screen and you’ll be brought back to the main menu screen. Unfortunately, since I was doing the video review on a Tungsten T3 which required some repairs (namely digitizer), I wasn’t able to go into much into a lot of the menus or demonstrate how nicely it looks on a bigger screen. Believe me, it will support the bigger screens like the Tungsten T3 and obviously, it looks so much nicer.

There are so many ways to configure or customize the game to suit your preferences. First of all, you can configure the placement or formation of the players on the field. So, you can assign the number of players at each line. Next, you can configure the field you’re playing at whether it’s a regular field or an industrial one or the other options available. As well, you can choose from amongst the various teams available such as New York, Tokyo, etc. You can choose to play a quick match or play in a league match. You can set whether you’ll see scrolling ads (similar to a real football game) as well as the appearance of cloud shadows, etc. The game supports many different languages including German, Spanish, French and others, which is quite rare in a lot of games and I believe, obviously adds to the appeal to a greater audience.

To start the game, obviously tap on the Start Game in the menu and you’ll be taken to the main game screen. You’ll need to activate or start the game by pressing on the Contacts/Address book or NotePad/Notes hardware button. The ball will fall from the sky and the game starts. If you should ever need to pause or exit out of the game, you can easily do so by pressing on the Tasks/To Dos. Keep in mind that the hardware buttons assigment may be different for your device and what I’ve mentioned apply to the Tungsten T3. Since we all know that the hardware button arrangements have changed many times, you may find that a different hardware button will be the trigger button on your device.

Upon scoring a goal, the game will immediately create an instant replay of the goal. One of the coolest things I enjoy about this game is how the atmosphere of the game really pulls you into it. The crowd is cheering and chanting just like in a real football game and the crowd is moving. The sound effects are very good and realistic. You hear the whistle blowing and I really enjoy hearing the crowd and really creates that “live game” atmosphere.

Being not much of a gamer myself nor much of a sports fan either, I must say that Masterkick is quite an interesting game that really pulls you in, even for a non-gamer like myself. So, if you’re a fan of soccer/football, you will likely love it.

Video of Masterkick

Video at YouTube

Here are my observations: The game is quite an experience if you have never encountered a sports action game that provides quite an atmosphere of a live game. That alone has blown me away. I love how the developer has put so much detail into the game to make it so realistic in so many ways ranging from the sounds to the crowds, to the instant replay and even the scrolling ads. I can tell that this game was developed for the love of the game due to the details incorporated into it.

Now, as a non-gamer and not much of a sports never mind soccer/football fan, I can see that its appeal may not be as enticing to non fans as it may be for hardcore fans. If you break the game down into the actual game play without all the customizations and extras, you are simply playing a foosball or table soccer game. If you don’t like playing foosball or table soccer, this game may not appeal to you. As well, it may seem boring to *only* be able to move the players up and down and nothing else. That is what the game is about, quite technically, plus all the extra enhancements that make it a much more exciting and interactive game.

After saying all that, I do find the game appealing because of how the overall game experience can lure you into it. I believe it’s the sound of the crowd cheering and chanting and the instant replay that really make it fun for me personally. As well, the feel of watching the game like from a TV as the screen scrolls left or right to focus on the ball is quite something else. This game really captures the essence of playing and watching a live game.

Since this game is quite a hit, I would suggest perhaps creating a similar type game for ice hockey. I’m sure that a lot of North American fans would love such a game with a hockey theme, especially NHL. Maybe Nemanja may consider this suggestion?

Details of Masterkick (taken from the Readme file):

Master Kick is an arcade game of table soccer.

SAMSUNG:
SPH-i550, SCH-i539, SGH-i530, SGH-i500

Review Summary

Masterkick is quite a game experience. You no longer have to be at a “live” game to experience the atmosphere or excitement of a live soccer/football game. Just running Masterkick, you’ll experience it already. This is a fan’s game because it really incorporates a lot of the game feel to it, down to the line formation, ads, fields, etc. The game succeeds in creating such a game experience that you would normally get either by watching it on TV or playing it at an arcade. The smart design makes you feel like you are moving with the camera and the ball as it travels left and right, not to mention all the interactions all around it including the background, shadows, ads, etc.

Regardless of all the excitment that a fan would experience, for a non sports or foosball fan, this may not be as exciting. Keep in mind that the actual game or game play itself is very limited to the game play of table soccer or foosball. You are limited by moving your player up and down, just like the real game of foosball or table soccer. If you are focusing the entire game based on this fact, you will be disappointed since you aren’t doing much more beyond that. But, if you are willing to incorporate the entire package which includes the customization, you will enjoy this game a lot.

Again, Palm Discovery thanks Nemanja Bondzulic of Industry Entertainment for providing the game for this review.

Download Masterkick from:

(Palm OS)

Handango, Clickgamer, eSellerate.

(Windows Mobile)

Handango, Clickgamer.

Disclosure: Palm Discovery is an affiliate of Handango and other online software stores such as Clickgamer and eSellerate which offer Masterkick. Purchases made with the affiliate links provided in this review and elsewhere on the site will help keep Palm Discovery running and pay for other associated expenses. As well, at the end of each year, thanks to your generosity, Palm Discovery will donate a portion of the proceeds to charity to help others not so fortunate. Thanks for your past and continued support!

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

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