When it comes to portable gaming I’m generally more a fan of games that you can sit and play for an hour or so, but on occasion a quick pick-up-and-play game comes by that steals my interest, like Flick Kick Football.
The premise of Flick Kick Football couldn’t be simpler: flick the ball so it lands in the back of the net. Swiping from the bottom to the top of the screen kicks the ball, longer swipes go higher and swiping in a curved motion adds after touch to your shot. There are a few things to add a little extra challenge, such as defenders who can move from side to side or a different camera angle after each shot that forces you to vary your power, there are also added incentive to aim around the edge of the goalmouth as this can add extra lives or time depending on your game mode.
There are three main game modes: arcade,  bullseye and time attack. Arcade gives you unlimited time but no lives, extra lives can be earned by hitting the ‘skill zone’ around the goalmouth’s edge. Time Attack is quite the opposite, with unlimited lives but a time limit that is extended by hitting the skill zone and finally the bullseye mode requires you to hit targets in the goalmouth to extend a time limit. The core idea of the game is so simple that it’s hard to ask for any modes beyond this, but it would have been nice to see some kind of two player penalty shootout mode, even using a single handset.
There’s a great deal of style on display, both with the audio and visuals. The game begins with a great tune but during the game it’s just the sound of the ball and the occasional football chant. Graphically the game has an aged feel, but not in a bad way. The menus and the game screen itself has a grimy look that adds a little extra something to what would otherwise be a drab visual experience. You never see much of the pitch beyond the goalmouth and there are no different stadiums, even the defenders are two dimensional static sprites rather than animated three dimensional characters, although this appears deliberate to give them a cardboard cutout feel when you knock them over, intentionally or not.
It’s a basic game, but what it tries to do, it does well and while it won’t be a game you’ll sit down to play for hours on end, for just $0.99 Pik Pok’s Flick Kick Football is great fun in short bursts that some might call ‘digital chocolate’.
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