Flick Kick Football Legends Review

Flick Kick Football Legends is almost a great game, but it's a title that's going to make many soccer fans wish they could have just paid an one-off fee in the first place rather than be drawn into a freemium experience.

The game allows soccer fans to live their dreams by managing and playing in a team as it works its way up the leagues. There's little realism here - no big sporting names or anything particularly complex to keep track of. Instead, capturing a 1970s feel and (at least for the Brits amongst us) offering a Roy of the Rovers style, it's pure fantasy. Not that it'll necessarily be an easy game to succeed at.

As the name suggests, play is dictated through flicks of one's finger. There's little control over which player is used or when, with primary interaction coming from a flick of the finger to pass or shoot the ball. A similar movement is required to tackle or steal the ball from the opposition. It's a simple system but one that requires some precise timing as well as lining up the shot neatly. As one faces tougher opposition the margin of error decreases significantly, proving quite the challenge.

There are other more managerial aspects to the game such as the ability to swap players in and out as well as unlock new skills through an experience-based system, but Flick Kick Football Legends keeps it simple. There are no statistics for tracking shots on goal or the ability to change formations. Those looking for a more complex experience would be better off playing something like New Star Soccer.

Keeping it pure kind of works for Flick Kick Football Legends though. It's not afraid to be casual and it's fun thanks to that admission.

The problem is, presumably due to its casual focus, it's a freemium game. This means two significant things. For one, there are annoying banner ads throughout the game, and they are quite distracting. For another, there's an energy system. Sometimes energy systems aren't too evil, but this one means that players can only ever play a handful of matches before waiting it out for more energy. It cuts into game time significantly, and I found it often disrupting the momentum of playing through a tournament. Further freemium elements exist in terms of being able to buy new players more easily, but patience ensures that this can be done through natural progression.

For those who can look past such restrictions Flick Kick Football Legends is a fun game, but I'm not quite sure it's enjoyable enough to put up with such slow timers. I'd have certainly preferred to pay a premium one-off fee to enjoy it at my leisure.