KickOff 2002 soccer game now available in US

KickOff 2002 is now available in the United States, thanks to the efforts of Freeverse Software. The game should be on retail store shelves within the next few weeks for about US$30.

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KickOff 2002 is an international soccer game that’s the latest installment of a wildly successful franchise that has sold some 3.5 million units over the past decade. It’s never made it to the Macintosh before, however. The game was brought to the Mac platform thanks to Virtual Programming Ltd., the same UK-based studio that created the Mac version of Wipeout 2097 earlier this year. So far, however, its distribution has been limited to Europe.

While past European soccer games have largely focused on the management end of the game, KickOff 2002 puts players in a fast arcade-style environment where they control what’s happening on the pitch from an overhead, 2D sprite-based perspective. The game features 204 national teams comprised of 16 players each, with the full list of countries affiliated with FIFA.

For gamers looking for realism, you’ll find that team stats are consistent with FIFA ratings. Each player on the team features a combination of eight skills and physical attribute statistics that affect how they’ll play on the field.

KickOff 2002 has 1 or 2 player options, along with a special Practice mode that’ll help you get started. Keeper skills and ball control levels can be adjusted.

System requirements for KickOff 2002 call for a PowerPC G3/333 or faster; 64MB RAM; 132MB HD space; RAGE 128 or better graphics card; Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. The game is available to order from Freeverse now.