Direct Link : Master Kick
Publisher : INDUSTRY Entertainment

Price : $14.95

Genre : Sport/Action

Graphics : 7 Out of 10
Sound : 8 Out of 10
Gameplay : 8 Out of 10
Longevity : 5 Out of 10
Overall : 7 Out of 10

I must admit I have never considered the possibility, that there could be a Pocket PC version of table football/fooseball, but in the matter of a few weeks, this is the second game I’ve seen. I approached this game with a sense of skepticism, but I have to say after playing for a while, it really is rather good.

The gameplay is just what you’d expect. The control mechanism is well thought out, but I have some reservations about constantly pumping the hardware buttons. That aside though, the gameplay is pretty fluid and is exactly how you’d imagine it to play. You move your men up and down using either the d-pad, or slide the stylus (or your finger) up and down on the screen. You spin the men by clicking on either the Select, Contact or Home button. Depending on how long you hold the button, determines how strongly you spin your men.

There are two different gameplay options, either single game, where once you’ve selected who you want to play as, you then select one of the remaining 5 opponents. The other mode is League, where you play all the other teams, hoping to finish at the top of the league. My only concern is that while this provides an excellent way to while away a few minutes, the league mode doesn’t really offer much depth, as you only play each team once. It would have been great, if the other mode was some kind of knock out competition, where you first have to qualify and then scrape through each round to reach the final. Failing that, if you at least had to play each team twice that would be better.

There are also two different modes of play. You can either play a timed game where the winner is the one with the most goals after 3 minutes, or play until one of the players reaches 5 goals.

Conclusion : Whilst this is an excellent implementation of the game on the Pocket PC, the long term playability is a factor. If you love to switch on and have a quick game with some frantic action this is a must buy. If however you like a game with a little more depth, then you may want to try this out first.