Kick Off 2 Tutorial

Improving Your Kick Off 2 Skills - Useful tips and tricks to improve your gameplay.

This are a number of forum threads pulled together to create a kinda of Kick Off 2 Gameplay FAQ, where aspects of the game are discussed collectively and where knowledge is shared. If you consider yourself to be an experienced player who has reached a certain standard then why not contribute further to any of the chapters below.

Improving Your Gameplay

Trapping

Forum Discussion

Gianluca Troiano: Kick Off 2 ball control is one of the most beautiful thing ever created after the women. It's implementation is something revolutionary, just few months ago i understood how it's made...Throw In ball control is based on the same concepts. You could like or dislike Dino Dini but i can tell you ball control is really based on a smart concept. Honestly i never had the same intuition, and only monitoring for 15 years the original KO2 one i could develop something that is close (but not so effective) to the original ball control.

Dino Dini: It is simple. If you hold the botton down before you touch the ball, you control it. If you press the button after you touch (or kick the ball dribbling) the ball you shoot it. I wanted to retain the concept of "shoot the moment the ball is pressed" so it was the only way to make a difference. With practice you can reliably control and pass or shoot on the fly. One snag was that anyone with autofire on would find it impossible to control the ball. Another snag is that people never read manuals and there was no training mode to explain it. Too many people were having problems understanding this aspect of the game and is the reason why I moved away from the model post KO2. Trapping is how passing works. If you can't trap you can't pass (well apart from using shoot to pass). To pass you first trap the ball, point in the direction to pass and then release the button. Sensible soccer had no trap ability at all... as I recall a short tap was the auto pass and the long tap a shot. I can only tell you the way that the game was designed. If you can't trap the ball, you can't do passes (at least Auto passes). To recap:

• Touch ball then press button = Shoot
• Press button then touch ball = Trap
• Let go of button while trapped = pass in direction of stick
• Let go of button while trapped with no stick direction = release from trap mode.

The most common reasons for people not being able to trap are:

1. Because they do not know about the fact that it depends on the order
2. Because they have autofire on their stick
3. Because they have a stick with a faulty button that does not make reliable contact

Since trapping relies on the game seeing that you are holding the button down, autofire stops you from ever giving this instruction because it is automatically pressing and releasing the button very fast. You will be able to shoot normally (although it could throw your timing off). But all traping is impossible and passing becomes vritually impossible apart from in the direction you are already facing.

When I discovered this problem with Auto Fire, I felt sick. I wondered about how many people had tried to play the game with autofire sticks and autofire on, and hated it. As a result I built a check into GOAL! to detect autofire sticks. I wish I had done the same in Kick Off 2.

When you run up to a free ball with no opponents around, held down the button to trap the ball and the player does a pointless slide! that is the old slide tackle chestnut!

The problem is that with one button, how does the computer know what you mean? In a free ball situation the rules are different. Pressing the button makes you slide, unless the ball is in the air, in which case you do a header.

This makes collecting a loose ball a difficult thing to do. There is no easy way of collecting a loose ball and immediately trapping it. If you press the button after you touch it, you will shoot it... if you press it before you will slide. Providing you can slide and retain the ball in KO2 (forgive me my memory fails me on this point) then one way is to slide to the ball and keep the slide button held down. Then when you touch the ball and stop you will be in trap mode.

Once your player in in possession of the ball, sliding is no longer possible and so the problem no longer arrises.

Spyros Paraschis : the trapping model in KO is an amazing software design and implementation achievement. It allows complex moves to be made, stop and go dribbling, passing and shooting, and all with only one fire button. It really grows on you as you play the game and it demands quick reflexes, understanding of the game physics and timing, that is, it demands SKILL, as all games should be.

Trapping and aftertouch are the most important features of Kick Off.

Finishing

Forum Discussion

Jørn Flagtvedt: I've found that I prefer pbd. My finishing-technique requires it, obviously. When playing 1.4 I just can't seem to get proper control over the ball to make my moves. It seems that if I'd been aware of the insane differences in finishing abilites I have between Oracle and 1.4 I'd been playing Oracle loads more in Milan, hence winning more.

Mark Williams: PBD is great especially for 1v1 against the keeper and gives you more options in my opinion. Try and play back to back games (about 15) and try to always score more than say 8 against the computer. A routine I do is to set myself a target of 9 goals. Then I will play say 8 matches and have to score 9 in every match. If I fail then the counter starts again (ie back to match 1). Once I get to 8 matches I will make it 10 goals and start again. The pressure really really gets to you and this is invaluable experience for keeping your cool in a real match. For example say you are 8-0 up in match 7 and there is 1 minute left you will find it soooo hard to score that vital 9th goal....but the more you practice the more you will find you keep your cool in that situation and thus also in a REAL match when you need to score in the last minute as well. Its invaluable experience. Some people say you learn nothing from playing the CPU, but I wholly disagree and think you learn to handle yourself under pressure, or even just get used to scoring goals instead of thinking about them. I find the goal easier in 1.4, however its easier in Oracle (in my opinion) to make a small adjustment if you aint on target, thus making it easier to score overall.

Nikos Andreou: PBD is only good if you can't tap the ball. Taping the ball with PBD enabled is shit.

Alex Brante: Don't forget that sad goal (running diagonally towards the near post and shooting as late as possible), which works even better on Oracle (cause that version requires no skill whatsoever! :) ).

Rodolfo:If I had to gave some advice for improving KO... well, most of my games against CPU for many years were meanwhile listening and singing Beatles songs. It is not that I have achieved a superb level as you know, or that Beatles help you scoring: the point is concentrating on something else out of the game itself. I believe it helps a lot to get an automatic way of playing. And once you can play auto pilot, like a robot, you can begin developing real skills.

Rikki Fullarton: The reason there are so many people struggle in this area is simple. They don't realize that finishing has allot to do with controlling the keeper. It's all about presenting the ball the right way to make the keeper move where you need him too most of the time. Remember, learn to control the keeper but it's easier said than done. Let me tell you the best way how to practice on finishing. Play the Amiga for 2x20 minutes with a 424 formation. Dont think about passing the ball and working in any area other than goals. Constantly punt the ball upfield with a mixture of high and low passes as the way you receive the ball around the box from a pass is probably the most important part of finishing. Your first touch and player direction will create the difficulty level of the goalscoring opportunity. Like I said before, it's so much to do with controlling the keeper.

If you don't show enough of the ball on your first touch, the keeper will not position himself in a way that will enable you to slide it past him which is the easiest way to score. It's always best to draw the keeper to either side of the goal before striking the ball the opposite side with curl which mostly results in a beautiful tidy finish. It's vital that you really have computer opposition because the positioning of defenders has a huge effect on decision making and indeed your decision has to be correct.

This is very difficult to explain but like I said, keep punting the ball upfield to your strikers and practice on positioning yourself whilst taking control of low and high balls. Ocassionally trap the ball if you need to but trapping in the area should rarely be done and you need to get to the stage where you can always pick the right spot to shoot from giving the what ever circumstances you are faced with. The average place you should really be shooting from is probably from about 12-15 yards out. (Roughly near the penalty spot or just before)

Although shots from further/nearer distances are often necessary and often better options depending on the keepers movements and positioning of defenders. Once you get a good understanding of this and a skill to do it competently, you will probably then start to master the different kinds of shooting that's often required. Foe example you have to learn to shoot under the goalkeeper as there are occasions where a sweeping basic strike will always be saved unless you learn to make the ball slide underneath the keeper.

This is done with the minimal of pressure on the fire button but the after touch is critical and you have to get it right. This is how Swifty has become a dangerous opponent for the elite, he has mastered these areas very well and James Beard hasn't for example. James Beard is a perfect example of a quality player who hasn't learned these things and trust me, what I have explained here will be difficult advice to beat when it comes to finishing. Don't forget, so much involves control of the keeper so present the ball correctly in the area whilst maintaining full control and awereness of everything. Takes so much practice but if you pay attention to what I have put here it will help you.

Robert Swift: PBD opens up a whole realm of freestyle finishing

Haydn H:You have to practice, practice, practice. Force yourself to do things differently. It does seem strange, but it is a nice feeling when you have a 'repetoire' of finishes, and you instinctively choose the right one 7 or 8 times out of 10. Just keep doing it, it will come. I also like beer. I placed the bottle in a place where I couldn't quite reach. Then when I scored a goal I was trying to perfect I'd allow a nice slurp... Got quite good at corners, that way...

Winning 50/50 balls

Forum discussion

Nikos Andreou:the best way to win headers is to switch to a tactic that midfield players are close to the centre of the pitch. I find it easier with 5-3-2 and maybe 4-3-3.

James Beard: Remember to press the fire button to get control of the player nearer the ball if you do not have control of him.. that way you can move to the ball and beat your opponent to it.

Robert Swift: If you are needing to win the ball from goal kicks, then it's best to do it without heading, as once you head it down you need to control it. However if your opponent is going for the headers, you can-

1. Make yourself more likely to win the header by moving in the direction the ball is travelling, rather than trying to go sideways or against
2. Let your opponent head the ball down then steal it off him in the half second as it hits the ground

Noodlebug: I would add to what Robert said with:

1. Know your players, some are stronger than others and you can aim your goal kicks and receiving players accordingly.
2. You don't always have to collect the ball, sometimes you can just push the other guy out of the way, let the ball roll through, and chase it.
3. Mix up the directions: diagonal headers, back headers, consecutive headers - don't just rush for goal ever time. If you know which way the ball is going and your opponent doesn't you have an edge.

On the other hand, from opponent's goal kicks provided you get a player in line with the ball moving to meet it from the opposite direction, my experience is he'll win every single header, unless your timing is hopelessly off. Against CPU it's a boring way to get lots of consecutive shots at goal (see FINISHING) and pinning the CPU in their own half.

Tactics

Forum Discussion Alex Brante: 433 and 442 are totally useless... Nonetheless, Luigi, finalist in Milan, plays 433, and so does Martin Beard, for example, successfully. The Spanish champ Rodolfo is the only guy I know who plays 442, though I do belive the great Bill21 was(/is?) also a 442 man.

Anyway, I've played 424, the default tactic, my whole life and it is probably too late to change that. Once in a while I play 532 vs the cpu, but never with much success. Still, again according to Robert, who admittedly knows the game inside out, 532 is both a beginner's and expert's choice. Beginners will feel less vulnerable at the back than with a 424, where it is often Cox vs two or even three players and any mistake is costly. However, unless you wholly want to rely on lobbing, you'll have to learn the dos and donts of 532 to be able to get a decent attack going - you'll have to slow down the game in midfield for your other players to move towards the opponent's goal.

Both 442 and 433 have one major weakness - defending. If the opponent controls the ball in the right places without you stopping him, he can play long lobs to his striker without you having a chance to intercept the ball and you'll basically have to hope for a mistake by him, otherwise he'll score. On the plus side you have some great attacking chances - you'll need to talk to Rodolfo about 442, which is only slightly superior in attack to 424 and most people will tell you that is simply not enough to warrant playing it.

433 of course needs attacks initiated by the wingers - If you can confidently score by diagonal lobs into the box which you then shoot or head in with your striker, then it is an interesting tactic, but you will probably concede a lot of goals, too, so you have to outscore your opponent.

Now, KO2 is a great game and that means none of the formations are perfect. In 424, Cox all by himself can defend well, but good players can draw him out, too, and pass the ball on to a striker who'll have a clean shot - not quite as easy to do as with 433 or 442. And even 532 does not guarantee that no striker will even be all by himself in the box if the opponent plays just the right passes.

Of the top players, Martin J plays 424, so do Spyros and Klaus, as well as Panayotis and Mark P. Most of the other players favor 532 - like the champ Gianluca (but one of his strengths is his flexibility, in the final in Milan he played 424 against Luigi's 433 and it certainly looked like a good choice). Or Alkis, now what a deadly player: 532 doesn't reap a lot of goals? Look at his stats! On the other hand, check the goals against of the top 424 players - they can totally dominate an opponent and thus hardly condede any. Nikos plays 532, so does Rikki, Robert of course, Camber, James Beard...

So, definitely, it is your decision. I personally am totally happy playing 424, I know where my players are, what my options are (usually) and very much like that I often have the choice of trying one wing or the other, or even go through the middle. If you want to be good, learn your tactic inside out. If you want to be real good, learn all of them inside out and be prepared to switch between them depending on the opponent! Smile

Which reminds me of another point, which I only learned from Robert in Milan - if you get a free kick say just inside your half, a top player might switch to another formation because it'll produce an unmarked player up the pitch! This looks (as I said, I'm no expert) very interesting especially with a 532, which normally is quite defensive. In other formatiosn you might then again think about switching to 532 once in a while when facing such a problem. I've told myself for ages (but keep forgetting when playing) I should switch when I have a corner playing down the pitch - cause I haven't scored from one in ages and it can produce a great counter attack for the opponent - in Jerez when I played Rodolfo's mate David (532), he scored on such counter attacks several times and I thought it was totally stupid, but a simple switch might help out, only it's not part of my gaming routine - so another "to do" on my long list of things I need to work on...

My scoring chances would greatly improve if you use 433! Smile Seriously, and I hope other comments will back this up, 532 is not the answer to everything - Mark Williams I believe improved a lot after a switch to this defensive formation, but personally I'd rather improve my finishing and not concern myself even more with defending, I want to be "in the game". And with my skill level I think I'd just be reacting if I used 532. A more offensive formation makes it easier to play out your own attacks, which is simply more fun. And against less-than-elite-players you should be fine - and against the top guys you won't stand a chance whatever you use! Smile (Unless you attend a lot of tournaments, get in a lot of practice and so on of course)

Mark Williams:From the basic tactics its a sort of Attacking or Defending option.

There are many bonuses to 442 and 433 in attacking, however they have glaring holes left open in defence. People who use 433 in particular are generally expert players who attack very well, and thus will try and score more than you.

532 on the other hand is defensively based. You should not expect to score as many (although many people prove this not to be the case) but it gives you a solid back 2 who will cover most long balls etc.

• 424 is sort of a mix between the two. Many attacking options and can defend well if you can read the game. So therefore its a decision. 442 I would say is pretty rubbish in general.

• 433 is only to be used if you are confident you can outscore your opponent.

• 424 is great if you like attacking and using the wings. It needs great concentration when defending tho as quite a few times your defenders will be out of position (even if only a yard or so)

• 532 is a good solid foundation to build on when you are a new tournament player. It helps you defend but still has options (although you have to work harder to create attacking opportunities)

I personally enjoy 532 against the better players as I find it helps me keep their goalscoring feats down to a few goals, however against players my level and below I prefer 424 as I enjoy the game a lot more with wingers and passing it around.

No reason why you can't learn two and switch as required.

Rodolfo: This is Rodolfo, the 442 weirdo.

When you are the only one using this tactic, this will also give you some bonus, as many other players do not expect how will you play. It is very very funny, you always have some good scoring chance, and about defending... the better players will knock you anyway.

It is true that the defense line is a joke. But it is also true that this con has its pro: you will have to learn to be a good scorer. You will have to try to keep the ball possesion as much as you can, you will have to stop the enemy attack in the midfield or you are dead. And the results will very often be 6-7 or 5-4. Wich is something I do like.

Another thing: against CPU is the best tactic you can use in my opinion. That will mean that you will not learn how to defend, and in the real world that is quite negative. But on the other hand, you may learn how to score.

The most shocking thing I have experienced in the 3 world cups I played is how bad are most of the people when they are in front of the goalkeeper. And after that, many of them beat me, because they defend very well, and I do not (can not) defend at all. But I always regarded this as somehow antinatural... people who learned to defend before learning to score... poor boring chaps.

The good players will beat you anyway. Get the tactic you like more, the tactic you find more enjoyable.

I would agree about most of the things Robert said, except his lob encouraging. No; and let me remark that I will never defend ethic rules against lobs and that kind of stupidity, but puting them as one of the main weapons is not a favour to our game.

We all know what they are, and how they work, but they still stink. They are a way of winning without playing. And worst of all, they are not even fun to do.

jbounias: All tactiks could be good , if ko was slower and allowed in line or zone play, but as this game is nothing but a frantic up and down and if you can dribble there is no defence at all, its better to use a tactic that has the players spread round the field as best it is possible.So for this reason and only you should try 433 , its an all around tactic and best suited to the games speed. Ofcourse there are many other characteristics but they are in deep connection to your style. My modest opinion is that there are thoulsands of ways to score goals but few only one way to win in a truly advanced competition, its simple you must be expert all round. I think that long passes and lobbing are easily intercepted by cpu , so you will just loose all of your possesion battle. So keep it low , only with human vs human its possible a fine long pass play, but with ofsside it gets pretty difficult. Dribling is the only way to keep you in the game.

Robert Swift: if you cannot score an easy chance 1v1 with the keeper, then no tactic is going to help you.

After that, it's not about defence or attack, it's about dominating the game.

Look at the last few world cups and UK champs - the 'best defender' has most often gone to 424 players: Rikki, Klaus, Martin Jeffrey. These players defend their goal by attacking yours. You can't get near them because you are too busy clearing their shots off your goal line.

Dominating the game means getting to every ball first, winning every header, completing every pass, scoring every chance and pressuring your opponent into fucking up.

How much to do tactics affect this? About 30%. The rest is practice, concentration, experience, confidence.

• Practice - comes from playing the game
• Concentration - comes from working hard and not being tired
• Experience - comes from learning those 'features' of the game you can exploit
• Confidence - comes from feeling you're going to win even if the score might not say this!

The golden rule about tactics is that the best one to use is the one you know best. This way you gain an understanding of where players are. When you play long passes, you are kicking the ball off the screen. Knowledge of your tactic means you are not passing to the opposition and getting your ass kicked as a result.

5-3-2 might have a deep defence but what it lacks is players in space to clear the ball to. It will prevent you being hit on the break (danger of 424) but unless you are excellent at heading you'll find yourself trying to clear and the ball barely makes it over the halfway line before your opponent heads it down and blasts it back into your box. 4-3-3 and 4-2-4 at least have someone to clear to.

HOWEVER - 5-3-2 is the tactic I would recommend to anyone starting professional KO2. This is because there is nothing so damaging to confidence as letting in about 8 goals against someone. With 5-3-2 you can get this down to 4. May not sound exciting but you only need to learn to score 4 goals per game rather than 8 (like Rodolfo Laughing Laughing ).

I feel bad every time I see a newer player starting a game on 424 against someone experienced. Because I know they might make 5 or 6 chances and convert about 1. On 532 they might make 3 or 4 chances and convert 1. You see, the value of 424 only comes when you can score 5 or 6 GOALS per game rather than 3 or 4. There's no point creating extra chances you can't score.

The last thing is that lobbing is the most basic goal of KO2. It's a basic skill. People that don't/can't lob are rare and freakish. Basically Rikki and Gianluca. If you can do everything else as well as them then don't lob. Otherwise you need to lob. You aren't playing the game if you don't have lobbing at least on your mind when you attack. And the best thing about lobbing? It works just as well on 1.4 and Oracle.

So, 532 and lobbing is one of the best ways to start. Look at players like Camber and J Beard....they never even got beyond this stage and sometimes they manage to beat good people.

Think of it like in the film Leon/The Professional. Leon (Jean Reno) is training a 12 year old girl (Natalie Portman) to be an assassin. First he teaches her how to use the sniper rifle. He says "You start with this. The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you get to the target. The knife you will learn last of all." Lobs are your sniper rifle....Rodolfo might be pretty decent up close with his knife, but all the more reason for new players to put on body armour and shoot his head from 1000m away

New players may score all types of goal but without meaning to or planning. They are simply flukes most of the time. The aim is to make the scoring deliberate, be in control, learn the goals one by one. Turn the 5 into 10 into 20 into 50. But lobs should maybe be the first 2 out of the 5, or 2 out of the 10. Like I say, some players don't get past these first 2. Dan Secker, Steve Camber, Steve Screech.....these people DO enjoy lobs. Sad bastards.

lobs

Gianluca Troiano:Lobbing is a lethal weapon. You don't even need to play KO2. You can lob from everywhere and they are almost unstoppable because it's enough 50ms to perform a lob. Even if you dominate the game you can still conceed 2-3 lobs per game. It is happened to me many times, when my opponent can't shot then he will do it at KickOff. I remember a game when i wanted to keep down the score, but he scored 3 kickoff lobs...then i slashed him! Lobbing will destroy the fun of the game because the best player will not win the match....only the luckiest one will do. Many people are really limitated in using lobs, they could pass to the unmarked forwarder but they prefer to don't play and lobbing instead. My advice is don't lob, you spoil the fun. Trying a lob is like to try to be lucky. At least if you try a lob from neutral position of the pitch. We all know where a lob could go in and this is why elite matches are not decided by lobs. But lobbing from all over the pitch it's like rely on the fortune and i honestly prefer to rely on my skills.

Robert Swift: I agree Gianluca, but you need a lot of skill to beat a good defence (and yours is THE BEST).

It's fine for YOU to tell your opponents to dribble into your box and score because that's much better but the best % is for players to hit 10 lobs and hope that 3 go in. Because if they dribble at you 10 times then maybe they only get in your box 2 times and score 0 or 1. Makes sense World Champ?

I am sure you hate lobbing because it's the #1 goal scored against YOU! But have some sympathy for your opponents. A real champ can take any type of goal and still win.

Alex Brante: Robert's advice which was called depressing by Rodolfo is generally sound. Especially since KO2 players are rare these days and the few you encounter regularly usually know the game pretty well. It should hopefully let you concede less goals in your early career games in which you learn more and more of the trade. Also note that against good players you'll have huge troubles getting near their goal, they win the headers in midfield or stop you otherwise. For that reason alone lobbing is worth practising.

On the other hand, Robert also mentioned that you need possession. As I wrote, I cannot get "into the game" with 532, I lose the ball too fast (or lob too much Very Happy). Against players of equal strength I want to be as active as possible.

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