Match Day

Producer: Ocean
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Jon Ritman & Chris Clarke

Match Day is a 3D football game played on a marked-out soccer pitch and features animated players and a bouncing ball. It may be played by one against the computer or by up to eight players in a knock-out competition using a 2-joystick interface or the keyboard.

The pitch is viewed from above and to one side in perspective, the screen scrolling continuously to centre the action. Each team has its own coloured strip, and the players are operated by the computer on a logical basis, mimicking soccer tactics. The player controls the character in control of the ball, or the one who is in the best position to tackle. Most soccer skills such as tackling, dribbling, passing, heading, blocking or trapping. The controlled player is indicated on screen by the fact that his socks change colour to match the rest of his strip.

Set pieces such as corners, centres and goal kicks can be performed with three levels of kicking strength.

After loading the game you can set the time of play for 5, 15 or 45 minutes each way (extra time is automatic if there is a draw). At this time it is also possible to select one of the three skill levels (for solo games against the computer). Names of teams may be altered to suit the players' inclinations. On top of that it is possible to alter the team colours, the background playing colours and that of the border to suit individual taste. The main menu options are readily accessible between each game and are even offered at half time. The colour change menu takes you to a screen with all the elements displayed in large characters so you can see the effect clearly before deciding.

The game comes accompanied by a 12 page instruction sheet with comprehensive details of both the features in the game and how to play it.

COMMENTS

Control keys: user definable
Joystick: almost any via UDK, but would have to be Sinclair 2 for two-handed play, unless keys programmed separately
Keyboard play: very responsive, and programming system makes for easy control of players
Use of colour: excellent with definable characteristics
Graphics: very good, realistic animation from all characters and everything is large and clear
Sound: good 'Match of the Day' tune, but not much during play except whistle sounds
Skill levels: 3 in solo game, otherwise depends on skill of real opponents

Match Day is Ocean's answer to Commodore's International Soccer and (besides having simpler graphics) this new Spectrum version is much the better. Offering superb options, including fully redefinable keys it is a much more playable game. The graphics are good and there aren't many attribute problems, which there were in World Cup Football. This game 'sports' many of International Soccer's features like a bouncing ball and diving goalies (which you can control for once). Match Day must be the definitive football game for the Spectrum and after seeing it, it puts all other Spectrum football games in the shade. This is the one to get!

Ocean's Match Day is by far the best football game about. There are others about which are quite good, but this one has the best graphics, playability, and atmosphere. Due to its playability it is surely going to be as big a seller as Daley Thompson's Decathlon. Match Day is very authentic in actual game play, but leaves out several less desirable elements like crowd violence and fouls (mind you on occasions the players seemed to be giving each other some nasty looks). The switching from player to player that is controlled as the ball enters that area, is very good. Dribbling, passing and other essential realistic features are all well done. Ocean have produced a great sports simulation which I would strongly recommend to everyone.

There are few attempts made at active football games. Earlier attempts have been quite good but none have been as good as this one. So much detail has been packed into this game and it has an almost foolproof front end. Graphics are of a nice size and well drawn, detailed. The animation is pretty good although the way the players run is a bit odd in the sense that they seem to put their feet down very definitely and almost in a robotic-like manner, but this doesn't spoil the character of the game. Such is the detail that attention has been paid to every point, for example the crowd constantly move up and down in different rhythms, and there is a shadow of the ball which increases and decreases in size depending on what height the ball is at which all adds to the 3D illusion. One feature I liked about this game is that you can alter the playing colours, not only on the players but also on the border and the pitch, a very useful facility. This game will probably appeal most to footballing fans but nevertheless a very difficult game to win.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

It's time to tiptoe down those creaky old stairs again. JONATHAN DAVIES leads the way...

Hit Squad
£2.99
Reviewer: Jonathan Davies

Obviously realising that this summer is going to be a long, hot footie one, what with the YS Footie Spectacular roaming the streets (oh, and the World Cup), the Hit Squad's done the obvious thing and dug out this old fave. It's THE footie game, really, and one that absolutely everyone should have a copy of. Even you.

Considering the ©1984 lurking in the depths of the cassette inlay (making it nearly as wrinkly as ouor Prod Ed), Match Day is looking very sprightly indeed. It's got everything! Half-decent graphics, vaguely convincing ball control and a complete absence of lists of numbers. The only thing that slightly annoys me is that you control whoever's closest to the ball. While this is fine for most of the time, occasionally you'll find control flipping between players when you don't particularly want it to. Perhaps it should wait 'til you press Fire or something. Not to worry though.

And the best part? Definitely the ultra-convincing simulation of the referee's whistle at the beginning of the match. It's unsurpassed!

Until Match Day II comes out on barg this is probably the best bet for the footie-frenzied light-of-pocket.

Dave: International Soccer has been available on the Commodore 64 (Wash your mouth out with soap! Ed.) for some time and has proved popular... especially in Dixons' shop windows! Well Match Day is basically the same game.

For those who haven't seen it, this is a football game where you have a 'camera's eye' view of the pitch on which two teams - either both player controlled or where you get to pit your boots against the computer - battle it out. You only control one team member at a time, while the others in your team run about and try to get into the best positions under computer control. If one of your players has the ball, then you get to control the player in possession; if you've got the ball, the Spectrum puts you in control of the player best positioned to intercept.

If the opposing side shoots for goal then you get control of your goalie and you can make him jump up or dive left or right. Set pieces, like corners and throw-ins, are handled automatically with your players positioning themselves; if it's your corner or throw-in, then you've nine options for the direction/strength of the throw/kick.

I hate football - but I loved this game and I'm quietly confident that it will be a hit. 5/5 HIT

Ross: The large graphics animate nicely, especially the goalkeeper who kneels up briefly after a dive and looks around for the ball. A fun game with a good degree of skill needed if you want to win the cup. 4/5 HIT

Roger: Unrealistic, in that it lacks violent crowd invasions of the pitch and vicious, leg-breaking fouls whilst the ref ain't looking. Still good enough to make Jimmy Hill mix his metaphors... 4/5 HIT

MATCH DAY
Ocean Software
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.95
Joystick: Kempston

The crowd rises to its feet, screaming and cheering in frenzied excitement as two international teams are heralded onto the pitch by that well known tune from Match of the Day.

The scene is set for the cup final in Match Day from Ocean - the crowd falls silent as the teams prepare themselves. The whistle blows.

The Tooting Tigers fight desperately for supremacy, but they are out of their league. The Camden Crawlers start to win, scoring goal after goal. Ten-nil to the Crawlers at half time. The Tigers seem to have lost their claws and retreat desolated to the changing rooms.

Match Day is viewed from the eye of the camera with the pitch scrolling from left to right. Although movement is slow there is a lot of detail in the program - your player can dribble, kick, head and throw the ball. The game includes corners and is as realistic as possible on the Spectrum.

As well as playing against the computer you can opt for a club match where as many as eight players can take part, each team playing the other through to the finals.

There is an extensive menu through which various game details can be altered - even to changing the team's name and colours.

You can control only one player at a time. He is always nearest the ball, identified when his socks turn the same colour as his strip. This places you at a disadvantage when playing the computer as the opposing team work as one to get control of the ball.

There is no sound other than the introductory tune. Strangled bleeps and squeaks filter from the computer at intervals throughout the game and sound more like a happy budgie than the grunts of the players.

It would be impossible to capture the atmosphere of football on a computer, but Match Day is a worthwhile attempt at reproducing a live game. If you are a football fanatic, you should enjoy this one.

Different in kind from both Football Manager and FA Cup games. This is a game of reactions, responses, animated graphics and the rest. It was designed by ace programmer, John Ritman (he of Batman fame) and the program is (sort of) the Spectrum equivalent of International Soccer on the Commodore.

A joystick is more or less mandatory on this one, and I must say I always found it a lot more fun playing against another human rather than the computer which seemed to me not to put up that great a fight. (If I can beat it there's something wrong somewhere.) Nevertheless it looks pretty good and the playing system - the member of your team your joystick is controlling (usually the one nearest the ball) is highlighted - works well.

For an actual game of soccer rather than a team management exercise Match Day is still the first choice.

Label: Hit Squad
Price: £2.99
Reviewer: Jim Douglas

Why, I ask myself, was Match Day heralded as such an astonishingly brilliant game? It's rubbish! Even if you're absolutely wrapped up in football fever at the moment, you'd have to be beyond loopy and into the dangerously insane category before you could utter anything favourable about this "outing".

Before you can even get into the game, you have to negotiate some absolutely horrific control selection menus, guaranteed to stretch your patience to its absolute limit.

Once you've endured this trial, the shortfalls; the glaringly sub standard graphics, the atrocious sound and the ploddy gameplay stand slim chance of receiving a benign reception.

Kick off! The players limp around the field like so many wet fish. Good fortune occasionally smiles and they find themselves in possession of the ball, lolloping up the field toward the enemy goal.

More often than not, you find yourself "tackled" simply by running too close to a player from the other team. Since the screen is laid out in artificial perspective, it's extremely tricky - even with shadow - to intercept the ball from throw ins or long kicks. I always ended up running alongside the ball. Needless to say, the computer controlled players don't make such mistakes.

While all the basic elements are included, throw ins, goal kicks etc, the game simply doesn't hang together. It's more frustrating than fun.

Spectrum £2.99cs
C64 £2.99cs
CPC £2.99cs

Similar to the above - but with less detailed graphics and fewer options.

PRICE: £5.90
GAME TYPE: Simulation

Major advantages of football are that those playing it benefit from outdoor exercise, and those watching it have the chance to see skillful players in action. Both of these elements are missing from Match Day, a simulation of football on the 48K Spectrum.

The opposition have a clear advantage in that they always know who they are and that they usually know what they are doing. The player is likely to be overtaken by a major bout of schizophrenia as control shifts from one player to the next. The player to move is the one whose socks are white, rather than yellow. As control changes frequently from one character to the next, there are around six players wearing yellow or white on the screen at any one time, and there is no certainty that your player is always on screen, this makes matters a trifle confusing.

A first attempt revealed a rather erratic scoring policy. The opposition were leading 1:0 when, presumably to give amateurs a sporting chance, they scored an own goal. Half time came, seeing the score standing at 4:1, and half time ended, leaving the score at 4:2. Something was definitely wrong somewhere.

The opposition mark your player wonderfully, even blending into him at times, and are prepared to stand stock still for hours if your player chooses to do so. They are also uncomplaining, for repeated kicking of players will never result in a foul being declared.

Football is not, and will never be, intended to be played on the computer. Go outside if you want a good game of football, look elsewhere if you want an enjoyable computer game.

Match Day is produced by Ocean Software, 6 Central Street, Manchester.

Spectrum 48K
Football Action
Ocean
£7.95

The thrills of Match of the Day and - no Jimmy Hill. To some extent Ocean has realised that football fans' dream with Match Day. For well over a year International Soccer for the Commodore 64 has been unchallenged as the top football action game for any computer. Now the Spectrum is back in the running.

Of course the limitations of the Spectrum's screen handling makes Match Day's graphics inferior to the CBM-64 game. but Ocean's program compensates for the poorer graphics with subtler controls which allow you to develop a whole variety of ball-playing skills.

Imagine watching a match from the TV camera's gantry high up in the main stand. That's the view you have of the action which scrolls smoothly as the play moves from one end of the field to the other.

Match Day is a two-player or if you want some really tough opposition try out your own brand of total football on the computers International level. It's the top level of three and it never puts a foot wrong.

The program's Amateur and Professional games are also very good, but beatable, and they are the only place to start if you've never played before - especially when you are trying to perfect the penetrating through-ball.

Set pieces like corners, throw-ins and goal kicks can be very finely timed and crushingly effective. In situations like these, as in the normal run of play, you can vary the angle and the pace of the ball. Probably one of the most difficult techniques to master using the joystick is the diagonal cross-field pass along the ground. But once you have got the hand of it, it really can cut the computer's defences to shreds.

Control passes from one team to another according to whichever is closest to the ball. Although that may sound simple, trapping and controlling the ball itself is another matter. The only way to do that effectively is to watch the ball's shadow and move your man to where you expect it to land.

As the slightly arthritic-looking players troops out on to the pitch to a rendering of the Match of the Day music, you might wonder what Jimmy Hill would make of some of the refereeing decisions the computer allows. The goals scored directly from throw-ins would certainly make that famous chin drop in disbelief. And most commentators would soon run out of cliches if in real matches the ball were to stick unmovably behind the goalkeeper for a whole half at a time.

But you soon get used to that - just as you learn to live with bad decisions on Saturday afternoons. In any case there are enough nice details in this program to make for the shortcomings. It's good to be able to name your own teams, choose the colours they'll be wearing as well as the competition they are playing in. All in all, a credit to the game.

Ocean
£7.95

You may remember WORLD CUP by ARCTIC COMPUTING, one of the first good football games on the market. MATCH DAY is far superior to any other and is of the same quality as International Soccer for the Commodore 64 - please Ed, may I just mention this computer - (No, ED!) Obviously the graphics are not as good, but they are very clear and the problem of bleeding did not seem to occur. The ability to alter the colour of the teams is a good idea, so you can pick the one that is most pleasing to the eye and easiest to recognise.

The extensive menus at the beginning are very useful, where a number of details about the game can be changed. There is not enough space to list them all here and you more than likely would get bored, but to give you an idea it is possible to alter the names of the teams, play against the computer, a friend or in a league, alter the length of each game, choose how each player is to control his team, difficulty levels of play, and so on.

The game starts as the teams run out on the pitch, with the tune Match of the Day sounding (and no Jimmy Hill). It is a bit tedious waiting for positions to be taken, but it is at least realistic.

The whistle sounds and the game begins. Playing against the computer can be quite difficult, especially if playing on one of the harder levels (there are three levels in all - amateur, professional and international). As in most of these games, you are in control of the player nearest the ball. At times it can be difficult to gain control of the ball, especially as there is no facility to strike the opposing player, but once in control, you can pass to fellow members, dodge the other team and hopefully score. Then a kick or throw-in is taken, the direction is controlled depending on the movement of the joystick or keys, so passing to your own team should be easier than on a real football ground.

The game is ideally played with a joystick, but if you are challenging a friend it is unlikely that you will possess two joysticks, so the keyboard will just about suffice.

As with most of these games on the Spectrum, due to the limitation of sound, headaches can be obtained quite easily, but the on/off sound switch is a Godsend. The reality of the whole match, with a reflection as the ball bounces and the quality graphics make this a worthwhile buy, allowing you to play football from the comfort of your armchair.

FITBA CRAZIE!

Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Well, C+VG, of course. As the world is gripped by football fever, Simon Inglis proves to be on the ball with a special round-up of all the computer football games available.

With so much attention lavished on this month's World Cup in Mexico you might think there's enough football on our screens at the moment without harping on about football computer games.

But the fact is that although games manufacturers continue trying to milk the national sport - another three this year takes the total to over 20 - most of them aren't much more fun than a goalless draw at Arsenal. And very often the ones that are worth trying are the ones least pubicised.

Take managerial games for instance. Everyone has heard of Kevin Toms' Football Manager, mainly because Addictive Games has a strong marketing instinct. Reported sales of over 150,000 make it easily the best seller in this field.

Yet its lesser known rivals are actually more challenging and amusing.

The Boss from Peaksoft, for example, with claimed sales of over 90,000. You must tackle realistic financial problems familiar to any soccer buff - like repairs from riot damage, rate demands from the council and so on, while favourable comments from pundits like Jimmy Hill play havoc with your team's morale.

But then the game spoils itself by allowing you to buy any player you want from your next week's opponents, a gambit not even tried by Malcolm Allison in his heyday!

The trickiest managerial game is United from C.C.S. which has horribly inflated prices for players - £2 million for a sweeper would deter even Ron Atkinson these days - but allows you to play clean or dirty on a scale of 1-10, and you pitch in apprentices and sell them off for a quick profit.

Big League Soccer from Viper, which arrived last year, has clearer graphics but goes to the other extreme by undervaluing players - Gary Bailey for £25,000! Surely he's not that bad?

And what a tedious format. Playing 42 games per season may be realistic but a takes an age to play, especially as you have to select each team from scratch for every match.

Football Manager scores because it has a good balance of challenge and reward. If we're honest, no one would play any game for long if, like most football managers, you end up nowhere having won nothing all season.

With Football Manager you have to be pretty awful not to do well at beginner's level. Alone amongst the managerial games each match has its own graphic display. Others just show minute by minute scores.

The trouble with this however is that you can only sit back and watch the action - like a real manager - and after the first few matches it's tempting to keep nipping out for a Bovril or a pee.

None of the players ever get sent off or fined for drunken driving, which makes it all horribly idealistic.

The latest managerial game on the market is Virgin's Official F.A. Cup Game, which is great for a crowd to play - well, eight people anyway - but on your own is somewhat less demanding than finding room on the terraces at Torquay.

Once you've selected ten teams to manage, the only other decisions to make are to choose between three sets of tactics and in later rounds answer a few fatuous questions.

Meanwhile, in between rounds, the computer churns out a load of ridiculous newsflashes which are supposed to affect your teams morale. Flashes such as "There is no news about your team in the press this week" and 'The club's oldest surviving player is 100 years old today'. Big deal! Unless of course the centenarian is still playing.

But the biggest anti-climax is the Final itself. Having teased you with a rendition of Abide With Me and a picture of Wembley, once the Final is over the game stops - no cheering, no presentation, no wildly ecstatic graphics

Now if you really wish to avoid excitement buy Liverpool (mail order only), possibly the slowest and least rewarding game on the entire market and an insult to the name of that great football club. If, like Tommy Docherty, you can't cope with managerial games for very long, Rothman's Football Quick Quiz, wityh questions by the yearbook's editor Peter Dunk is packed full of toughies, although the version I played had somehow managed to get all the categories mixed up. The non-League section was all about the FA Cup, and the European section was full of soccer trivia.

For sheer enjoyment I much preferred Answer Back Sport from Kosmo, which not only includes questions on cricket rugby, boxing, golf and tennis as well as soccer, but also has two action games of soccer and tennis in between quiz rounds.

For this reason I can just forgive them for misspelling the name of Liverpool's immortal manager Bill Shankly.

A cheapie quiz game available by mail order from Marksman Software, The Ultimate Soccer Quiz, is ultimately rather simple and dull, which might explain why the makers felt bound to slip in totally irrelevant scoreflashes from a fictitious game between Spurs and Everton.

Of course the hardest part of soccer to simulate is the actual game itself - hard enough for real professionals nowadays - and in this respect some of the software houses have come closest to scoring own goals.

Glenn Hoddle's Soccer from Amsoft offers routine entertainment but little more. It was far too easy to walk the ball into the opponents net - not one of Glenn's specialties. For no discernible reason the goalkeepers wore the same shirts as the rest of the team, a practice which was banned a mere 77 years ago.

The ball in Bobby Charlton's Soccer created by D.A.C.C. was so tiny, control was so hard and the instructions so lacking in one vital point that I had to turn to Bobby's very self-conscious message on the other side of the cassette for encouragement, before ringing the makers to find out how to proceed. If you too get stuck the way out is by Pressing Q twice.

World Cup Football, like the FA Cup game, is good for a whole crowd, especially those old enough to remember Bobby Moore, who is still featured on the cover. Hasn't anyone told Artic that Bryan Robson is the current England captain? Or that great footballing nations like Portugal and Hungary deserve inclusion rather more than Guyana and Tasmania.

A quick scan of the rule book would also inform Artic that a player cannot throw the ball in to himself.

Which is where Andrew Spencer comes in. He apparently knew nothing about football until he read the rule book and then proceeded to write International Football from Commodore which outscores its rivals in almost every respect. You can really hurl your keeper about the goalmouth, as well as getting your men to head the ball.

The graphics and sound are outstanding and the player's movements easily recognisable. My only criticism is that both teams wear black shorts.

International Soccer's closest rival is Match Day from Ocean which also sports good graphics and the Match of the Day theme tune.

Unfortunately the computer seems to play some odd tricks, the oddest being to make its players turn away from open goals and kick the ball into touch. The might just be sour grapes on my part however, since I seemed to be totally incapable of beating the computer in the tackle.

If you don't have a Commodore for International Football, Match Day for the Amstrad, BBC or Spectrum is the best of the rest.

Not all of us see soccer as a mere game however. There are some of us who delight in pouring over statistics and records, and some who use computers to help run their own leagues. Yes, people do still actually play the real game.

For such people two Spectrum programs from the Spartan Sports Association - Club File and Tables - are valuable aids.

I also liked League Table and Champions, both from Football Follower, which work out past form and list winners (useful for pools punters) and another Spectrum home-produced program called Tables which enable you to keep up-to-date records for the entire Football League and Scottish League, from Football Software.

I fear that none of these information packages will help you win a fortune on the pools, and I'm pretty sure none of them will make their creators very rich either. We'll leave that side of soccer to ourboys in Mexico. Long may they be needed to endorse the next crop of football computer games.

MANAGERIAL GAMES

FOOTBALL MANAGER
Addictive Games, 7a Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Tel: 0202 296404
BBC, Electron, Dragon, Amstrad, C64, Vic 20, Spectrum, ZX81

THE BOSS (also The Champions)
Peaksoft, 48 Queen Street. Balderton, Notts, Tel: 0636 705230
C64, 16, Amstrad, MX, BBC, Electron Dragon, Tandy, Spectrum £6.95-£8.95

UNITED
CCS, 14 Langton Way, Londom, SE3 7TL Tel: 01-858 0763
Spectrum £6.95

BIG LEAGUE SOCCER
Viper Software, Eardley House, 182-4 Campden Hill Road, London W8 7AS Amstrad £6.95

LIVERPOOL
P. M. Corbishley, 212 Walmersley Old Road, Bury Tel: 061-764 0229
Spectrum, Atari £8.45 (£14.95 Atari disk)

OFFICIAL FA CUP GAME
Virgin Games, 2-4 Vernon Yard, Portobello Road, London W11 2DX
Tel: 01-717 8070
Amstrad,C64/128, Spectrum £7.95

ACTION GAMES

WORLD CUP FOOTBALL
Artic Computing Ltd, Main Street, Brandesburton, Driffield, North Humberside Y025 8RL
Tel: 0401 43553
C64, Amstrad, Spectrum £6.95-7.95

KICK OFF
Bubble Software, 87 High Street, Tonbridge, Kent Tel: 0732 355962
C64 £1.99

INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL
Commodore, 1 Hunters Road, Weldon, Borby, Northants
Tel: 0536 205555
C64 £14.99

MATCH DAY
Ocean Software, 6 Central Street, Manchester M25NS
Tel: 061-832 6633

LEAGUE TABLE/CHAMPIONS
Football Follower, 4 Brampton Court, Bowerhill, Melksham, Wilts SN12 6TH
Spectrum £6.95, £4.95 (or £9.50 both)
Amstrad, BBC, Spectrum £7.95-£9.95

BOBBY CHARLTON SOCCER
D.A.C.C. Ltd., 172 Finney Lane, Heald Green, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 3PU
BBC, Electron £11.95 inc p&p

GLENN HODDLE SOCCER
Amsoft, Brentwood House, 169 King's Road, Brentwood, Essex CM14 4EF
Tel: 0277 228888
Amstrad £8.95 (£12.95 disk)

SPOT THE BALL
Thorn EMI, 296 Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GUI4 7NF
Tel: 0252 543333
Atatri £9.95

FIVE-A-SIDE FOOTBALL
Anirog Software, Unit 10, Victoria Industrial Park, Victoria Road, Dartford, Kent
Tel: 0322 92513/8
C64 £5.95 (£8.95 disc)

FIVE-A-SIDE SOCCA
IJK Software, Unit 3c, Moorfields, Moor Park Avenue, Bisham, Blackpool, Lancs LY2 OJY
Tel: 0253 55282
BBC, Electron

FOOTBALL QUIZZES

ANSWER BACK SPORT
Kosmo Software, 1 Pilgrims Close, Harlington, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 6LX
Tel: 05255 3942
BBC, Electron £9.95

ULTIMATE FOOTBALL QUIZ
Marksmen Software, Temple Chambers, 4a Abbey Road, Grimsby DN32 0HF
Spectrum £6.95

ROTHMANS FOOTBALL QUIZ
Cassell Ltd., 1 St Anne's Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3UN
Tel: 0323 638221
Spectrum £9.95

CLUB FILETABLES
Spartan Sports Association, 29 Feltham Avenue, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9BJ
Tel: 01-941 3252
Spectrum

TABLES
J. Moore, Football Software, 26 Trembear Road, St. Austell, Cornwall
Spectrum £5.95

Simon Inglis writes on football for the Guardian and Observer. He has written three books on football and is currently the official historian for the Football League's Centenary History. His second book, The Football Grounds of England and Wales, has sold over 20,000 copies to date and has been widely acclaimed. His latest book, a history of British football scandals, has also aroused great interest. Both are published by Collins Willow. He writes on a BBC computer and his record score at Hopper is 28,540.

FUNNY OLD GAME INNIT CECIL?

Footballs have been kicked around computer screens for just about as long as the gaming habit has existed. 1988 saw more releases than ever before - Tony Dillon asks what is and what is not good computer football.

Of all the simulations, authentic endorsements and plain old original attempts, there can't be any topic that comes as close to a games player's heart that our very own Soccer. Even in the very early days of paddles and mono displays, where the Grandstand home entertainment console reigned supreme with it's incredible 4-game selection football was one of them. Admittedly it was nothing more than computer tennis with double the number of bats, but it was still football. And it was the first.

Since then, many have tried to recreate the feelings of running about on an open pitch, being buffeted by the wind, the cheers of the crowd and smells of the other players. What we at C+VG have tried to do is come up with a comprehensive guide to the more memorable ones, the best, the worst, the one with the nicest graphics, the one that you couldn't tell the difference between the ball and the players, or indeed the players from the pitch, or simply the one that we liked the most. Also, we've put our heads together and come up with a league table of all the football games around at the moment. Including the ones we didn't get to mention. So, here goes, straight into section one, which funnily enough is about.

ARCADE FOOTBALL

Of the three genre of football games (Arcade, Managerial and Diagnostic), the arcade is easily, judging by the sales, the most widely popular, though games like Football Manager still rank high up in the list of best selling games. There were many early attempts at football games way back in the dawn of programming history, when programming people were just finding their feet. Now defunct Artic, for example, released World Cup I and II, which both featured small matchstick men, slow gameplay and a very low computer skill level. Funnily enough, World Cup II was given a facelift (well, not really a facelift, more a snip-and-tuck around the chin) and was released by US Gold under the title World Cup Carnival to coincide with the World Cup happening at the time. It came packaged with lots of photographs, posters and other World Cup memorabilia. Nevertheless it flopped and went down in game history as one of the worst games ever, ranking up there with The Great Space Race itself.

Probably the most successful of the early arcade football games was International Soccer on the Commodore 64. Originally only available on cartridge (now released on tape and disc by CRL), it featured large blocky graphics, crude animation and a tendency to crash quite a lot (well, mine did!). The funny thing is, even with todays high programming standards and the high level that consumers expect to find of today's software, it's still one of the best you can get on the 64. Except, of course, for a slightly altered version I saw a while ago, changed by the hands of our dear friend, Mr Gary 'Moose' Penn, who changed the players from their running state, and placed them all in wheelchairs, which is sick, and terrible (snigger), and not (cough, splurt) at all (ready to burst) funny (Ha ha ha).

So, what else happened that shook the world of football gaming? Matchday did! Written by Jon Ritman, and Bernie Drummond, it was quite simply incredibly superior to anything that had appeared before it, on the Spectrum anyway. It featured large, well animated graphics, a goalkeeper that could dive and a chance to play through a knockout championship to win the FA Cup, as well as simultaneous two players to boot. Not long after that came Matchday II, which had all the above and then some, such as jumping headers, a league facility with a code entry system, and improved graphics, not to mention DSS. What's DSS? The Diamond Deflection System. What this does is work out what direction the ball's going to travel in when it hits off another player, with the player's speed and direction brought into account.

Between these two came the game that should have been a lot better and, judging by its features, it was. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Super Soccer included things like sliding tackles, enemy levels and extra training, but was so bug-ridden and unplayable that it flopped. One major bug was the energy thing. If you played a long game, the players would run out of energy quite quickly. What they would finally end up doing was jog around the pitch at a snail's pace, then if you tried to do a sliding tackle, they wouldn't get up again, so basically 80 minutes into the game, the pitch would be littered with dead players.

Both the Nintendo and Sega have their own soccer games, Nintendo's is called Soccer, and is quite playable and has several levels of play. It also has a two-player option, but suffers from slightly sluggish joycard response. That withstanding, it's still a lot better than you can buy on most home computers.

Sega's World Soccer is one of C+VG's all-time favourite games, and can be held responsible for many hours of lost work time - particularly the case with Gary Williams, the Ads Manager. Unlike him, though, the game is absolutely brilliant and fully captures the spirit of a big game, with the players able to do overhead kicks, banana shots and slide tackles. It's a shame that it's only available on the Sega, as it's the best soccer game on any home system.

Up until recently, games have been displayed in semi forced perspective 3D, which works really well but often makes aiming for the goal difficult. Now a new trend is emerging: the overhead viewpoint.

Games like European 5-a-Side and Supercup Football let you view the action from above, which gives a much more accurate look at the action, with the size of the ball increasing and decreasing to denote hoots skyward. Easily the best, however, is the new one from Microprose/Sensible Software. It's smooth, fast, very playable and extremely polished and scored 95% in the last issue. It's menu system is incredible, and the game comes a very, very close second to World Soccer - it's easily the greatest football game available for home computers.

But these are mere highlights of all the arcade football games around at the moment. Check out the league table for the full C+VG report. Now, let's move onto the next section, which by some staggering coincidence happens to be about.

MANAGERIAL FOOTBALL

Moving completely away from games that require fast reactions and an eye of an eagle, and onto the slower, more thoughtful games that are around the managerial. Typically: in a managerial game you take the role of the manager/secretary/accountant of your chosen team and have to make all the right decisions with the ultimate aim of taking your team to the top of their league and winning the FA Cup/World Cup/Nations Cup/whatever. Of all the ones I've seen, rather than mention games that stand out, I'm going to talk about the companies involved.

First is Kevin Toms' company, Addictive. They released the first successful managerial game way back in, oh, well it was a while ago. It was then hailed as the best football game ever (not much of claim; check out the opposition at the time!) and was pretty simplistic. Written in 100% basic, it consisted of a series of screens with a choice on some of them. After cycling through them, you get a few highlights of the match you just played, with matchstick men and beepy sound effects. Though not much by today's standards, it still has to get a mention for being the original. I wish I could say the same for it's successor, FM2. The only difference between them were screen redesign and better graphics on the game highlights. A shame really, considering what could have been done.

One company that I have to mention are D+H games, a company almost solely devoted to managerial games, especially football ones. Though none of their games require huge amounts of thought, feature no graphics, have a tendency to be slow and are generally small, there is still an edge of the seat feeling when playing a match as minute by minute it updates the score. Probably their most famous one is Football Director, What a lot of people don't know is that Football Director is only part of a series. As well as the usual Football Director II, which boasts nicer screens and faster gameplay (except on the +3, which is six times slower than any other version), there's a two-player Super League, which is identical to Football Director except that it boasts two-player simultaneous action, and International Manager, which is Football Director set in the topsy turvy world of international football.

The last company I have to mention is the company that has recently written the best ever managerial game, Goliath Games. Headed by Doug Mathews, of ex-Scanatron fame, Track Suit Manager was the company's first release, and was well-received by everyone and featured all the teams in the World Cup, and all the players in all the teams (around 700 in all) as well as accurate statistics on all of them, a revolutionary ,match commentary system that gives you a continuous flow of text telling you what's happening on the turf. All this would normally cost speed, but in this case it doesn't. The speed of the game is fully adjustable via the joystick, from the full 45 minutes a half, right down to eight seconds a half. The Spectrum version is a bit slower than the Commodore version, and boasts a masterful piece of compaction. All the data just fits, and looking at the statistics I've been given, there were two bytes left at the end of it. The funny thing is there were two spelling mistakes, "Substitute" and the other one escapes me for the moment. The point I am two letters missing altogether, so if those letters were included, there would be no room left at all.

I can't talk about managerial games, though, without mentioning the worst: Soccer Boss. Soccer Box is not a very good game. In fact, it's very bad. It boasts amazingly s-l-o-w gameplay, unresponsive controls and is sooo easy. Needless to say, it's still riding high in the budget software charts. Makes you think, doesn't it?

But of course, there are many others. This is just the cream of the crop and we simply haven't the space to re-review all the old games, for the simple reason that there are so many of them. We came up with over 30! Plus there are lots of pools prediction things and record filers and lots of other serious gimmicks that can't be classed as games.

We leave you now with the league tables. We've done two because it just isn't fair to class arcade games alongside strategy games.

If you've written a football game that you think is any good, or you know of one that isn't mentioned here and you think it should be, then why not drop a line to C+VG. Even if it doesn't get reviewed in the mag, we'll still get back to you and let you know what I think of it. Please include an S.A.E. if you want the tapes returned.

FOOTBALL DEATURE - LEAGUE TABLE 1 - STRATEGY

Title: Tracksuit Manager
Home Ground: Goliath Games
Realism: 9/10
Depth: 8/10
Speed: 9/10
Visuals: 7/10
Fun: 8/10
Tot: 41/10

Title: Brain Clough's FF
Home Ground: CDS
Realism: 6/10
Depth: 8/10
Speed: 8/10
Visuals: 2/10
Fun: 10/10
Tot: 34/10

Title: Football Director 2
Home Ground: D+H Games
Realism: 4/10
Depth: 6/10
Speed: 6/10
Visuals: 5/10
Fun: 8/10
Tot: 29/10

Title: The Double
Home Ground: Scanatron
Realism: 8/10
Depth: 6/10
Speed: 3/10
Visuals: 3/10
Fun: 6/10
Tot: 28/10

Title: Football Director
Home Ground: D+H Games
Realism: 4/10
Depth: 3/10
Speed: 3/10
Visuals: 4/10
Fun: 7/10
Tot: 21/10

Title: 2 Player Super L.
Home Ground: D+H Games
Realism: 4/10
Depth: 3/10
Speed: 2/10
Visuals: 3/10
Fun: 8/10
Tot: 20/10

Title: Int. Manager
Home Ground: D+H Games
Realism: 5/10
Depth: 3/10
Speed: 3/10
Visuals: 3/10
Fun: 5/10
Tot: 19/10

Title: Football Manager
Home Ground: Addictive
Realism: 2/10
Depth: 1/10
Speed: 3/10
Visuals: 3/10
Fun: 5/10
Tot: 14/10

Title: Football Manager 2
Home Ground: Addictive
Realism: 2/10
Depth: 2/10
Speed: 2/10
Visuals: 5/10
Fun: 3/10
Tot: 14/10

Title: On The Bench
Home Ground: Cult
Realism: 3/10
Depth: 2/10
Speed: 1/10
Visuals: 2/10
Fun: 3/10
Tot: 11/10

Title: Soccer Boss
Home Ground: Alternative
Realism: 2/10
Depth: 1/10
Speed: 1/10
Visuals: 2/10
Fun: 1/10
Tot: 7/10

All the marks are corresponding to the best version of that game. The +3 version of Football Director 2, is six times slower than any other version, so it would be unfair to review that version.

FOOTBALL FEATURE - LEAGUE TABLE 2 - ARCADE

Title: Sega Soccer
Home Ground: Sega
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Playability: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Fun: 9/10
Tot: 42/10

Title: MicroSoccer
Home Ground: Microprose
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Playability: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Fun: 7/10
Tot: 39/10

Title: Match Day 2
Home Ground: Ocean
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 6/10
Playability: 8/10
Value: 7/10
Fun: 8/10
Tot: 37/10

Title: International Soc.
Home Ground: CRL
Graphics: 5/10
Sound: 4/10
Playability: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Fun: 8/10
Tot: 35/10

Title: Match Day
Home Ground: Ocean
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 4/10
Playability: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Fun: 6/10
Tot: 30/10

Title: European 5-a-side
Home Ground: Silverbird
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Playability: 5/10
Value: 8/10
Fun: 4/10
Tot: 29/10

Title: Gary Lineker's SS
Home Ground: Gremlin
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 4/10
Playability: 6/10
Value: 5/10
Fun: 5/10
Tot: 26/10

Title: Peter Beardsley's
Home Ground: Grandslam
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 4/10
Playability: 6/10
Value: 5/10
Fun: 5/10
Tot: 22/10

Title: Supercup Football
Home Ground: Silverbird
Graphics: 3/10
Sound: 2/10
Playability: 4/10
Value: 6/10
Fun: 4/10
Tot: 19/10

Title: Super Soccer
Home Ground: Imagine
Graphics: 5/10
Sound: 3/10
Playability: 3/10
Value: 2/10
Fun: 3/10
Tot: 16/10

Title: Roy of the Rovers
Home Ground: Gremlin
Graphics: 2/10
Sound: 1/10
Playability: 2/10
Value: 1/10
Fun: 1/10
Tot: 7/10

Title: World Cup Carn'
Home Ground: US Gold
Graphics: 1/10
Sound: 1/10
Playability: 1/10
Value: 1/10
Fun: 1/10
Tot: 5/10

PRICE: £7.95
PUBLISHER: Ocean Software 061-832 6633

No-one has yet managed to produce a piece of Spectrum software to rival Commodore's International Soccer cartridge, but here's Ocean's attempt at blistering 3D action with Match Day.

There is a bewildering array of options available, making you wonder how there's room left for the program itself, so let's deal with those first. It supports a Kempston joystick, and you can support any team you like by changing the eight available names. For keyboard control you can select your own keys, this being done by a lovely routine displaying the Spectrum keyboard on screen, and you can have each half of your chosen match lasting five, 15 or 45 minutes.

There are three skill levels, you can have a one-player or two-player game, or even an eight-player knock-out tournament (though if the result here is a draw then a winner is picked randomly). Finally, you can change the team's colours, as well as the background, by running through the Spectrum's palette. Short of an action replay and Jimmy Hill's pontifications, there's not much missing from this extensive list of options.

On the whole, though, I'd rather have seen fewer options and better action.

The opening's a little tedious - do you really want to sit through the sight of all 22 players running out every time you start the game, to an inaccurate rendering of the Match of the Day theme?

In the top right-hand corner a clock ticks away, while across the back bob the heads of the crowd in the stand. Control is always with the player nearest the ball, this switching automatically as the ball moves about.

If you have 20/20 vision and a very quick eye you might be able to spot the player you're controlling as his socks change colour to match the rest of his outfit. However, by the time you've spotted the change of hue he's probably lost the ball anyway.

A great number of features are taken care of automatically, such as kick-offs, corners, and goal-kicks.

If taking a throw-in, there is a good deal of control you can exercise over the player you've selected to make it (or the goal-kick, etc).

There are three strengths of shot or throw, and three directions to choose from.

The action is a little slow, the choices almost overwhelming, and while this probably just has the edge on Artic's World Cup, I can only end where I began: no-one has yet managed to produce a piece of Spectrum soccer software that is a serious rival to Commodore's International Soccer.