Here they come, here they come, here they come! As predictable as rain at Wimbledon, the deluge of footy games make it through the tunnel (just) in time for the World Cup. Just like the Biggest Match, there can only be one eventual winner. So who, at the end of the day, will emerge with the shiny gold goblet and who, will be saying "Well, our marketing gameplan was sound, but the programmers didn't really give 100%. And it was an awfully partisan crowd"...
Label: Virgin Mastertronic
Price: £8.99
Reviewer: Jim Douglas
"Well, Elton, the boys went out and they tried their best, but at the end of the day, they just couldn't put anything together.
"Yeh, course, it would have been nice if we'd had more than seven men on the pitch, but the Virgin officials assured us that it would be okay. Obviously, we took it easy to begin with, saving some energy for a big finish, so it was a bit of a blow to discover that there wasn't a second half. I think it came as a bit of a shock to the lads.
"I was pleased to see that the officials were catering for people with black and white tellies, with the different strips for the teams. I don't know how it looked on your monitors in the commentary box, but the boys looked a bit wobbly round the edges for most of the match. To be honest. I couldn't tell who was who, but I don't really suppose it matters that much.
'Something I was less chuffed about was the way the boys didn't seem to be paying attention to anything I said to them. For the whole match, I'd be shouting at my defenders to get their act together and tackle, but they wouldn't listen.
"I was a little confused after the reading through the instruction booklet to find that having had the theories of the indirect free kick thoroughly explained, to be told that there was no indirect kick available during the match.
"Now, you know me, I'm not too keen on stoppages during a game. So I wasn't at all pleased to discover that when I was sending my players in one direction and telling them to kick, and the other manager was doing the same (and he was controlling his boys with a joystick) everything stood still. In professional football, you can't reasonably expect to play a 100% game with so many accidental stoppages. It'd be almost as silly to expect two people to use Spectrum keyboard at once...
"That said, the pace of the game was reasonable. You could get the ball from one end of the pitch to another quite swiftly, and the boys, despite their fuzzyness - ran around looking fit and fast.
"I suppose, at the end of the day. The Virgin boys laid on a reasonable event. Shame they couldn't manage more than one half or a full team on either side though."
Label: Tronix
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £3.99 Tape
Reviewer: Paul Berry
It's time to start the Mexican wave rolling out again because World Cup Soccer is back! Now for a budget price you can enter the contest (and try not to get knocked out by the Germans in the Semi Finals).
The aim of this game is to win the World Cup. (surprise, surprise!) after winning the qualifying rounds. Once through, your team is off to Italy!
Whatever team you pick, must qualify in the group to go on to the second phase, then the quarter finals, semi-finals and then eventually the final. It's a long road to the final, but it is worth it when you get there.
The graphics are good and are detailed. You can choose whatever team you like from Japan to Cameroon. The players are easy to control and well defined but the game is a bit on the slow side which can become severely frustrating during matches.
GARTH:
I never really got into this game - I actually prefer Manchester United and even Gazza 2. But if you think I don't know a football from a Black Forest gateau, then why not prove me wrong?.
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