Emlyn Hughes International Soccer

Sinclair User

Graphics 80%

Sound 39%

Playability 79%

Lastability 84%

Overall 82%

Alan Dykes

Paul Rand 82%

Label: Touchdown Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Paul Rand Football has certainly been on the minds of most people lately, what with the recent European Championships in which England performed so, well, just so. But don't let the sad debacle which is the national team put you off Emlyn Hughes, International Soccer before it's even kicked off! Endorsed by the squeaky-voiced ex-Liverpool captain himself, Emlyn Hughes' International Soccer is a horizontally scrolling action game with managerial undertones. You have control over all of your team members, although not at the same time. Control is passed to whichever footballer is closest to the ball, and he can perform a number of actions - run, turn, pass, shoot and the like. As in the real sport, the aim of the game is to score more goals than the opponent - either the computer or a human player. Free kicks, corners and throw-ins are all in there, as are penalties should a player fouled in the opposition eighteen-yard box. If play is not going the way you want it, or if one of your team is injured, substitutions can be made. And, in the management section of the game, the entire look of your squad can be altered - even names changed and attributes tinkered with to form your favourite side! There are three different competitions to take part in; a league of eight teams, a knockout Cup competition and a season incorporating both league and Cupe. There aren't a desperate amount of good soccer games for the Spectrum, except perhaps for Manchester United. Emlyn Hughes' International Soccer is a more advanced game than that, with better graphics and more enjoyable gameplay. As with most games of this ilk, more fun will be had in the long run with two players than battling against the computer which, after a while, becomes a doddle to beat. The management side and various competitions add variety to Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and, even if aren't desperately keen on the man himself, you should find the game he's endorsed a lot less irritating.

Your Sinclair

Overall 85%

Jon Pillar 85%

REPLAY Why not let Jon Pillar and Stuart Campbell guide you through this month's re-releases? Oh, go on. Please! You won't regret it. EMLYN HUGHES INTERNATIONAL SOCCER Touchdown £3.99 [redacted] Reviewer: Jon Pillar Eeeeeeeeeeee (etc), it's Emlyn! The man with the most famous grin on TV bounds onto your Speccy courtesy of Empire's new barg label. And put me in a bucket with a slug called Elspeth if it's not a corker. The management/arcade footy format's been tried many times before, but this time it's actually come off. Blimey. As you might expect, there are options for choosing how many options you want with your options (ie, quite a lot), but the jolly friendly pull-down menus thang makes fiddling about with settings rather good fun. Honestly. Really iy is. And that's a darn good thing too, considering there's so much of it. You can alter everything from individual player skills to team strip colours. When you're satisfied, or at least less grumpy about your blokes than you were five minutes ago, you can arrange a match an take on the footy might of the Speccy (or an everso handy pal). This bit is really splendid, with loads of moves and a fair amount of chucklesome animation as the players hack and slide their way about the pitch. Even the chirpy sound is pretty good. Emlyn is an ace game. There were two teams of programmers, one for each bit, and it shows. Each is well-presented, extremely involving and, most importantly, staggeringly good fun to play. Eeee, great.

The goalkeeper keeled over when the three onion bhajis he had eaten for dinner hit his stomach.

The match had to be stopped whilst the strikers dropped to their knees to adore the goalie.

BAT BLIM! Batman first appeared in Detective Comics issue 27, in May 1939.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Graphics 80%

Sound 39%

Playability 79%

Lastability 84%

Overall 82%

Alan Dykes

Raul Rand 82%

Label: Touchdown Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Paul Rand Football has certainly been on the minds of most people lately, what with the recent European Championships in which England performed so, well, just so. But don't let the sad debacle which is the national team put you off Emlyn Hughes, International Soccer before it's even kicked off! Endorsed by the squeaky-voiced ex-Liverpool captain himself, Emlyn Hughes' International Soccer is a horizontally scrolling action game with managerial undertones. You have control over all of your team members, although not at the same time. Control is passed to whichever footballer is closest to the ball, and he can perform a number of actions - run, turn, pass, shoot and the like. As in the real sport, the aim of the game is to score more goals than the opponent - either the computer or a human player. Free kicks, corners and throw-ins are all in there, as are penalties should a player fouled in the opposition eighteen-yard box. If play is not going the way you want it, or if one of your team is injured, substitutions can be made. And, in the management section of the game, the entire look of your squad can be altered - even names changed and attributes tinkered with to form your favourite side! There are three different competitions to take part in; a league of eight teams, a knockout Cup competition and a season incorporating both league and Cupe. There aren't a desperate amount of good soccer games for the Spectrum, except perhaps for Manchester United. Emlyn Hughes' International Soccer is a more advanced game than that, with better graphics and more enjoyable gameplay. As with most games of this ilk, more fun will be had in the long run with two players than battling against the computer which, after a while, becomes a doddle to beat. The management side and various competitions add variety to Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and, even if aren't desperately keen on the man himself, you should find the game he's endorsed a lot less irritating.

Colourful intro screens, less during the game though.

Mmm. These players look familiar.

Time to work out all the dosh.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Ace Rating 903/1000

ST, Amiga Out Soon Spectrum £9.95cs, £14.95dk C64 £9.95cs, £12.95dk CPC £9.95cs, £14.95dk Performed well on 8-bit machines and might have challenged for top honours had the 16-bit versions been launched earlier in the season. Don't be put off by the fact that the game carries the name of that annoying twerp - Emlyn 'Crazy Horse' Hughes. It is an excellent game despite this. Provides for good quick attacks and enjoyable shots at goal. Manual control over the keeper is another nice touch.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 7/10

Playability 5/10

Value For Money 6/10

Addictiveness 5/10

Overall 5/10

Marcus Berkmann 5/10

Audiogenic £9.95 cass Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann "Ooooh! Ooooh! Ah know it! Ah know it!" Oh shuddup. Bleedin' Emlyn, with his one man crusade to make the dog whistle redundant. Doesn't he make yer sick? While you're thinking about that one (and pass the vom bag when you've finished with it), here's Emlyn Hughes' International Soccer, the computer games industry's latest attempt to cash in on our fascination with the national game. Do gamers actually play footie, I wonder? Do they have time, if they spend hours a day on computer footie simulations? Still, unabashed by the presence of at least 458,930,309 perfectly adequate footie sims on the market. Audiogenic has joined the merry throng, with a sim based on a national league and cup system for international teams (well, it's different), and the added bonus of Emlyn's grinning fizzog splashed all over the cover. No doubt they'll sell triliions. But is it any good? Well, we are happily past the day of the truly crap footie sim - remember Super Soccer? Remember the first G Lineker game? But although this is perfectly playable, it's hard to recommend it over any of the real old faves that the dedicated footie simster comes back to again and again. Essentially it's the old problem - instead of going for a straightforward arcade game, or leaping in at the deep end and concentrating on the management side, International Soccer attempts to kill both birds with one stone - and doesn't hit either in the process. So there's some action, and there's some strategy, but there's not really enough of either. What does not help matters is an innovative but infuriatingly awkward menus system, based on the WIMP systems you find on STs and Amigas. With the joystick you pull down the menu, but if you stop on one selection for even a femtosecond, you find that you have selected it, which be a little tiresome when it's like SAVE GAME. It would be rather more sensible to select an option by pressing the joystick - or is that too simple? There's also an important Fib in the instructions, and I quote "Whilst there are a wide range of facilities and control options, these have been designed in such a way that you can sit down and play without hours spent studying the manual and getting to grips with the controls." Wrong. It's all but impossible to find out what's going on without studying the instructions with the greatest care, and even then you might not find out everything you want to know. It can be frustrating, for instance, to find out that you are managing Italy when you are much keener on England and besides, you don't like lasagne. The strategy elements, when it comes down to it, are thin in the extreme. After all, when you are choosing your players, why should it matter which ones you select when all of them are going to be controlled by the ultimate chance factor - your hand on the joystick? This leaves the arcade segments. These are by no means bad - Match Day 2 has had much beneficial influence on football programming - but they are not better than the other 458.930,309 sims on the market. How many different ways are there of playing football on a Spectrum? Very few, if the endless stream of Speccy footie sims is anything to go by. In the end, there's a real "Why bother?" feel to the whole enterprise. Of course, we know why they bother. Huge wads of cash is why they bother. It's by no means a bad game - moans aside, it's been well programmed and looks a treat, especially the computer versus computer games. But if you have Match Day 2 or any of the Football Director-style games, you don't really need this. I certainly don't. (BUNG!) Next please.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

The Games Machine

Overall 85%

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.95 Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £12.95 I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU Whatever happened to Emlyn Hughes? Fans of the TV presenter's ready wit, back-slapping and squeals of 'I know it, I know it!' are disappointed by the latest series of A Question Of Sport, where cricketer Ian 'Guy the gorilla' Botham replaces our Emlyn. But now Crazy Horse Hughes is back - on the Spectrum and C64, where Audiogenic have updated their classic International Soccer, endorsed it by Emlyn, and put his inane grinning visage on the front. It's a cross between a sports sim and a football-management game. Emlyn Hughes International Soccer allows you not only to physically control your team's players, but also to influence their fortunes as manager by choosing team members and matches (see box headed Play Options). Each match is viewed from the side stands. Controlling one player at a time, you try to get the ball, using a sliding tackle if necessary. Complex joystick control allows hundreds of different kicks. And though the full range of techniques is tricky to master, it can involve five different directions, three different heights, backheeling. sidestepping and heading - not all at the same time! But what d'ya do when the ball is half a pitch away from your player? Changing players can be done manually, using the joystick, but it's tricky - especially when the area is crowded. So an option allows you to leave player changes to the computer, which will (theoretically) select what's best. This is recommended on the first few games, at least. HUMAN FACTORS The game is 11-a-side, but your squad has 16 members - so you can replace worn-out players with fresh substitutes. or choose the best team for a particular match. Selecting these 16 players is described as 'the most important' strategy element: you choose factors like speed, defensive skills and attacking skills. But as ALL these can be given the maximum rating, three, it seems pretty easy to construct a 'perfect' team... perfect, that is, till fitness and skill levels deteriorate with injury and fatigue. If fitness goes below 75% it may be time to call in substitutes, who can be fetched at half-time or by returning to the menu screen when the ball goes out of play. The overall skill level of matches, on a scale of one to ten, is also set, along with match duration, complexity of controls, and even the colour scheme of the ball, pitch and markings. VAREITY SHOWS The variety with in Emlyn Hughes international Soccer is truly remarkable, with a total of 43 options covering virtually everything you could want to alter. It's possible to save squads and competitions in progress and to print out results and details - which all goes to make up a football game with more lasting interest than any other. The player controls are comprehensive, giving many combinations of height. direction and strength. And while all these will take a long time to master, the options allow the complexity of controls to be gradually built up, easing the burden till you're ready to tackle a very complete simulation.

All it lacks are hooligans, a ref and Coleman's balls - C64 screen.

"The variety and options are truly remarkable"

AMERICAN DREAM Audiogenic toyed with the idea of an American football game before settling on Emlyn Hughes as a bigger British draw. And there was already tough competition in the Superbowl shape of Cinemaware's TV Sports: Football (TGM016), which Audiogenic boss Peter Calver admires as 'probably the best sports game anyone has done' - except his own, of course. So after Emlyn, look out for another typically British sports sim from Audiogenic -a 3-D snooker game on 16-bit machines late this summer.

COMMODORE 64/128 Overall: 88% The game looks crude, because it's a direct update of the C64 cartridge, International Soccer. However, that ancient classic is still noted for its playability, and this new version is significantly more sophisticated. Though sound is limited (an air-horn, a gasping crowd), the ball moves realistically and the action is fast.

OTHER FORMATS CPC (cassette £9.95, diskette £14.95) due around mid-April, Brian. ST and Amiga versions are 'going to happen but not for some months - it could be late summer', says Audiogenic boss Peter Calver, explaining that it's a long season for the one programming team doing all versions.

PLAY OPTIONS A single game of Emlyn Hughes International Soccer could contain up to 60 matches, in one of the following forms: LEAGUE: eight teams all play each other once or twice. CUP: eight teams play, losers of each match are eliminated, one victor emerges in cup final. CHAMPIONSHIP: eight teams play as a league, then the top four play as a cup competition. SEASON: includes both league and cup competitions. Friendly one-off matches-tor-the-hell-of-it can also be arranged. Two human players can compete - and when a match is played against a computer team, the players can join forces to control a squad.

Crash

Presentation 70%

Graphics 72%

Sound 30%

Playability 72%

Addictive Qualities 68%

Overall 72%

Mike Dunn 66%

Phil King 74%

What does he know about football?! Producer: Audiogenic Latest Score: £9.95 cass, £14.95 disk Author: Graham Blighe, Terry Wiley, Andrew Calver 'Emlyn shoots straight from the hip!' proclaims the blurb on the inlay. But we at CRASH promise to ignore details of Mr Hughes's private life and just look at the game… SCOTTISH SMIRKER: Well Greasie, who d'yi think'll win today's match? GRINNING GIT: I dunno, it's a funny old game, but probably the team without the Scottish goalie! SCOTCH ON THE ROCKS: That's not very nice o'yi, some of the best goolies are from north of the border. GREY-HAIRED GRINNER: Not the ones under your kilt! THE WEE MAN: Why, brain yi, yi stupid Sassenach! PHIL: Oy, you two, get out of my comment! Phew! What a cheek, they've already got their own TV show to talk rubbish on. So, not wasting any more time, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer combines football management with arcade action. A multitude of options may be selected, using a simple pull-down menu system. The most important of these allows you to pick the players and substitutes for your team out of a limited squad (players cannot be bought and sold). Each individual player has a fitness level and three skill levels for running speed, defensive skills, and attacking skills -these can all be altered by the player. Any of eight international sides can be player/computer controlled in League or Cup matches, or a season comprising both types. Friendlies can also be arranged to test various team combinations. One or two human players can take on a computer-controlled side in a match, while pitch/player colours and match length are definable. The 3-D view of the pitch is similar to that used in Match Day scrolling horizontally to follow the ball. A single player is controlled at one time, indicated by a pointer above his head. As well as dribbling and spitting (only joking!), players can kick and head the ball, and even perform sliding tackles, although careless use of these can lead to free-kicks and penalties. Kicking the ball is achieved by pressing and releasing the fire button - the longer it is held down, the harder the shot will be. Height and direction of the kick are controlled by moving the stick when fire is pressed. Despite its many pre-match options, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer puts the emphasis on arcade skills rather than strategy. Selection of different players doesn't seem to have much effect in the match itself. Still, actually playing matches is fun (especially with two players), although play is not quite up to the high standard set by Match Day II. One annoying flaw is that the game has a tendency to abort in two-player mode, though this is great if you're losing! (Flippin' cheat! - Mike). PHIL 74% THE ESSENTIALS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: well-animated players, choose your own colour scheme Sound: simple ref's whistle effects Options: too many to mention

Choosing from the pull-down menus.

Now which one's Emlyn?

Sinclair UserSinclair User Classic

Graphics 86%

Sound 31%

Playability 96%

Lastability 91%

Overall 91%

Tony Dillon 91%

Label: Audiogenic Author: In-house Price: £8.95 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Tony Dillon If there is anyone who can be accused of being overfriendly, it's our own lovely Emlyn. 'He's a weasel' chirped one member of staff. 'He's chubby and cuddly' said another. 'He's a squeaky, friendly mouse' threw in a member of Britain's yoof. Whatever you call him, the plain and simple fact is that not many people like Emlyn. Even Princess Anne hates him. Now, let's not jump to conclusions. Just because a game is endorsed by El Wimpo doesn't mean it's automatically going to be crap. Far from it. Emlyn Hughes International Soccer is better than any other Speccy footy game that has appeared to date, even Matchday 2, daddy of 'em all. What sets EHIS apart from the rest are the HUGE amount of options and the advanced control system. First things first, the options. There is quite a large amount of messing about and tweaking you can do to the game before you actually play it. This is done via four pull down menus that between them carry more than 50 options that range from the normal things like Load and Save, as well as things like select a team to play and start up a cup, or season or a league. Ooooooh! The game options let you change all the basic aspects of the game itself. You can choose whether to watch the computer playing against itself, should it get the chance and whether or not to play extra time. There are 10 skill levels to choose from, as well as the chance to play practice mode, which results in all the opposing players not doing anything at all. You can also determine the number of kick directions selectable from 1 (forward kicking only), 3 (forward and 45° either side) and 5 (forward, 20° and 70° either side). You can choose backheel on/off and whether to have the goalie under computer control. The teams are made of lots of individual players (Nah, really Tone? - AS), each with lots of different stats, governing how fast the character is on field, and his respective attacking, defensive and midfielding skills, all of which can be altered. Load and Save team just save stats and names of the players Load and Save all saves all details including things like whether you are in the middle of a cup, league or season, as well as all scores. Right, that's the boring bit over with, here comes the fun. The most important and really hooking factor of the game is that the match is accurate and includes all rules apart from offside. All free kicks, penalties, throw ins and corners are there, and they need to be judging by the accuracy of the gameplay. Everything is pixel perfect. The man currently under your control is highlighted by a halo over his head Game control is where the game really comes into its own. You can do almost anything in EHIS (apart from throw coins and punch supporters when you lose) and all from simple joystick motions. Push the joystick in a certain direction, and the man under your control will run in that direction. Continue to hold the joystick in that direction and the man will accelerate until he reaches top speed. Fire acts like a sort of clutch. Hold down fire and the man continues moving in the same direction if you have the ball. If you don't have the ball he will either do a sliding tackle, a lunge or a diving header, depending on the vertical positioning of the ball. If you have the ball, then what you do with the joystick determines the type of shot. If you push the joystick in the opposite direction to the way the player is facing, then the shot will be a lob. Push the joystick in the direction he's running, and it'll go along the floor, the length of time you hold down the button selects how hard the shot will be, from 28 different strengths. Pushing the joystick left or right from the direction the player is moving decides which direction the ball will go. Can't be bad. Graphics are fab, brilliant and better. All of the characters are smallish, to be sure, but detail and animation is great. All the little men run around smoothly and some of the little animations are really cute. Like the three step goal kick, and the little triumphant wave after scoring a goal. Sliding tackles and diving headers are all catered for in their own sweet way. EHIS is the best footy game I've ever played, well, on the Speccy anyway, forget the endorsement, it's pretty darn good, or as the great Liver puddy himself would say. 'It's great'.