American Football

Sinclair User

Overall 2/10

Tony Dillon 2/10

Label: Top Ten Author: Sparklers Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: None Reviewer: Tony Dillon Most sports games these days are managerial type games in which you must pick your brain and make crucial decisions that could be vital to your team's future. This is not the case here. Don't get me wrong. It is a managerial game, it's just that none of the decisions you make have the slightest effect on your team as they win every single match they get and then win the superbowl. I did this on my first go and was more than a little disheartened. The game is displayed in the usual format, I nice menus and tables, but I laugh at the (and I quote) '3D match graphics'. What they boil down to is a few diagonal lines and little black and white stick figures. Grid Iron was released as Touchdown USA on the Sparklers label and was greeted with a little less than enthusiasm then. What chance does it have now?

Your Sinclair

Graphics 2/10

Playability 2/10

Value For Money 2/10

Addictiveness 1/10

Overall 2/10

David Powell 2/10

Top Ten £1.99 Reviewer: David Powell I hate games like this - they give reviewers a bad name. But having been disappointed by Ocean's Super Bowl (two player only), and with Mind Games' American Football which basically falls into the guessing game category, I had high hopes for this NFL-inspired management game, especially considering my love of the sport. It might have been an idea, though, if the author, Keith Goodyer, had spent less time on his witty hackers' message and more on his programming skills. Although the game has five skill levels, level one practically assures a victory and level five guarantees a dismal last place (after 35 minutes of pure tedium in both cases). You may transfer players (only one trade per game) and you can borrow money, all to help you increase the strength of your team. But the action, even allowing for the atrocious graphics, shows only touchdowns and incompletion. No tackling or anything approaching realism is used here or anywhere else. What happened to the inter-league divisions? And games are decided randomly, heavily influenced by the chosen skill level. About the best feature is a facility to save to microdrive, which is pretty gripping. Believe me, this is a prize turkey.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Presentation 34%

Graphics 11%

Playability 47%

Addictive Qualities 39%

Overall 29%

Bym Welthy 73%

Mike Dunn 6%

Producer: Top Ten Hits Retail Price: £1.99 You've come a long way since managing the Wigan Wagglebottoms American football team. The USA called and now you are in great demand. In your coach's bank balance you have a cool quarter-million bucks. With this mountain of greenbacks you can buy and sell players in an attempt to field the best team, beat the other clubs and win in that good of American sporting tradition, the Superbowl. At the start of the game you can choose your level of coaching expertise, and the team you'll to propel to victory. But to improve the team and achieve your ambitions you have access to the transfer market. You can call up financial statements showing your balance, the availability of loans and any loan repayments outstanding, and arrangements for making loan repayments appear before each match. There's also a fist of available players can be called up, showing their value and skill and energy levels. And yet another list allows reserve players to substitute for playing members so that advantage can be taken of their enhanced energy or skill levels. When a game is in progress on the field, the morale, skill and energy levels of both teams are shown and these are crucial in determining the outcome - though luck can play its part. The match is shown in 3-D, with both sides lining up on the gridiron. At the end of the match other recent fixture results are shown, and these are further translated into league-table positions. A financial report then displays the gate money from that match, interest payment, the wage bill and your bank balance. To measure your progress en route to the big time, a rating screen shows the total value of your squad, its morale, skill and energy levels, the team's league position and your rating as coach... because success depends on you. COMMENTS Joysticks: none Graphics: limited - Mike gave them 02%

Grid Iron: football mismanaged.

Personal Computer News

Overall 8/10

Bryan Skinner 8/10

PRICE: £6.95 PUBLISHER: Softstone [redacted] American Football is quite in vogue, and this version of the game from Softstone isn't half bad. It's very like Football Manager, and almost as good. You can select from five levels of play. The lowest is novice, through group level of the team, coach, and finally the team itself. And don't they have great names - The Huston Oilers are my favourites, with the LA Rams a close second. There are many options in the game, checking the team's statistics, changing players' names and soon. Sooner or later you'll want to play a match, and it's here that games like this come into their own. The view is from the side and slightly above the pitch. On a green backdrop, the yard lines marked out in white, the players get to work. The figures are small and a bit stick-like, but move quite well across the pitch. All the action's here as you pray for your team to make touchdown. The aim of the game is to coach your chosen team to the Superbowl - the peak of the game, like the FA cup. That could take you some time and careful strategy is needed to keep your team ahead of the competition. You don't need to have any knowledge of the game because all the action's automatic though it would have been an improvement to have information about the game rules, as well as some background - the only instructions on the inlay cover loading the game. I'm not partial to this type of game, where all the choices are menu selection, or name and price entry, but if that's your bag then you should check this game out. You might even win a sovereign should you come across a hidden message.