2 Player Soccer Squad

Crash

Presentation 25%

Graphics 12%

Sound N/A

Playability 20%

Addictivity 13%

Overall 17%

Will Evans 17%

Cult Software £2.99 Another footy game (must be the weather). Choose your team from the new British superleague, decide whether you're a player manager or not, and get on with the game. As in the other Cult games, everything is accessed from a main menu, but unlike even the most humble footy games, the options in 2-Player appear to have no effect on the game whatsoever. You can't change much, apart from switching current team members with subs, who are useless anyway, so there's not much point, and some are strangely 'unavailable'. There's no training option, no physio, and you can only enter the transfer market after week nine and before week 30 (that's assuming you still playing then). The packaging lists 33 features and promises 'much more'. It's only when you can't find all these features and examine the inlay more closely that you notice the message 'Cult cannot guarantee that all features are on all the versions' tucked away in the small print. Hmmph! An option enables you to choose which speed the match itself is played at. Seeing as there's no action involved at all and you have no influence over it, I thought maximum, speed ten would get it over with quickly. Wrong! Even at top speed the match dragged on and on, and all you can see is a little report of the current score. Infuriating. 2 Player Soccer Squad offers nothing to the players with it's meaningless options. It simply isn't entertaining.

Exciting screen, eh?

Here's the menu, I wonder if the fish course is on today?

Your Sinclair

Overall 72%

Jon Pillar 72%

BARGAIN BASEMENT It's damp and it's dark But it's always quite merry When you're locked down the cellar With PILLAR & PELLEY! 2-PLAYER SOCCER SQUAD Cult £2.99 Reviewer: Jon Pillar A management game. (I thought there was something missing from Barg Basement!) Not only that, but a 2-player management game. Intrigued, I collared a friend, and we settled down to play... (Much later.) Phew! Right - the 2-player option is a cunning idea, adding a much-needed element of competition to what is essentially a lonely genre. Much enjoyment can be derived from watching your opponent head towards the bottom of the league (as long as you don't follow suit) and when your 2 teams meet, it can get quite, er, loud. However, it does mean that while one player is managing his team, the other has to turn away (since scouting an opponent's strengths is a vital feature). The actual mechanics of the game (which, as a pleasant change, simulates a fictional 'superleague' rather than an actual competition) lean heavily towards lists of numbers and 'Please Wait' messages - it's Basic time again, folks! As usual the 'Feature Included' blurb runs to 30+ items ("38 game season... 400 footballers... disciplinary points... own goals... and much more") and if that '2 Human Players'sign wasn't there I'd say this was competent but uninspired. However, with that extra player it gains a bit of bite, so I'll say, it's a very enjoyable management game! (Which is in event in itself.)

Well, it's not our fault we've got to show a screenshot for every blessed game, is it?