Match Day II

Crash

Chris Wilkins

Ryan Coleman

As the Crash annuals are still for sale ZXSR has taken the decision to remove all review text, apart from reviewer names and scores from the database. A backup has been taken of the review text which is stored offsite. The review text will not be included without the express permission of the Annuals editorial team/owners.

Your Sinclair

Overall 90%

Jonathan Davies 90%

BARGAIN BASEMENT This month, Bargain Basement is brought to you by YS's two (almost) resident heart-throbs (or so they keep telling us) JONATHAN DAVIES and RICH PELLEY. Hoorah! MATCHDAY II Hit Squad £2.99 Reviewer: Jonathan Davies Sniff. As I write this a black cloud has just descended over England. The Germans have beaten us. Again. World in Motion has (at last) fallen silent on the office tape machine, and everyone's generally feeling a bit gloomy. The only compensation is that Match Day II has finally popped up on budget, so with a bit of team-renaming we should be able to rustle up some sort of revenge. It's just got to be worth a look, really - the generally recognised Best Footie Game Ever for three quid. It's got the lot: wazzy graphics, smooth presentation, a kickometer, realistic ball control, the works. Criticisms? It runs just a little too slowly for comfort, especially compared with more recent overhead-view rivals. But as an all-rounder. Match Day II is unbeatable. If Marcus could be with us this month he'd probably give it a page to itself. (So consider yourselves lucky.)

Hmm. It may be a classic, but those men look a bit too cutsie for my liking.

Crash

Overall 79%

Nick Roberts 79%

The Hit Squad £2.99 re-release This should keep all aspiring Gazzas glued to their screens - it's an all action soccer simulation! A very playable match featuring variable strength volleys, lobs, backheels and ground shots with special moves like jumping headers, barging and the odd foul thrown in for good measure. The are plenty of options to choose from to customise your game. You can select the team names, colours and formations as well as choosing to play in the ultimate challenge... the Match Day league. Graphics are nice and big so you can see what's going on, but the trouble is the speed the game is played at: it's terribly slow, probably due to the number of large sprites moving at the same time. Still, it doesn't spoil the game when you're used to it and it's great fun trashing your opponents. Match Day II is one of the best football games around for the Spectrum and an old favourite.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Overall 87%

Hit Squad Spectrum/C64/Amstrad £2.99 Aggahhh! Not another football game! I can't take it any more! Anyway, Match Day II appeared a few years ago to rapturous reviews and accolades galore. Now it's back on budget, but has it really stood the test of time? Well, for the price, yes. Presentation, graphics and sound are fairly good, but the playability still stands up loud and proud. MD II has got a heck of a lot of functions, such as jumping, heading, volleying, and barging (loads of fun as you shoulder-charge a player off the ball). Power is measured using the kickometer, which ranges from a sneaky back heel to a full-blooded stinger. What with variable tactics. and a two-player option as well, Match Day II for only £2.99 is a must-buy, but if anyone else sings "World In Motion". they'll be kicked into the back of the net!

AMSTRAD SCORES Overall: 88% Colourful graphics and red-hot gameplay make this the one to get hold of blinkin' quick.

C64 SCORES Overall: 88% Graphics are a tad blocky, but that doesn't stop this being one flippin' dinkum footy game.

Your Sinclair

Kit 74%

Atmosphere 86%

Playerbility 93%

At The End Of The Day 92%

Overall 90%

Jonathan Davies 90%

THE COMPLETE AND UTTER YS GUIDE TO SOCCER ON THE SPECCY Footie games, eh? Where'd we be without 'em? There've been hundreds of the blooming things, with more on the way each month, and they always (always! always!) sell like hot cakes (even the ones that are crap). So with the World Cup lining itself up on the horizon, let's join the slightly less-than-enthusiastic JONATHAN DAVIES, as we lead you by the hand into the past, present and future world of the Spectrum soccer game. Oh dear. How can I start? Um, quite a few phrases spring to mind. Like "They're all the same!" and "No, please, not another one!" and, erm, "Let me out of here!" The problem, you see, is that for every MicroProse Soccer or Matchday 2 there are six or seven World Cup Carnivals (US Gold's tragic 1986 attempt at a footie sim) to wade through. And I should know - I've just waded through them all. Quite frankly I wouldn't care if the colour green never darkened my Speccy again. I'm sick as a parrot. So let's just forget all about them, eh? What? No. You like them? Cripes. (Better get going on this giant mega-feature thingie then, hadn't you? Ed) Er, yes. Right. Football. Well, there are certainly lots of games. And no, they're not all the same. There are in fact a few basic types, and within each of these categories dwell a hundred and one subtle variations. Um, what fun... IT'S A GAME OF TWO HALVES That's right, one half management, the other half actually booting the ball around a bit. To kick off with we have the straightforward arcade simulation. This you should all be familiar with - a big green pitch (seen from above, or sometimes from the side), the roar of the crowd (well, the 'beep' of the crowd), lots of little men running around kicking the ball, and you up in the air somewhere above it all, doing your best to keep one or two of them (plus the ball) under control. What you don't have to worry about though is what any of the blokes are called, how much they're worth, or any other boring managerial-type stuff. Good examples of this kind of game are Matchday 2 and Kick Off. The second main sub-division, the management game, is a totally different kettle of fish. No footie here at all (as such), apart from the results of various games flashing up on your screen every so often to tell you how you're doing. It's business acumen we're worried about here, with all sorts of weird and wonderful information popping up to confuse you - what your men are called, how tall they are, how skilful they can be and all sorts. A good example of this variety of game is, surprise, surprise, Football Manager. The third, and crappiest, type of footie game is the pools prediction program. Now you may get really excited by the prospect of these (I don't know) but I find them so brain-blendingly boring that this is the only mention they'll get here, so enjoy it while you can. (Sorry and all that.) Actually there's a fourth subdivision I've just remembered too - those games that provide you with an often quite bizarre mixture of action game and management, usually consisting of lots of lists of numbers with slightly dodgy bolt-on arcade bits thrown in. Some of them work quite well, but there's always the odd game that's simply too weird for words - like Roy Of The Rovers for example, part arcade adventure of all things and with a badly drawn Roy searching for his kidnapped team! MATCH DAY II Ocean This is generally said to be the fabbest footie game ever, although whether that's saying much isn't for me to decide. It's the sequel to, um, Match Day actually, which was the second(ish) arcade-type game to hit the tape-racks. With nice, big sprites and semi-realistic action, Match Day brought a whole new meaning to the word 'good'. The two-player feature was one of its major attractions, along with headers and other wacky, innovative moves. There were also a couple of peculiar bugs (something to do with balls getting stuck in goalposts and a funny timer, if my memory serves me correctly). Match Day II captures the feel of the original, and adds on all kinds of extra features, such as a kick strength meter and much improved ball control. Along the same sort of lines is International Match Day for the 128K only, which was released at the launch of the Speccy 128, when 128K-only games seemed pretty hip - oh, those halcyon days. The programmer was Jon Ritman, the gentleman responsible for the first Batman game and the brilliant Head Over Heels.

Blimey! Look at the the size of the sprite's heads! They look more like Cabbage Patch Dolls than footie players!

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS The Overhead View This features in MicroProse Soccer, Kick Off and most of the Codies games, among others. It has the advantage that you don't actually get to see the players faces (only their bald patches) and generally avoids some of the confusion you get in side views when too many players get all tangled in together and you can't quite tell what's going on. You often get a nice 3D view of the ball too, as it flies up into the air and then plummets back down to earth again. And on the minus side? Well, timing headers can get very, very tricky, but more importantly it doesn't always 'feel' quite right somehow. After all, when you watch a game of soccer, you never see it from above, do you? The Side View A bit common, you get this viewpoint all over the place, but generally it's the most reliable method. It gives a good 'as seen on telly' angle, although things have to be quite well animated for it to work (not always the case) and you do tend to get horrible sprite 'scrums' at key moments. A Bit Of Both Views Only spotted occasionally, in things like Gazza's Super Soccer, this technique can get very confusing indeed. You get a side view when the ball's in the middle of the pitch, but when you get near to either goal the whole thing flips round to give a sort of overhead/into-the-goalmouth sort of perspective. All very well, but it gives you a godawful headache after a while.

ALMOST EVERY SOCCER GAME EVER RELEASED (DEPRESSING ISN'T IT?) Bobby Charlton's Soccer - Dacc Brian Clough's Football Fortunes - CDS Bryan Robson's Superleague - Paul Lamond Emlyn Hughes' Soccer - Audiogenic European Five-A-Side Football - Silverbird FA Cup Football - Virgin Fighting Soccer - Activision Footballer of the Year - Gremlin Footballer of the Year II - Gremlin Football Director - D&H Football Director II - D&H Football Fever - Tanglewood Football Manager - Addictive Games Football Manager II - Addictive Games Four Soccer Sims - CodeMasters Football Frenzy - Alternative Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer - Gremlin Gary Lineker's Hotshot - Gremlin Gary Lineker's Superskills - Gremlin Gazza's Super Soccer - Empire International Manager - D&H International Match Day 128 - Ocean Kenny Dalglish Soccer - Manager Cognito Kick Off - Anco League Challenge - Atlantis Manchester United - Krisalis Match Day - Ocean Match Day II - Ocean Mexico '86 - Qual-soft Microprose Soccer - Microprose Peter Beardsley's International Football - Granslam Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona - Grandslam Player Manager - Anco Premier II - E&J Professional Soccer - CRL Roy Of The Rovers - Gremlin Saint And Greavsie - Grandslam Soccer Boss - Alternative Soccer 7 - Cult Soccer Star - Cult Street Cred Football - Players Street Gang Football - CodeMasters Super Soccer - Imagine The Double - Johnson Scanatron Tracksuit Manager - Goliath Games Two Player Super League - D&H World Cup Carnival - US Gold World Cup Soccer - Artic World Cup Soccer '90 - Virgin

AND STILL TO COME This is of course World Cup Year. And what happens in World Cup Year? Yes, hundreds and hundreds of new Speccy soccer games suddenly appear, that's what. There are going to be oodles of them - but how are you going to be able to tell them apart? What you need is a handy-dandy reference sheet to keep score on, isn't it? And - by Jingo! - what have we got here but the very thing! Simply keep reading YS, fill in the scores of all the new games in the spaces provided as we print them and 'Bob's your uncle' (as they say)! Now all you need do is take this copy of the mag down the shop with you whenever you intend to buy a footie game. You won't regret it! (Oh, and by the way, we've not included any budget games here - there'll be plenty of those around too. Check out Matchday or the Codies' World Cup offering for starters.) WORLD CUP '90 SCORE CARD Game: Adidas World Championship Football Company/Release Date: Ocean - May/June Notes: Programmed by Smart Egg Software, this one has to have a good chance around World Cup time. Score: 85% Game: England - The Official Football Game Company/Release Date: Grandslam - May/June Notes: Grandslam has secured the official England licence, meaning it can use the images of all the individual players (say John Barnes, or Bryan Robson). It's also planning a feature which modifies the team's performance if one of these is injured and can't play. Blimey! Score: Never released Game: European Superleague Company/Release Date: CDS - June Notes: Another management game to add to the list. Score: 80% Game: Football Manager World Cup Edition Company/Release Date: Addictive - any day now Notes: Apparently even better than Football Manager 2. It comes with its own World Cup wall chart and a competition with 'prizes' like getting your picture up alongside Kevin Toms on the packaging of the yet-to-come Football Manager 3!! Blimey! Score: 82% Game: Italy 1990 Company/Release Date: US Gold - April Notes: We await US Gold's entry with bated breath. The one thing we're certain of is that it won't be a replay of World Cup Carnival (surely?). Score: 81% Game: Golden Boot Company/Release Date: Ocean - to be announced Notes: We don't know much about this (including a firm release date) but it's a wacky football game programmed by Ocean France (responsible for Beach Volley, which looks less and less likely to ever appear on the Speccy). Score: Never released Game: Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match Company/Release Date: Impressions - April Notes: A pretty straight, eight-way scrolling side-view footie game with a Kenny Dalglish licence attached. Again, a full review next issue. Score: 46% Game: Kenny Dalglish Soccer Player Company/Release Date: Impressions - end of next year Notes: More in the Footballer Of the Year mould (though more arcadey than that apparently), this new Kenny game follows the fortunes of an individual player trying to make it into a team and then on and upwards from there. Score: Never released Game: Kick Off 2 Company/Release Date: Anco - May Notes: Hopefully a souped-up, less scrappily presented version of the original Spectrum game (on compilation now, though it was only released a few months ago). Score: 80% Game: Liverpool - The Official Football Game Company/Release Date: Grandslam - April Notes: The first of the two 'official' Liverpool games, this one gets to use the images of the various players... Score: Never released. Game: Liverpool FC Company/Release Date: Ocean - September Notes: ... while this one uses the official team badge and colours. Score: Never released. Game: Manchester United Company/Release Date: Krisalis - any day now Notes: Another game sponsored by a team as opposed to an individual player, we'll have a full review next issue. Score: 74% Game: Player Manager Company/Release Date: Anco - July Notes: Like a sort of cross between Kick Off and a management game, this was a massive hit on the 16-bit machines recently and deservedly so. Will it do the same on the Speccy? Score: Never reviewed in YS Game: Subbuteo Company/Release Date: Goliath - May/June Notes: Based not on football itself so much as the popular 'flick-to-kick' table-top game. Will we see giant fingers reach down onto the pitch? You'll have to wait and see! (Again.) Score: 81% Game: Super League Manager Company/Release Date: Audiogenic - May Notes: Audiogenic's first Emlyn Hughes game got a critical drubbing from Marcus (and then went on to sell by the lorry-load of course). How will this management offering fare? Score: Never released. Game: Superleague Soccer Company/Release Date: Impressions - out now Notes: A pretty basic management game by all accounts. Again we'll be having a look at it next month. Score: 52% Game: Vinnie Jones Company/Release Date: Again Again - September Notes: Too late for the World Cup, this will in fact sell on the 'merits' of soccer hard-man Vinnie himself. We can hardly wait. Score: Never released. Game: World Cup Italia '90 Company/Release Date: Virgin - May Notes: And last, but by no means least, it's Virgin's game, the only one officially sponsored by the World Cup tournament itself. Hurrah! Score: 79%

NAMING YOUR FOOTIE GAME This is the trickiest part of writing any footie game. Although coming up with a name is fairly easy, the chances are that it's already been used seven times before. To assist with this problem we've designed the YS Footie Game Naming System™. Simply pick one word from each column and put them all together to come up with a convincing title. Gary Robson's Advanced Football Game Brian The Hamster's Ten-a-Side Soccer Simulator Kevin Lineker's Super Footie Director Plus Wayne Of The Rovers' Boring Tracksuit Manager '90 Darren Monkhouse's Quite Good Pickled Onion Challenge Bernadette Toms' Strip Ninja Footie Quiz

RATINGS Being the tricky things they are, footie games don't quite fit into the usual way we rate our games, so for the purposes of this feature here's a one-off system we've devised that hopefully takes into account all their little (and dearly loved) idiosyncrasies. Playerbility: Having forked out your dosh and loaded it up, will you be over the moon or sick as a parrot? In other words, is it any cop... or is it utter crap? At The End Of The Day: ...will you still be playing it? Or will it have joined the potato peelings, used tea bags and missives from Readers Digest in the dustbin? Kit: Aesthetic appeal, really. Lists of numbers are all very well, but are they decently presented? And if it's an arcade jobbie, are the graphics any good? Especially high marks go to those games with two or more colours used on the players, or a choice of team outfits. Atmosphere: Is it just like being in the stands at your local ground (apart from getting a bottle smashed across your cranium every ten minutes that is)? Or might you just as well be standing in a queue by the fish counter at Waitrose counting the dandruff on the back of the person in front of you? Here's where to find out!

SO YOU WANNA WRITE A FOOTIE GAME? Here are a few features you may wish to incorporate when devising your own 'tuff turf' footie extravaganza... A celeb, preferably glistening and grinning, with his signature scrawled across the box. Important-looking statistics, and screenloads of them. These should not only be wholly incomprehensible but, so as to thwart even the most dedicated of punters, boast no underlying logic whatsoever. Minimal player interaction. Keep him waiting for hours just to 'PRESS ANY KEY'. A big green box with lots of footballers on it. They all have one. Tacky adverts round the pitch carrying plugs for your other games. Disastrous artwork all over the place. Muscles where you never knew they existed. Free poster and badge that you wouldn't particularly want to stick anywhere (see artwork). A 'STOP THE TAPE' message halfway through loading. Meanwhile, you've dozed off and the tape runs on to the end.

THE FIRST FOOTIE GAME IN HISTORY A bit of a tie (almost), but by checking out all my back issues of YS, getting hold of various release dates, dismissing the really early stuff that's virtually unrecognisable as Speccy games as we know them today, and consulting with all the experts I could find, it has to be... Football Manager from Addictive! That's right, it's the one with mugshots of that cheery bearded bloke all over it (Kevin Toms actually. Ed). Originating in the days of long shorts and over-the-knee footie boots, it sold squillions of copies, mainly because it was released on everything from the ZX81 to the Teefal HY9000 De Luxe Deep Fat Fryer. We didn't stand a chance really. It was, of course, the first of those dreadful 'management' jobbies, in which you spend the whole time staring at lists of things. Written in 100% Basic, it featured some chronic 'action scenes' and a unique 'customising' feature. (In other words, you could break into the program and do all sorts of despicable things to it.) The punters loved it. As for the first action game, that's a bit harder. It was probably Artic's World Cup Football, the first of the little-people-running-around variety. Unfortunately though it was, to be honest, utterly, utterly terrible. The graphics especially were complete rubbish. It was so bad, in fact, that US Gold decided to use it as the basis for its renowned World Cup Carnival game. (Hurrah!) Far better is Matchday, which appeared soon after - the first proper, enjoyable footie action game.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Overall 900/1000

Spectrum £7.95cs, £14.95dk C64 £8.95cs, £12.95dk CPC £8.95cs, £14.95dk Jon Ritman's award winning Speccy footy game for Ocean restored some pride to the Sinclair terraces - for so long chided by Commodore fans for the lack of decent Spectrum football. The Match Day games changed all this. With stacks of game play options like changing the strip, altering the length of the game and many others. The game play was the horizontal perspective type - on the lines of Andrew Spencer's International Soccer.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 8/10

Sound 6/10

Playability 8/10

Value 7/10

Fun 8/10

Total 37/50

Tony Dillon 37/50

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

Computer football - second only in popularity to computer Ninjas.

European Five-A-Side - budget footy smash.

Gary Linekar failed to score.

Microprose Soccer - is the one to watch,

Sega Soccer - C+VG's all time fave footy game.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

C64, £8.95cs, £12.95dk Spectrum, £7.95cs, £14.95dk Amstrad, £8.95cs, £14.95dk The definitive football game for home micros. You take charge of a six man team and can play the computer or a friend in an attempt to win the League or the Cup. If you're feeling really mean you and a friend can gang up on the computer. Improvements on the original Matchday include the addition of a "Kickometer" which gives the player the chance to vary the power of his shots, passes etc. The Amstrad version's arguably the best of the bunch, but if you're after the best football game available for any 8-bit machine, then this is the one.

Matchday II.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Spectrum, £8.95cs, £14.95dk Amstrad, £8.95cs, £14.95dk C64/128, £8.95cs, £12.95dk The definitive football game for 8-bit micros. You don't get to compete just against the computer though - you can play against a friend (enemy?) if you like, or the two of you can cooperate by ganging up on the computer, which makes for plenty of fun. Terrific stuff for footbally fans, and a game that really shows how two-player options can add sparkle to an otherwise standard format.

The Games Machine

Overall 91%

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £7.95 Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £8.95, Diskette: £14.95 Amstrad CPC Cassette: £8.95, Diskette: £14.95 NEVER WALK ALONE Early in 1985 Jon Ritman and Chris Clarke coded a football game called Match Day and, as these things happen, it went on to become as big a hit on the Spectrum as International Soccer had been on the 64. Later on graphical designer Bernie Drummond teamed up with Ritman to bring us the computerised caped crusader Batman and the wacky Head Over Heels. Now, due to popular demand, and having worked night and day, they bring us the new, improved Match Day II. The sequel features a considerable number of changes, most prominent being the vast number of kicks and kicking styles available; the Kickometer allows you to perform backheels, soft-mediumand hard-power kicks, volley shots or set to one type of shot power for the entire game. Extra realism is provided through inclusion of the Diamond Deflection System, whereby the ball deflects off a player at a variety of angles dependent on the player's speed, direction of movement and the ball's approach angle. A comprehensive front-end allows you to select a human or computer goalkeeper, different skill levels, the degree of game sound, length of play in real time (5, 10 or 15 minutes per half) and team tactics (offensive or defensive). Taking corners, goal kicks and heading the ball are all in the game, whilst unsporting teams can even resort to barging the opposition. RECOGNITION League and Cup matches present challenges for either one player against the computer, two players head-to-head or two players together on the same side versus the computer. When a match is going badly, it's possible to manually change the score (cheat in other words). The difficulty in recognising which on-field player you were controlling in the original Match Day (the footballer's sock s changed colour) has been sensibly rectified by identifying him with a small version of the Kickometer above his head. Even more helpfully, this keeps time with the actual Kickometer at the top of the screen, making it much easier to control the power of the kick. If you feel the urge to see your favourite team win the League, then all the team names and team colours (and even the pitch colour) can be changed to whatever takes your fancy. It looks as though Ritman and Drummond have come up with yet another classic computer game. In general there is little to choose between the three versions in structure or gameplay. The two-player and twin-player options provide immense fun and make for highly addictive play, and the incredible number of options and redefinable features will keep armchair footballers happy for ages.

A blue pitch may look odd, but it shows up the players better than the green - Spectrum screen.

The Amstrad version.

"Ritman and Drummond have come up with yet another classic computer game."

AMSTRAD CPC Overall: 87% Match Day was good - the sequel is even better. Playability and all-round game feel has been considerably improved. Although the speed of the game isn't exactly fast (the Amstrad is the slowest version), the action is furious and the computer team gets very tricky indeed on higher levels. To prevent further loss of game speed the graphics are semi-transparent which produces a few odd effects at times but it works. Miss this one and you will be sick as a parrot!

COMMODORE 64/128 Overall: 90% The wealth of moves and tactics available put this game in a league of its own. The graphics are clear and realistically animated, it's quite a joy to see the players running around dribbling, heading the ball and barging each other. Occasionally, a pair of feet might appear in mid-air, and some of the colours selected make the score line invisible, but these are minor quibbles. The computer team is virtually perfect, the speed of the game means you're kept on your toes for the full 90 minutes. The great music plays along merrily and adds to the games addictiveness and high level of playability. Compared with International Soccer, Match Day II is in a league of its own.

OTHER FORMATS In keeping with their 'Joyce' versions of Batman and Head Over Heels, Ritman and Drummond are doing an Amstrad PCW version, but while visiting THE GAMES MACHINE, Jon added that he would like to code Match Day II for the PC compatibles as well - fingers crossed.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Graphics 8/10

Audio 5/10

IQ Factor 5/10

Fun Factor 8/10

Ace Rating 881/1000

Andy Smith 881/1000

Ocean make it 2-0. Matchday has achieved cult status - can Matchday 2 improve on what many still consider to be the definitive football game? At first glance, the game seems very similar to its predecessor. The player takes charge of a six man football team and has to play matches against either the computer or a friend an attempt to win the League or the Cup. This is where the first improvement becomes obvious. Not only can you play solo against the computer but you and a friend can gang up on it, both playing for the same side in a desperate attempt to prove human superiority. During a solo game you control the on-screen player who is in the best position to reach the ball and when playing in pairs you get a player each. The second major improvement in the game is the addition of the 'Kictometer'. This is a kick strength indicator which affects the distance of each shot. The 'Kictometer' ranges, broadly on a scale from one to three with three being the hardest kick. To use this facility properly, the player has to keep his eye on the meter to decide when to make the best shot. Thankfully the meter can be set to shoot at a set strength throughout the game. Basic tactics can now also be decided by the player, though you only have a choice of attack or defend. One feature removed from the game is the ability to play a full 45 minutes per half. Gameplay has been improved to allow players to make headers, backheel the ball and barge opposing team members. Another improvement is the realism of deflections. In real life the ball's angle of deflection is affected not only by its original flight path but also by the movement of whatever the ball was deflected off; this has now been taken into account. All of the above refinements (and others too numerous to mention in this limited space) make for one fine football game and even if you own the original game, the sequel has enough enhancements to make it worthy of purchase. Reviewer: Andy Smith RELEASE BOX C64/128, £8.95cs, £12.95dk, Out Now Spec, £7.95cs, £14.95dkcs, Out Now Ams, £8.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 68/100 1 hour: 70/100 1 day: 70/100 1 week: 70/100 1 month: 70/100 1 year: 60/100

C64 version - not the best version on the gameplay front, but colourful and well animated.

The Spectrum version highlighting the colour change option which is very useful if your T.V.'s not quite state of the art.

The superiority of the Amstrad version is clearly visible. Shame you can't see the game's playability.

AMSTRAD VERSION The graphics are wonderful. The gameplay is slow to watch but plenty fast enough when it comes to playing. All of the new additions make it slightly harder to master than the original but get the hang of the 'Kickometer' and you'll soon be bitten by the footballing bug. Thankfully the computer's skill level can be raised or lowered to give you a more balanced game. Graphics: 8/10 Audio: 6/10 IQ Factor: 5/10 Fun Factor: 8/10 Ace Rating: 906/1000 Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 70/100 1 hour: 75/100 1 day: 75/100 1 week: 80/100 1 month: 80/100 1 year: 65/100

C64 VERSION Unfortunately, something seems to have been lost in the translation to the C64 - the game is not as playable as the other versions, though it is as colourful as the Amstrad and more so than the Spectrum versions. It's still a very competent soccer game and interested C64 owners would not be disappointed. Graphics: 7/10 Audio: 6/10 IQ Factor: 5/10 Fun Factor: 8/10 Ace Rating: 838/1000 Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 50/100 1 hour: 65/100 1 day: 70/100 1 week: 70/100 1 month: 60/100 1 year: 50/100

SPECTRUM VERSION Despite the lack of colour, the Spectrum version of the game is every bit as compelling, frustrating and enjoyable as the other versions. The characters move around the pitch slightly faster on Spectrum turf than on Amstrad turf, and this makes for a marginally better game. A minor niggle is the fact that it is sometimes difficult to spot your player when there are several others jostling for the ball. Every bit as exciting and as playable as any other version.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)C+VG Hit

Graphics 8/10

Sound 8/10

Value 9/10

Playability 10/10

Paul Boughton

MACHINES: Spectrum/Amstrad SUPPLIER: Ocean PRICE: £9.95 VERSION TESTED: Spectrum Stand by for an outbreak of tough matches in the football game stakes. The market is about to be blitzed by them. First we've got Jon Ritman's Matchday II, then Football Manager II, Gary Lineker's Super Star Soccer, a Peter Beardsley game on the way and, of course, the re-release of Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona. So if you're out to score with a footie game there's plenty of choice. Matchday II comes highly recommended. It has taken Matchday as a basis to build on, and the improvements are worthwhile. So what do you get? It's a one or two player soccer simulation which allows you to volley, lob, backheel and kick ground shots with varying degrees of strength. You can also jump, head the ball and barge other players. There is also a league championship and cup competition for good measure. And if you're running a league or cup competition up to seven people can take part. Matches can last for 10,20 or 30 minutes so you can fit quite a lot into a couple of hours play. Control of members of your team automatically switches to the person nearest the ball. The kickometer shown at the top of the screen and above the player's head determines the kick pressure. III is very hard, II is medium, I is very soft and -I is a backheel. You take corners, throws, corners goalkicks, and intercept a pass. The game also includes something called the diamond deflection system. This adds realism to the way a ball deflects off a player. In practice the ball responds not only to the angle the player is standing and the ball direction, but also to the direction he is moving, including if he is jumping, and also detects his forehead for extra control.

Commodore Version.

Spectrum version.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 9/10

Playability 10/10

Value For Money 9/10

Addictiveness 9/10

Overall 9/10

Marcus Berkmann 9/10

Ocean £7.95 Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann "... And now the big match of the winter between those software giants,Ocean Utd and Gremlin Academicals, as they both try and steal each other's thunder with top-ranking footie sims on the Spectrum. What do you think, Greavsie?" "Wor gor grunge wor fwunk, Saint." "Well of course. We sent cub reporter Marcus Berkmann to weight up the challengers..." And they're pretty heavy, I can tell you. Jon Ritman's Match Day is one of the classic Speccy games. It turns up regularly in Desert Island Disks (being sixth in the current chart) and, though there've been loads of imitations, it's still the best attempt at a strictly footie simulation (rather than management game) that the Speccy has yet seen. Until now, of course. Match Day II is not a radical rewrite of the original, but it's far slicker and easier to play and has more options of play than you'd have thought possible on 48K. It's a step up from the original in much the same way Head Over Heels was an advance on Batman. For one thing, this game's got more menus than Maxim's. Once you've handled the joystick menu, you're presented with the main menu and all the different ways of playing Match Day. As well as the usual one-player and two-player options, there's Twin-player (you and a friend against the computer), Matchday Cup (you and up to seven friends in a three round cup compo) and Matchday League (you and your seven muckers in a league). Gordon Bennett! But there's more... When you come to play you'll notice that all the basics seem much the same, though a bit faster (that might be wishful thinking - tell me if I'm wrong). The main innovation is in the variety of shots, kicks and moves you can now make. Above the head of the player you're controlling is a little 'kickometer', which oscillates from left to right and shows how hard the ball will be kicked at any one moment. There are three strengths, from a little dribble to a full-bodied punt. Once you've mastered it, this gives you far greater control of the ball, but it does take a little practice. The kickometer also lets you back-heel if you want to, but it's wise to get used to the forward kicks before experimenting with this facility - otherwise that defensive clearance could well turn into an own goal! And that's what is so brilliant about the kickometer - the choice. You've got five options; all kicks (three forward and the backheel); forward kicks only; hard kicks only (II and III on the kickometer); kick II only or kick III only. If you press the fire key and hold it down, the kickometer will lock and the result will be a volley shot - particularly useful if you're in front of an open goal. As well as the miniature meter above the player's head, there's a heftier version at the top of the screen. Kicking the ball while in possession is a simple matter of pressing the fire button, as before, and if you make contact while running you'll lob it. You can jump, barge, dribble, tackle, everything but argue with the ref. If you doubt your goalkeeping prowess, you can let the computer take over that part of things, though watch out - it's often nearly as bad as you are. The goalkeeper will dive, but usually in the wrong direction! One wrinkle in the first game was its deflection system - unreliable and unlifelike - but this has now been ironed out. Now with the Diamond Deflection System, balls bounce in the direction you'd expect, and this tiny touch adds a whole new level of realism to the game. There's still more to tell you about - mainly about all those menus (I'll have the Coquilles St. Jacques, waiter, with a crate of brown ale). But we can't tell you everything, so go out and buy this now. Make Jon Ritman a rich man, because it seems to me that there's no one programming for the Speccy today who's producing such a consistent body of work as he is. I can guarantee that he'll be chuffed, Brian, chuffed...

Another goalmouth incident in a tense local derby. The goalkeeper may well dive but his abilities are fallible, especially if your controlling him. But turn him over to the Speccy, set his skill level on 'high' and you'll be well away! That scale at the top is the 'kickometer', but a smaller version is displayed above the head of the player you're controlling. Clever, huh?

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Overall 7/10

Christina Erskine 7/10

Label: Ocean Author: Jon Ritman Price: £7.95 (cassette) / £14.95 (disc) Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Christina Erskine Since Match Day is generally considered to be the best example of a football playing (as opposed to football management) game on the Spectrum, there's been considerable pre-launch interest in the follow-up Match Day II. What have Ritman and Drummond done to improve on the original? The answer is, to a large extent, they've complicated it. The basis of the game works in much the same way. Each team has seven players. You control one member of your team at any one time, usually the man nearest the ball (technically 'its the player in the best position to get the ball'). Either the computer or another person controls the opposing team. And matches can be five, ten or 15 minutes long. The complications arise in the vast number of extra feature incorporated into Match Day II. Your controllable player is denoted by a sort of variable bar code on top of his head - the kickometer. When it's stretched out he'll kick the ball a long way; one bar only and it'll be a short pass. If the kickometer is doubling back on itself, he'll do one of those backheel shots. Getting the hang of the kickometer often makes the difference between being thrashed 7-0, and gaining a respectable result. Realism has also been added in the shape of tackling and shoulder barging your opponents, volleys as well as floor passes. Throw-ins, corners and goal kicks are of course catered for. No penalties however, which, judging by the nature of the goalmouth scrambles, is just as well. Aside from the play, there are options galore for determining your playing tacttics.. You can set the kickometer at a fixed or less flexible level: all hard shots for example. You can choose whether to place most of your players in your own or your opponent's half of the field, whether to take on responsibility for your goalkeeper efforts or not, or how good you wish the computer to be flexibility of Match Day II, it's a pity that the playing screens themselves aren't always very clear. The teams are white versus yellow, but in tackles and crowded goalmouths all become yellow, thanks to the Spectrum's attribute system. Another snag is if a long ball is kicked(by either team), your man with the kickometer on his head may well be off-screen - it's thus impossible to intercept the ball until the screen scrolls and you can spot him. That said, the extra features, both in play and pre-match options: add greatly to the variety of play and tactics available from the original. If you've had Match Day I for a while now. and have mastered the playing technique, Match Day II will revitalise your interest. I still prefer the original Match Day though...

PROGRAMMERS Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond have collaborated on a number of projects for Ocean, including the recently acclaimed Head Over Heels. For Match Day II, Bernie contributed the graphics and animation of the teams. Jon drew the crowds and Guy Stevens coded the music. Softography: Ritman: Namtir Raiders (ZX81, Artic, 1982), Cosmic Debris (Artic, 1983), 3D Combat Zone (Artic, 1984), Match Day (with Chris Clarke) (Ocean, 1986), Batman (Ocean, 1986), Head Over Heels (Ocean, 1987)

CrashCrash Smash

Presentation 96%

Graphics 84%

Playability 89%

Addictive Qualities 91%

Overall 91%

Mike Dunn 84%

Paul Sumner 94%

Robin Candy 94%

Producer: Ocean Retail Price: £7.95 Author: Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond Football, as they say, Brian, is a great game, and now the jockstrap's on, the boots are laced, embrocation glistens on muscular thighs, and Match Day II - the long-expected reworking of programmer Jon Ritman's Match Day (86% Overall in Issue 13, famous as the one we didn't Smash!) - is about to begin. So choose your teams and prepare to experience the full range of human emotions from 'over the moon' to 'as sick as a parrot'. Your team can take part in a cup competition, a league championship, or one-off competitions against others or the computer. The match time can be set to 5, 10 or 15 minutes par half, a skill level established and a choice made between attacking and defending tactics. Each team has seven players, and a player gains possession of the ball when it hits him below the knee. (You can control two players at the same time if the ball is passed from one to the other.) The power of each player's kick is controllable, and can be locked on for shots at the goal mouth so you can use maximum force in an attempt to score. Bouncing balls can be trapped if you carefully judge the height of the ball from the size of its shadow; dribbling and lofting are also possible, the latter done by kicking the ball while running. And to create greater complexity and realism on the field, the Diamond Deflection System has been incorporated: when the ball strikes a player, its rebound takes into account not only the angle of the struck player, but also the direction in which he is moving and that of the ball. If you decide to participate in a competition, fixtures are automatically decided and your opponents'skill increased as progress is made. But a code allows the competition to be saved and returned to later - so if your team isn't doing well you can have words with the manager. Programmer Jon Ritman and graphics man Bernie Drummond have also worked together on the Ocean Smashes Batman and Head Over Heels (Issues 28 and 39 respectively). COMMENTS Joysticks: Cursor, Fuller, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: functional 3-D Sound: tune to open each match, and spot effects Options: definable keys, two-player option, all the menus you can eat

A great game, Brian.

Going for the goal.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition