Peter Beardsley's International Football

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 7/10

Sound 5/10

Playability 4/10

Value 3/10

Fun 3/10

Total 22/50

Tony Dillon 22/50

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.

Crash

Presentation 26%

Graphics 22%

Sound 61%

Playability 24%

Addictive Qualities 20%

Overall 22%

Mark Caswell 20%

Phil King 24%

Grandslam score an own goal! Producer: Grandslam Cup Tickets: £8.95 cass Author: Teque Away man, Peter Beardsley in his own computer game? Yes, the toothless, £1.9 million pound superstar of Liverpool is starring in his own soccer game. This soccer simulation has Peter playing in his international role for that brilliant (at losing) team, England, in the European Championships (bit late isn't it?). Don't worry, though, if you want to win you can play for countries like Albania and Holland. Just like the real Championships, there are two groups of four teams, with the first two in each going through to the semi-finals. Once all the pre-match selections have been made, including the length of the match, it's time for the kick-off. The inlay states that the teams appear in their authentic colours, but I can't remember having seen England ever play in all yellow! Once the whistle goes you're faced with badly-defined, flickery sprites staggering down a jerkily-scrolling pitch dribbling the ball with perfect control. In fact you can easily dribble the ball all the way up the pitch into the opponents' goal. Even the two player option and the 'Ere we go' tunes don't do much to improve such a tacky attempt at computer football. Long live Match Day II! PHIL 24% THE ESSENTIALS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: ill-defined sprites on a jerkily-scrolling pitch Sound: good medley of football anthems Options: one or two players.

Sinclair User

Graphics 37%

Sound 47%

Playability 42%

Lastability 24%

Overall 34%

Label: Grandslam Author: In-house Price: £7.95 Memory: 48K/128K It's a funny old world. (I bet you thought I was going to say 'game' there). At first, action football games were wicked (Match Day) and managerial games were poo (Football Manager). Now, all of a sudden there are some wicked managerial games popping up (TSM, FD2). The action ones, with one or two notable exceptions, are getting crap and PBIF is no exception. It has to be, without a doubt, one of the worst arcade football games I have ever played. You play in some international league thing either alone, or with a friend playing a different team, the ultimate aim being to become the Champion of Europe, or something like that. Once you've chosen which team you want to be, and you've seen who else is in your group, you play the first of the 6 matches that will decide whether you get to go through to the next round. The game is viewed side on, as are nearly all the footy games nowadays, except that this one is terrible. It seems small, skinny graphics are all the rage now, and as for the colourful passionate supporters? I've seen El Presidente show more passion than that. (Nonsense, I am a ruthless sadistic editing machine. I have no emotions. Now give me my pen back before I tell my Mum. - GT). The scrolling is slow and jerky, and the animation of the players is terrible. How many players have you seen run while scratching their instep with their heel? As normal, you control one man on the pitch at a time, signified by being a different colour to the rest of the team. The player is usually the one nearest to the ball. Controlling the ball is no problem. Just stand still and wait for it to hit you, then run headlong at the goal. You won't be tackled and the goalie will just step aside for you. As you can guess, the game is appallingly easy, if not just plain appalling. PBIF is just one big disappointment. There is just so much missing. The goalie can't dive. You can't do sliding tackles, or even headers. You can't barge other players. YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING!!! No thanks.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 4/10

Playability 4/10

Value For Money 2/10

Addictiveness 3/10

Overall 3/10

Sean Kelly 3/10

Grandslam £8.95 Reviewer: Sean Kelly No... I can't... it's too obvious... no... help! I've gotta resist.... I must... Er... I was over the moon, Brian, when I got this game... AARGH!! Sorry, it just slipped out soccer fans. Ah well, on with the review. Peter Beardsley's International Football is obviously the latest footie (what did you expect - Origami?) simulation, from Grandslam. Following the Matchday rather than Football Manager game format, you choose your team from one of the eight international teams represented, and must then play your way through to the finals of the European Cup. First though, you have to play the other three teams in your group, whilst the computer simulates the other matches in both groups. Depending upon which you choose, the duration of the match will be from five to twenty minutes. When play starts, you find yourself controlling, not the ball as such, but the player from your team who is nearest to the ball. You can move your player in eight directions (if you've a joystick that is) and 'kick' the ball in as many directions too. The strength of kick is determined by the length of time you hold the fire button down, before releasing it. And, er... that's it. Nothing else much to say, really, apart from the verdict. Well, I've got to say it. This game plays about as well as England did in this year's European matches. It's a classic case of 'We've got the licence, let's knock a game up and get it on sale quick.' The game is a mediocre footie simulation, which relies more on luck than any amount of joystick juggling, and the most realistic aspect of it is that the teams change ends at half time. Passing is near impossible, because for most of the time your other team members are on the part of the pitch not on the screen. 'Scrolling' is a generous term to use for the movement of the screen, which has got more jerks than a Rick Astley concert. As for using your goalie to save, forget it. If one of the opposing players takes a shot at goal, by the time the scrolling has caught up with the shot and you can see your goalie, it is too late to get him into a position to save. This might sound like I am overdoing the criticism a little, but I am only countering the information carried on the packaging. On the Spectrum box, it describes the 'large animated sprites, whistle happy referee, excitable commentator and a tuneful football anthem'. Doubtless these feature in the 16 bit versions, but to describe these features on the Spectrum packaging when they are not in the game is at best extremely misleading, and at worst downright porkies. Compared with some of the similar footer simulations on the market, this game is primitive, and if you are looking for a good version of the ol' sport, look elsewhere.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years