World Cup Soccer

Your Sinclair

Graphics 7/10

Playability 8/10

Value For Money 8/10

Addictiveness 8/10

Overall 8/10

Rick Robson 8/10

Macmillan Software £8.95 Reviewer: Rick Robson 'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go - get ready for Mexico '86 with Macmillan's World Cup Soccer, a multi-feature package which should satisfy, whether you're a Speccy or footy freak. The tape is double sided (a game of two halves you might say) with a fact file and a game simulation - which should have you over the moon. The simulation starts with a warm up of heading and penalty skills that'll test your arcade abilities. Good graphics here. You then move on to management. Pick which country you wish to be, then select a squad or accept the programmed one. I can understand the computer might struggle to give you the Cameroons squad, but if you choose to be England you'll be given an all-time greats squad of multi-nationals. If only Pele really was English! The computer will now pit you against another nation in your section. The first half is unseen - but injuries and scores with times are flashed up. In the second half you can compensate for any program failings by using the heading and penalty skills first seen at warm up. But whats this? Kuwait and New Zealand seem to do uncommonly well for soccer minnows and the Great Shilts has become goal scorer as well as goal keeper. Still, this ought to keep you happy until the real thing in June.

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Sinclair User

Overall 3/5

Chris Bourne 3/5

Publisher: Macmillan Price: £8.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair Soccer fans who fork out for this package get three things for their money. Firstly, there's a booklet about soccer and the world cup. There are also two programs, one on each side of the cassette. The first is a database of facts about the world cup. A menu allows you to choose a country, or a particular series, and examine the fortunes of the teams. That program also contains a quiz option with three levels of difficulty. You can play on your own or against a friend, and your score depends on how quickly you answer the questions. The quiz is fun - easy to begin with but quite tough at the top level. The second side is more interesting - a game called World Cup Manager. You must select your team from a squad of players, with percentage ratings for strength, stamina and skill. Once that's out of the way, the match starts. The first half is boring. The second half of the game is played as a couple of arcade mini-games. Depending on your success in these two games, you may be awarded further goals - or concede them to the opposition. There is simply not enough variety and challenge to make the game really exciting, and a world cup game with no excitement is a bit like Miami Vice with no designer jeans.

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