World Cup Year 90 Compilation

Sinclair User

Graphics 70%

Sound 67%

Playability 69%

Lastability 90%

Overall 87%

Chris Jenkins 87%

Here they come, here they come, here they come! As predictable as rain at Wimbledon, the deluge of footy games make it through the tunnel (just) in time for the World Cup. Just like the Biggest Match, there can only be one eventual winner. So who, at the end of the day, will emerge with the shiny gold goblet and who, will be saying "Well, our marketing gameplan was sound, but the programmers didn't really give 100%. And it was an awfully partisan crowd"... WORLD CUP YEAR '90 Label: Empire Price: £ Reviewer: Chris Jenkins Well, the boys done good, they gave it 110%, and I myself personally think it's a game of two halves and it's all about putting the ball in the back of the net; we went for a result, and at the end of the day we got one. Yes, it's another footie game compilation, and just for a change there are no punctured bladders in here - they're all firm and bouncy. Possibly the bounciest is Gary Lineker's Hot-Shot, a full-scale eleven-a-side top-down game complete with sliding tackles, throw-ins, corners, goal kicks, fouls and a full league structure. The graphics here are good, much better than the substantially similar Kick Off, and the players move smoothly. Boss music too. Tracksuit Manager got 93% and an SU Classic when we first reviewed it, and it's still the best management sim around, in the sense that it has the most detail: but if you're looking for arcade action, this is one to avoid. Tables, lists, figures, menus, reports, options, and all the actual fixtures games played by the computer and over in a second! Kick Off is similar in appearance to Lineker, but has inferior graphics; the scrolling, though, is faster, and you have the options to practice playing skills and penalty shooting before entering the multi-player league. A pretty good "team", then, which should "match" your desires completely if you've got the "balls". But if you're that keen on footie games, you may well have one or two of these already. At least you get an A3 World Cup poster with this package, and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?

Arg! Toe-punted over the goal. We always new it would end in tears. This is what comes of playing with loose laces.

Your Sinclair

Life Expectancy 84%

Instant Appeal 76%

Graphics 68%

Addictiveness 82%

Overall 79%

Matt Bielby 79%

Empire £12.99 cass/£17.99 disk Reviewer: Matt Bielby Well, we're getting quite near the end of the mag now, so I think it's about time I asked you something - are you getting sick of footie games yet or what? if the answer is "Yes!!" you've probably stopped reading already, but for those of you who are left, especially those new to the fine art of Speccy soccer, how about this? It's a new compilation of three 'oldie but goldie'soccer sensations, available, to you squire, at the fairly snip-like price of £12.99. Not an absolute barg perhaps, but fairly good value nonetheless. And it goes something like this... KICK OFF The biggie, this only came out at full price a few months ago, so we're pretty surprised to see it on compilation already. The Speccy version's a slight disappointment perhaps - after all, the 16-bits were true classics - but it's still a bit of a breakthrough in footie game terms. Never before has Speccy soccer been so fast (most other games now seem geriatric in comparison) or so accessible to someone who knows absolutely zilcho about the real thing. It's a scrolling, overhead-view game, with little red and white men bouncing round the green field as if it were a giant pinball table - totally unrealistic, I grant you, but barrels of fun nonetheless. The graphics are the letdown - very scrappily put together, with indistinct players and balls that seem to go under the goal line! This is real budget game stuff circa 1986. Still, even they're not bad enough to ruin it. Fast, easy to get into and fun, it's a flawed classic footie game for people who don't really like football. '90 Rating: 80° TRACKSUIT MANAGER A totally different kettle of fish, this is your actual text-only management jobbie, which sounds like it could be a real pain for anyone not 100% obsessed by footie stats and trivia. It's not though, which Goliath should take a fair amount of credit for (they originally brought the game out in 1988, so it's no spring chicken.) Apparently the details are in here of every player in every national side in the world at the time, meaning you can really tailor the make-up of your team to fit the individual opponents. the actual matches are played in the form of minute-by-minute reports flashing on the scree as if they were coming to you via a teleprinter - a strangely gripping way of doing it. Graphically it's not so hot perhaps, but it's still a bit of a surprise for those of us who think we hate management games. '90 Rating: 78° GARY LINEKER'S HOT SHOT This is the nearest thing in the compilation to a straight footie game. It's along the lines of Matchday, though fairly unusually it isn't side-viewed at all, but a vertical scroller like Kick Off. Graphics are clearer and more distinct though (you see, Anco, it wasn't too hard) but they've opted for the big sprites approach - fine for tackling, heading and so on, but useless for shooting at goal, because you have to be a (scale) ten feet away or so before the blooming thing scrolls onto the screen. Ho hum. Still, there's a nicely mown two-tone green lawn, four divisions to steer through (made up of international teams) and even a ref sticking his oar in occasionally! Controls are of the 'you control the player nearest the ball' type, which is all very well until there are two of you pretty near to it, when it becomes pot luck which one moves. There's nothing at all that original in here it has to be said, but it remains a fair soccer game which compares well with most rivals. '90 Rating: 73° So there you have it, a good topical compilation. Not particularly good value if you've got any of the games already - or if you're absolutely convinced you'd never load up a management game in your life - but with a fairly open mind and an interest in soccer it could be a good buy. It comes with a World Cup wall chart and an endorsement by Shoot magazine too. Worth considering at least.

Gary Lineker - big balls and a jolly nice lawn.

Kick Off - great game, but aren't these perhaps the world's scrappiest graphics?

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