Scoring an amazing 17% in issue 23, this is the sort of management sim that's best forgotten. Running ridiculously slowly, the main challenge lies in staying awake long enough to finish it! Having gone through the tedious process of selecting your team, you sit and wait while the computer selects the other 63, taking a few seconds for each - exciting stuff isn't it?

The game is menu driven, and the overall standard of presentation is good, but why they had to use the cursor keys for highlighting options I'll never know. The animated graphics are a travesty - featuring user-defined sprites and piddle-poor animation; you have to sit through fifteen minutes of screen flicker before getting a result. You can skip the match and go straight to the results table, of course, but even then they take ten seconds each to appear! Okay if you want to make a cuppa while it processes!

Even on a budget compilation, The Double is a complete waste of space. You'll never load it twice, and probably won't play it for long first time round [So naaaa! to you lot - Man Ed].

Another disaster! No-one at Zzap! Towers can make head nor tail of it - the player sprites seem to run around at random, while you try to guess which one's got the ball! The middle section of the pitch is viewed from above, but instead of scrolling up or down when you move, the perspective suddenly changes to a 3D view of the goal. What you're supposed to do then is anyone's guess (shoot possibly? - Ed). An obscure sport which no-one understands [I like it - Ed] inspires a crap game which no-one can play.

Ah, now this is more like it! Football sims are ten-a-penny, but this is the first football training sim I've ever seen - full marks for originality!

After choosing your strip and skill level, you're given a choice of four individual skills to practice. You must reach a satisfactory standard in each before going on to the assault course, a gruelling challenge, testing all four skills.

Unlike many multi-event games, Soccer Challenge offers a variety of gameplay - to tackle, get to the opponent's ball without touching the player; the penalty event is a waggler: the passing, rotate and fire, etc. This gives the game lots of appeal, though it's not very difficult - question marks remain over lastability. All in all Soccer Challenge is a solid, well-executed game. Not enough depth to stand on its own, but a boon to any budget compilation.

Oh no! It's another blinkin' management game! Endless screenfuls of text, boring team selection, etc, etc. This time it's a Rugby League team you control, but it doesn't really make any difference - the only way you can tell is through the team names.

Featuring no graphics whatsoever outside the presentation screen, the game's controlled by endlessly prodding the keyboard on cue. When you play a game, you're forced to sit and stare at the timer, only interrupted by the odd prompt when someone scores, and the whole thing is so *slow*!

It you don't like management sims, this one won't win you over. If you do, I'm sure you can find one better than this! Crap game! Sorry, but that's the way it is!

Basically I've got to put the 'Boot' in 'cos it's a load of 'Balls' which no-one with 'Brains' would buy.