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For those of you who are not familiar with the sport of American Football, the first thing to note about 4th & Inches is that there's absolutely no point in loading it up, pressing Fire and seeing how well you get on: a lengthy perusal of the drab instructions sheet is unavoidable. American football, you soon come to understand, is heavy on tactics, and you have to try to work out from the meagre information provided what moves like "Draw, Run", "Short Curl, Pass" and "Streak, Long Pass" actually mean on the field of play.

There are some 36 different plays possible in all, sixteen possible team formations plus all the different player positions (although there are only eleven team players on the field at any one time, just like in the real thing specialist players are brought on for specific plays). And, as if that wasn't enough to master, the program gives individual names and characteristics (speed, toughness, etc) to each player on each team. It all seems like a tremendous amount of studying to do before you so much as get down to the line of scrimmage.

Anyhow, when you've decided that you're as ready as you'll ever be, you select one of the two teams and give the other either to your mate or the computer. Press the Fire button and one of the ill-defined little figures boots the ball. The screen initially shows the area surrounding the half-way line, with about ten yards in either direction depicted. The ball, of course, travels way beyond this area, with both teams' players in hot pursuit, but the game steps rather than scrolls. Incidentally, neither you nor your opponent is doing anything at all yet - the game is playing itself. The ball is eventually caught by a player, who then flashes to show that he is now operational.

A short arcade sequence follows, during which you try to guide this player as far back up the field as you can before the opposing hordes swarm around and tackle you.

Once the tackle has been made, three successive menus appear underneath either player's team to enable you to decide the strategy for the next play. These menus give you five possible team formations, play selections and players to choose from. If you're playing against a real live opponent, your joystick-controlled cursor (options are represented by North, South, East, West or Centre) is invisible, thereby keeping your selections secret. If you've got possession, the options will relate to attacking plays, while your opponent is offered a range of defensive plays.

All that happens in the actual "Play" is that the ball is passed back to the flashing quarterback (controlled by you) who can then decide whether to throw, kick or run the ball, and when to do so. Perhaps there's some very subtle skill involved in calculating exactly when to let your pass (The most common move) fly, but if there is I was too dopey to work it out. Basically, you've already decided, by your various menu choices, what you're going to do, and so has your opponent, so the skill needed during the arcade phase is pretty minimal - the game does most of it for you. If the ball has been passed, you have to try to move the receiver you've previously selected underneath it to make the catch. There are so many other players of both sides swarming around, and the sprites are so poorly defined, that whether or not your flashing receiver manages to make the play complete is totally hit-or-miss. If he doesn't, it's back to the line of scrimmage or, if the four "downs" have been exhausted possession changes. If he does, he can try to run upfield, avoiding tackles, towards the end zone.

4th & Inches does stick fairly closely to the rules and tactics of American Football. The quarters tick away, you can call time outs, players do intercept passes and hand off tackles. But so much of the gameplay is automatic or predetermined that there's very little sense of playing the game yourself.

You get all the frustrating interruptions of American Football with absolutely none of the thrills, skills and spills. A Long Pass? I think I would if I were you.