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Adidas Championship Football is a knockout competition between 24 countries, and one of the best footy games around. It kicks off (ho, ho) with you choosing a one or two player game and a country to represent. Following a draw to determine who plays who, the computer randomly selects four teams for each of the six groups.

Each match is made up of two halves, with team formation, the length of match (2, 4, or 8 minutes), music on/off etc options to fiddle around with. Depending on the fall of a coin you play either up or down the pitch. The controlled player is marked, as in most (if not all) footy games, with an arrow, and when in possession of the ball a power meter controls the force with which the ball is kicked (hold down the fire button for more power).

Be careful when tackling an opponent, the ref is very fond of handing out the yellow and red cards. In one game I played three of the opposition's players were sent off (I wonder if some of them were Cameroon players in disguise). The pitch is viewed from above so all you see of the players is their heads, but character animation is good. If the World Cup hooha hasn't made you nauseous give this one a go.

MARK ... 80%

'It's not very often I get a football game I actually t I like. But this one did appeal to me. Adidas Championship Football is excellently presented. It's been ages since I've seen a game with so many animated logos and special screen effects: this kind of presentation injects a special quality. Ocean is definitely improving on this front. Presentation isn't everything of course, the game has to be playable to make it successful. Unfortunately when you get to the football it isn't that good. All the players look the same, the one you're controlling is supposed to have an arrow to show you where you are - the funny thing is all players on he computer team also have an arrow! The confusion this causes spoils things. I just couldn't get the hang of it and keep possession of the ball. The score at the end of one of my matches was England 1 Italy 10 (me playing En-ger-land)! Thankfully England didn't lose this badly in the real thing well done lads, you did us proud!). Adidas Championship Football is a well presented game that could have been a bit better on the football side. Well worth a look.'