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If you think American football is a tough game now, you ain't seen nothing yet. By the year 2022 it has got so violent it can only be played by huge robots: the last human to play the game was tragically decapitated by a face-masking violation in his farewell match!

As in present-day gridiron, the offence try to advance the ball up the field with the eventual aim of scoring a touchdown. However, instead of having four chances of advance ten yards they have to reach the "defuse line" before the ball explodes! The offence can choose to run, pass, or do an option play, then choose from four alternatives (automatically selected for the current situation from a total of over a hundred offensive plays such as 'Cheap Hooker', 'Thrust' and 'Wham-bam'). Similarly the defence gets to choos from a variety of short, medium and long defences.

On all plays, the quarterback first gets the ball before handing or passing it to a colleague to whome control switches. When passing, the quarterback has a choice of three targets to throw to. All players have a turbo-boost for extra speed but this can only be used once per play.

Cyberball is such a tough game that even robots aren't immune from damage; they can be destroyed by being tackled too much or when in possession of an exploding ball! Damaged robots cost hard card to replace - this is earned by scoring points: two for a safety (tackling an opponent in his own endzone) and six for a touchdown. Field goals are not allowed and instead of kicking touchdown conversions you must either run (for 2pts) or pass (1pt) the ball into the endzone from a goal-line position.

There are six teams to choose from including two of the easier instructional standard. Disappointingly, there is no human vs human option, although two players can play for the same team against a computer side.

This is no TV Sports Football but still very playable all the same. I appreciated the huge variety of humorously named plays and the neat presentation with robotic speech and detailed diagrams of each robot type.

The action is ar easier to get into than TV Sports with a simple method of passing, although this ultimately proves limiting. What really disappointed me was the omissin of a competitive two-player option, as although the team-mates mode is fun the computer opponents are far too easy to defeat. And with the lack of a league competition there's no real challenge to keep you interested.

In my games co-operative play usually ended in violence, with Phil refusing to pass the ball to me merely because I may have dropped it once or twice!

Certainly it takes a bit of getting used to, with bulky robots to manoeuvre through a formidable defence line. The game is a little sluggish, but you soon get used to it and it's a fun mix of arcade action and strategy. The game never succeeded in the arcades because it was simply too complex for the average Robin-type arcade freak. In the slighty more thoughtful home computer market it should prove a lot more popular.

Presentation 85% Neat attract mode with diagrams of various robots, demo game.

Graphics 74% Slow moving but otherwise a close enough representation of the coin-op.

Sound 68% Good title tune with some neat robotic speech, but disappointing in-game silence.

Hookability 78% It's fun and, for an American football variant, not over-complex...

Lastability 64% ...but the lack of depth and a competitive two-player option - means the fun won't last that long.

Overall 72% Another faithful Tengen conversion.