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The likeable and once prolific Leicester lad's first foray into computer world was Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer (AA 29: 66%). My, how things have changed! Now, while our Gazza is out there at Barcelona striving to get onto the score-sheet (and occasionally meeting up with Robbo and the lads to get another hard-earned goalless draw against some soccer non-entity), Gremlin release the second. The emphasis has shifted from tactical and arcade-like action to a waggling game that trains a budding electronic footballer.

From one to four players can take part and there are two major sections to the game: in the gym and field work. The gym section has four events: press-ups, squat thrusts, weight-lifting and monkey bars. Field work consists of dribbling, chipping, shooting, penalties and ball juggling. In each event you have a certain amount of time in which to complete it, and there's also a maximum time limit by the end of which you must have completed all the training. A timer on-screen shows you how much time you have left to complete the event and the game.

All the gym events are pure waggle, with subtle differences between the events. By subtle I mean the direction that the joystick is being moved changes from horizontal to diagonal to vertical. Sophisticated stuff!

Once you've gone through the gym, it's time to go out onto the pitch and kick some ball. Dribbling, chipping and shooting are all very similar in play, just a matter of running around with the ball and kicking it occasionally. A sight is used to decide where the ball's supposed to go and then you give a good kickin'. Finally there's ball juggling in which you press the appropriate numeric key to get that ball bouncing.

Graphics are bright, but not colourful, with good animation. Sound is decent enough, if a little simplistic. A nice tune that's somewhat reminiscent of Deflektor plays on the title screen, but there are no tunes in the game itself.

Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer mixed the strategy and arcade elements together well, but Super Skills lacks the essential ingredient to make it stand out. Some of the gym events are bit too tricky. In fact, they seem impossible and you just sit there waggling to no avail. It would have been much better to introduce the player gradually to the game rather than throw him in at the deep end immediately.

1,000 points

This gym joystick-waggling business requires a high boredom threshold I don't possess, and the point never seems very clear. Still, there must be enough people out there who love nothing better than a good waggle... But why?

Duller, but playable.

Graphics 71%
P. Well animated and no flicker.
N. Only a handful of colours (excluding thumb).

Sonics 61%
P. Brilliant title tune.

Grab Factor 67%
N. Once you start doing badly things get even worse.

Staying Power 62%
P. Plenty of events to play through.
N. Tedious after a while.

Overall 64%
The skills section of 4 Soccer Sims is better and you get a soccer game too.