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Have you got what it takes to win the Superbowl? If you're smug enough to say: "Yeah, of course," then you should try Head Coach. It's a humbling experience.

Kevin Toms and his Addictive Games outfit are trying to do for American Football what Football Manager has done for UK soccer. Will the US version sell for as long as Kevin's original? Only time will tell - but there's no question about the time, effort and detail that programmer Simon Davies has put into this strategic simulation.

Head Coach is entirely menu-driven. You begin the game at the master menu which allows you to do stuff like check your offense and defence line-ups, check skill levels, or simply go to the next match of the season. Oh yes, when you first start playing you can choose which team you wish to manage from the several divisions.

For the first "season" you are given a team to play with. Subsequent seasons allow you to actually set up a team of your own from scratch. You choose your offensive and defensive line-ups for each match after checking up on your scout's report of your next opponent.

Getting the balance between offense and defence is crucial to success - so study your scout's report well.

Once the team is established it's out onto the astroturf for the action. This is depicted in similar fashion to that other popular US Football game from Mind Games - you see the grid iron pitch and tiny players dash about on it at your command.

You have a limited choice of defensive and offensive plays which appear in menu form at the bottom of the screen. This is where your scouting report comes in useful - you should have a good idea what plays the opposition are likely to use against you. But beware - sometimes they throw in a surprise or two.

The irritating thing about this part of the game is that you only get two chances to move the ball ten yards - rather than four as in the real game.

Addictive say this is to speed things up. But sometimes you get carried away planning your game plan to the real rules that it's a real jolt to find you're out of it after just two moves!

During the game you can also call up info on how your game plan is working out - how your moves failed or succeeded. This helps if you find yourself in a tight spot.

After the match is over, it's back to the master menu where you can check up on your game statistics.

At this stage you also get offered other players by other teams in a trading sequence - but you can't palm just any old player off on your opposition, your offer can be rejected. And don't take just anyone from the other teams either. Check their statistics before agreeing to anything! This is a useful stage if you've got an injured player in your squad.

The aim of the game is, of course, to reach the Superbowl. To do this you must win your division, get into the playoffs, emerge successful from this stage and go for the big one!

It's a long hard road and fortunately you can save the game at any stage.

After the first "season" you move into the "college draft" stage which enables you to rebuild your team during the off season. This is quite a tricky stage - again menu-driven. Then it's back to the action again.

Only a couple of gripes - the two "downs" instead of four, irritating music and it would be nice to have a few real player names in the line ups instead of made up ones.

Head Coach will appeal to American Football fans with strategic minds and owners of Addictive's other classic soccer simulation. But there's still room for a decent arcade American Football game. Are you listening out there?!