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Hands up who remembers when American Football was fashionable. When the whole nation used to sit around the TV on a Sunday afternoon, glued to Channel 4's coverage of the week's exciting Stateside clashes, occasionally having a laugh at one of the inadequate and spotty presenters invariably hired to spout ill-informed jargon throughout the show.

Ah yes, those were the days. When bleary-eyed fans would sit up until 3am to watch the Superbowl, and when quizzed by friends the next day wouldn't even be able to remember who was playing, what the score was, let alone why they bothered watching it in the first pace. Now, those happy days are here again, thans to the latest annual installment of John Madden Football. That legendary US footy sim is back again in its familiar form, although it has more new plays, more teams and a new picture of the portly commentator himself.

Sequel to the sequel to the all-time Megadrive classic, John Madden's Football.

Although American Football was enormously popular a few years ago, there are a few philistines out there who may never have given two beans about it and as such don't know the rules. Well, it's all pretty simple really. Play time is divided into four equal quarters.

At the start of the game, one team punts the ball as far downfield as possible. The receiver who catches the ball then runs as far upfield as he can towards the opposing team's End Zone. Should he be tackled (Very likely!), play is restarted from the spot where the ball hit the ground.

If the team score, they get to kick off; if they don't, play restarts from the same spot the ball last fell.

What with Madden being a commentator, talking comes naturally to him. Now, his remarkable talents of vocal chord vibration have been reproduced on the Megadrive!

1. Play Mode:
   Select pre or regular season for difficulty levels, Playoff for Superbowl, or continue an old playoff.
2. Team 1/2 Select:
   Select your team from here.
3. Stadium:
   Choose open air or domed stadiums, with grass or synthetic pitches.
4. Weather:
   Dry, wet, windy or even snowy conditions are selectable here.

One or two players may participate in Madden horseplay at one time. In double-up mode, the players choose to either play off against each other or both play on the same team.

At either 20 minutes or a mighty one hour per game, ripping right through the Superbowl in one sitting is right out of the question.

Although this makes returning to a tournament a lot easier, it does however mean you can't swap groovy passwords with your friends and you have to play all the way through every match to get your team to the final.

The original John Madden Football took the stats of the teams included from real-life team data. The follow-up, John Madden Football '92, increased the number of teams and updated the information and performance of the players, taking into account new signings, retired players and drugs scandals.

Actually, new teams is a bit wrong, as they are in fact John's fave classic teams from years gone by, such as San Francisco '84, Miami '72 and Dallas '77. There's even a special custom team - The All-Madden Greats. This team is composed of the greatest American Football players ever in the world - definitely not an easy team to beat!!

Whilst John Madden's could never be accused of being a dead horse, the way EA are flogging it, it's certainly on its last legs. The original Madden is still a classic, and last year's sequel made a lot of valid additions and revisions, making it the best sports game going.

For starters, there's a slowdown problem which makes it feel like you're wading through a swamp rather than sprinting, gazelle-like, downfield. This is most evident when one team punts the ball. As the viewpoint switches over when the ball crosses the halfway line, everything stops dead for a second or so, before continuing, pausing all the time until the ball lands.

Needless to say, this makes receiving impromptu punts a rather hit-and-miss affair. Even if you haven't already got a Madden game, save a couple of quid and get the superior Madden '92, if you have got a Madden game, steer well clear of this. Still, perhaps John Madden '95 might be better...

Speech has been added, but it's very limited - you hear the same, very garbled and totally inane phrases over and over again, and it only took one quarter for it to become totally irritating.

There are few new plays and the computer opponent still takes ages to make its mind up over a move, something that was annoying in the first two games and should have been eliminated here. The graphics are the same and the computer opponents are no harder.

I thought the whole point of sequels was to improve on the original - this one simply doesn't do it - if anything, it's a step backwards.

For me, John Madden '92 is the best version of the series and is the one to get if you haven't already got an American football game.

Graphics 89%
P. Well-animated sprites with lots of attention to detail.
N. The sprites are too small, and the animation on the crowd scenes and Madden himself is atrocious.

Sound 86%
P. Lots of different tunes, speech and sound effects, the latter being pretty darned good.
N. The tunes are bland and a bit dull, and the speech is very hissy.

Lastability 88%
P. Loads of teams, each with completely separate profiles, plus that all-important Superbowl.
N. The Superbowl is pretty easy to finish.

Overall 89%
Not a bad game at all, but hopelessly redundant nonetheless. Go for the slightly better John Madden Football '92 if you're after the definitive American Football game and give this one a miss.