1st June 1992
The Big Match
For flabby footy fans like Phil King, computer soccer is the only way to get any kicks. But there are so many C64 soccer sims to choose from you'd have an easier job selecting a winning Spurs team! So, to save you spending extravaganza transfer fees on dodgy players, Foul Phil heads straight for goal with a round-up of the results...
Emlyn Hughes International Soccer
Don't be put off by old 'Crazy Horse' Emlyn - he of the high-pitched voice and cheesy grin. This is my absolute favourite footy sim of all time (on the C64 that is boys and girls!).
You see, for me a good game of football involves lots of intricate passing. Sadly, most soccer sims just involve hoofing it up the pitch and loads of chasing aimlessly after the ball. Either that, or using one player to dribble the whole length of the pitch.
Emlyn, though, is a totally different ball game. Yes, the teams here like to play 'football', Brian! An adjustable control system allows you to pass in a different direction to which you're running, enabling lots of teamwork between your players, including clever one-twos. And you certainly need to play that way to score: although the ball sticks to your player's foot, it's very difficult to dribble right through the defence (unless your name's Roy Hattersley, of course! And there is a canoe you need to paddle your way through those defence players).
It's attractive football all right with well-animated players running along a horizontally scrolling 3D pitch, complete with advertising hoardings and roaring crowd.
The icing on the scrummy cake is the brilliant pre-match options menu, offering the selection of your squad, any of eight national teams, a full tournament, lots of control options, two-player games and, as they say in cruddy Christmas album adverts, much much more!
Brilliant designed, very realistic and, despite being a tad tricky to master at first, incredibly playable. Emlyn is the top scorer of C64 footy games, but as this month's 'mazing Megatape will testify, you won't have to wait 'til its budget release to find that out, Brian. 95%
Manchester United Europe (Krisalis)
As its predecessor, a hybrid of simple management (picking your team and formation etc) and overhead-view arcade action. Man Utd Europe is much improved with better tackling: good passing is required to break down defences. Realism is heightened by an incredible 170 European teams with loads of useful stats available and authentic player names shown during the action.
Five tournaments - European Cup, UEFA, Cup Winners', European Super Cup and World Club Championship - offer a substantial challenge. 85%
International Soccer (Commodore)
Originally released by Commodore themselves on cartridge back in 1983! When re-released on tape and disk five years later by CRL, it was still good enough to earn 86%.
Shortly after, it was superseded by MicroProse and Emlyn. It's still a great game though, and was included on the cartridge bundled with the ill-fated GS console (Ha! Ha!). Well worth getting hold of. 79%
Matchday II (Ocean)
I played this one to death on the Speccy. On the C64 it's let down slightly by its slowness. The action's hardly end-to-end stuff, but it's very skilful, almost strategic.
One of the main innovations is the 'diamond deflection system' which produces very realistic rebounds depending on which way the ball and player are travelling. 77%
Italy 1990 (US Gold)
Released to coincide with the World Cup and totally outshone the official football licence, Italia '90.
There's the full tournament with all 24 teams and their real players to choose from. The action doesn't quite live up to the presentation: it's simple overhead-view stuff with no frills, but fun nonetheless. 75%
Street Sports Football (Epyx)
Not quite up to Epyx's usual sporting standards, but a playable backstreet kick-around nonetheless. There's not a lot of tactical depth with minimal player moves, but you can foul and even be caught offside [so watch out Phil - Ed].
There's even a choice of two 'pitches' (the park or backstreet) and selection of streetwise players. Not a serious simulation, but still fun to play for a while [but not with Phil 'cos he's a fouling so-and-so - Ed]. 68%
I Play: 3D Soccer
Another Italian football winner, it utilises a unique 3D perspective from just behind your player. As I pointed out in the original review, this causes a few problems like the inability to switch players.
On the plus side, it's more realistic as you can't see events out of your field of vision. There's also a neat split-screen co-operative two-player mode. 69%
Kick Off 2 (Anco)
A fair conversion of the legendary Amiga game. There's the same overhead-view scrolling pitch, unique push-along dribbling method, plus all the amtch, cup and league options.
It all sounds great, but the pitch scrolling stuggles to keep up with the action, while computer-controlled players are unintelligent, often running *away* from the ball!
Combine these two flaws and there's often a lack of players on-screen at one time - the scanner doesn't help matters as it's too small to be of any use.
Sadly the planned improved Kick Off 2 cart never came to fruition. [Does that mean it was a bit of a lemon, then? - Ed] 67%
Super Cup Football
This overhead-view game is hardly brilliant but quite playable in a simple way. I was particularly pleased to see it go on the Zzap! Megatape (Issue #75).
Options include strip colours, pitch texture and nine difficulty levels. Match action is a bit like MicroProse, with banana shots and a huge flashing "Goal!" message, but not as good. Best with two players. 60%
Manchester United
The real team improved dramatically after this was released (maybe the players practised on it!). It's an interesting mixture of management and overhead-view arcade action, and let down slightly by the latter.
Control of players is crude: you always shoot ahead and can dribble the 'glued to foot' ball all the way down the pitch.
A real shame, as the slickly presented management section offers plenty of options. 65%
Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer
It's a game of two halves: the disk version is much better than the tape, with the addition of management and league option.
Curiously enough, you only get to control one individual player for the whole of the match. Lack of realism is the main problem, with both teams often scoring over 20 goals! The computer teams are also too easy to beat. 57%
Gary Lineker's Hotshot
Not bad. The overhead-view action is similar to MicroProse Soccer but not as playable.
Positive points include extensive match options, a league and the ability to foul (and receive yellow and red cards).
The pitch looks very bland though and the game is on the sluggish side. Long-term challenge is lacking due to easy-to-beat computer sides, but two-player games are fun. 61%
MicroProse Soccer
One of the age-old C64 questions has been: "Which is the greatest, Emlyn or MicroProse? Well, personally I have to admit I prefer Emlyn for its realistic playability. But to be fair, MicroProse is a completely different style of game and one all footy fans should have.
It's a funny old game, Saint, viewed from directly overhead with the cartoonesque players zipping up and down the scrolling pitch.
As with Emlyn, the ball is glued to your foot, but again dribbling through the defence isn't easy, especially with intelligent computer-controlled goalies.
The best way of beating these is with a bendy 'banana' shot. Banana power can be altered in the pre-match menu, along with team colours, match length etc. As well as the obvious two-player option, there's the one-player MicroProse Challenge where you play a series of international teams, each one better than the last. There's also a full World Cup tournament.
Unlike Emlyn, the football is hectic stuff with little passing, but the control system's a lot easier with the ability to do more exotic things like unbelievable banana shots and overhead kicks! Two-player games are brilliantly chaotic with loads of goals, especially on the small enclosed pitch of the Six-A-Side game (sadly missing from the game on the Disk Co compilation cartridge).
At the end of the day, it just goes to show that there are many different approaches to simulating various aspects of football. MicroProse Soccer certainly captures the end-to-end excitement to a tee. Over 'ere, son, on the 'ead... 94%
Other Reviews Of Gary Lineker's Hot Shot! For The Commodore 64/128
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