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Wahay, my first day on the job and they tell me I'll be playing American Football. So I turned up in all the gear, pads and all, ready to rumble with the quarterbacks. Did feel a fool when I found out that all they wanted me to do was review the new Amstrad management sim Touchdown.

Admittedly, at first I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to meet the big guys but my disappointment soon dissipated as I got into the second quarter of the first game. My wide receiver Carter was the original Mr Butterfingers, but I decided to give him one last chance on a right-post play, and would you believe it, the kid done good. I was six-nil down at the point when Carter managed to wrap his slippy little fingers around the ball and run 67 yards for a touchdown (even the PAT was good).

I'd never really contemplated it before but American Football is one of the few sports that readily lends itself to the management-style game format. Once you get your head around it, the whole ball game is about working out the probability of a certain play succeeding against the probable defence strategy of the opposition. So a mind-game based on American Football has the potential to be immensely playable, especially when you've got a pass-by-pass account of each play because, that way, you can really get into the players' characters and abilities.

There are effectively two games to review here, as the programmers have severely cut down the code for the cheaper cassette version. The disk version allows for the full range of defensive plays, whereas the tape offers only a cut-down group of options. And, unlike the disk version, on tape you can't transfer players and there's only one season's play. At the end of every disk season (unless you get fired by the boss!), you have the chance to check out the college scene for new talent and bargain with other managers for their star players.

To put it rather bluntly I wouldn't really bother to fork out the price for the tape version, unless you're a collector of football trivia. But the disk version is definitely worth checking out; you can go through years and years of American history, watching your team improve and grow with your management skills.

There are a few bugs to contend with which only seem to come into play once you've reached the playoffs, but on disk the game saves itself automatically so that if the program does fall down around your ears, it doesn't mean you'll have to start from scratch. In fact, the only way to start again is to run a neat little program that comes on the disk which resets all the variables to their original defaults.

Touchdown is, without doubt, a great little management sim (if a little too easy to beat if you know your footie tactics well), but that's all it is. Graphically it leaves a lot to be desired so it's not likely to bring in new players to the world of management sims. But if strategy and tactics rate above fast action and flashy graphics in your gameplay priorities, Touchdown has got what it takes.

Graphics 50%
It's a sports management sim, what do you expect - Da Vinci?

Sonics 40%
Some white noise disguised as cheering and that's about it.

Grab Factor 65%
Unlike some management sims, you get results right from the first game.

Staying Power 82%
On disk, it's one of the best management sims I've played.

Overall 72%
The disk version is actually great fun with loads of features, and quite a bit of action. The tape version, though, is too severely cut down.