Football fans will rejoice when they hear that there's now a soccer game on the Megadrive. World Cup Soccer (for that is its name) lets you (and a friend if you've got two controllers) play your own World Cup tournaments or friendlies with other teams from around the world.
Options at the start let you choose a one or two-player game or a World Cup tournament. The tournament is basically a simulation of a real World Cup, with the player's team having to play against computer teams in group, quarter and semi-final matches to get to the final itself (but that's only if you come first or second in your group).
Before a match begins you first choose a team by pointing a cursor at a map of the world. Each country has a rating - Brazil is one of the best, while Japan and China aren't much cop. Once you've chosen your country you can pick a team from a series of menus showing goalies, attackers, defenders and midfielders.
If you're playing a World Cup tournament, the team groups are randomly selected before play begins - if it's a friendly, play starts straight away.
The game uses an overhead viewpoint most of the time, but for penalties, corners and goal kicks a 3D view is used. The control system is intelligent, with all three joypad buttons used to give shots at goal, high kicks and short kicks. Players can also volley, head and do overhead kicks! This might sound complicated, but it doesn't take long to get used to it.
The action is fast and furious, and the ball spangs around the screen at very high speed. In fact, it almost seems too fast at first, but the speed makes the gameplay more exciting - you've always got to be on your toes, and there's never any time to hang about.
The computer opponents range from fairly hard to mega tough - you're not going to win the World Cup overnight, that's for sure. The sheer amount of options, and the random World Cup (just hope you don't get put in the same group as Brazil and Argentina) result in a game that football fans won't get bored of for a long time.
1st October 1989
