I seem to have become Dragon User's football correspondant as our dear Editor has given me the task of reviewing Quickbeam's latest offering...Indoor Football.

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There seems to be no shortage of quality Dragon football games around, what with Champions (and the new Champions), Football Manager and Crazy Foota. But now Quickbeam have come up with what is quite simply the best 'full perspective arcade style football game on the Dragon'. These words come from Quickbeam's advert for the game, but echo my views entirely. Sure the rest are good, but Indoor Football is better

Indoor Football follows the same method of play as Crazy Foota (where the player controls his/her team and battles it out with an opponent). I prefer this type of football game to the likes of Football Manager where there is absolutely no skill involved, and the result of each game depends really on luck. However. I don't think it's quite right to drop all the features of that type of game: one of the better features of Football Manager and Champions was that each team played in a league and throughout the season battled for a place in the Cup and Europe. In Indoor Football, one simply plays either the computer or an opponent for a certain time and once the time is up, that's it.

In the game you control the flashing character (You'll notice there are two. You control the one in your colours). You have direct control over this player, and with him it is possible to tackle another player, simply run up the field with the ball, pass the ball to another player, or take a shot at goal.

There are other players on the field which move independently, and they are capable or running towards a loose ball. Once you've got the ball it's a hard slog to get to the other side because there is always an opponent hot on your heels and you've got the ball, you're slower than the other player. What it does mean is that you frequently have to run round in circles trying to dodge your opponent's player. However if you manage to beat this player and the rest of his team you'll just have goalkeeper to contend with, and assuming you score you will be awarded with a loud cheer and a slow motion action replay.

The game is split into two halves, the ball being replaced on the centre spot at the beginning of each half.

Before the game begins you are given a number of choices. You can choose the number of players in each team, you can choose whether to play a friend or the computer and you can select the length of each game.

One thing which struck me after loading was the lack of title music. As most of you will be aware, Quickbeam have produced some great sounds on their games with their DAMS program (must get it some day!). However there's no music on this game and indeed there is very little sound on the game, the noise of the ball bouncing and the cheers from the invisible crowd being the only sound.

The graphics are in 3D and are good (if a little simple). The players seem very familiar to me - they're very much like the soldiers on Fire Force and they too are drawn well. As usual, Quickbeam have used larger than normal sprites to draw the men.

There seems to me to be a slight fault in the detection, as all too often I've had goals scored against me that are quite obviously not valid. Even in slow motion it's obvious that a goal should not have given. The design of the goalposts don't help the matter very much either as they're in 3D; making it even more difficult to distinguish just what be a goal.

Another problem which happened quite often was that although I had picked 7 or 8 players, after a while most of them disappear - in fact I've seen many disappear before my very eyes. (Transferred for a large fee, very likely - Ed.) Quickbeam have come up with some great cassette inlays but this time their presentation is amateurish to say the least. Even Crazy Foota seems to be more professional.

Now I know many of you will say it's the game that counts, not the cassette inlays, but if computer enthusiasts who sell their games go to the bother of making their product look decent enough then I'm sure Quickbeam could do the same.

If these few comments lead you to the impression that I loathe this game, you've been fooled! I absolutely love this game, the good graphics coupled with the extreme realism of this game combine to give possibly one of the games of '88. OK, it may not be graphically stunning, it may not have hot sound, but after a playing Indoor Football, you'll toss all that to one side, and get on with playing what is a great game.

For me it was a joy to play Indoor Football, it was certainly addictive and very competitive. I'll give it five Dragons, but if you don't agree you know where to find us.