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Everyone believes that England will win the World Cup, just as they believe in Santa Claus, unicorns and the flatness of the Earth. But why bother enduring the agony and ecstasy of the real thing when you can play it out in the comfort (and, more importantly, safety) of your own home?

As if by magic, this is such a game - which not only incorporates full-blown tournament play based on the Finals in Italy but also has a one- or two-player 'friendly' option, and variable game lengths between two and 45 minutes.

The one player friendly allows you to set human and computer skill levels via team selection - so when you get too good, you can pick Egypt and play against the Italians. The two player friendly is very similar, but it's more satisfying if you select Italy for yourself and give a like-minded footy chum the duff Egyptians.

As far as packaging and game structure go, Italy 1990 has everything you could want from a footy game. The accompanying World Cup File-O'-Facts is very impressive, with a full run down of the teams, great players of the past, brief cup history, venues, players to watch and a tough trivia quiz. The game structure incorporates the whole tournament format - including the names of all the (likely) players and locations and the group/round framework.

When it comes down to the actual football, things aren't so good. For a start, you have two basic options in possession: because there's no radar or any other indicator to tell you where your players are when you pass, it's a question of kicking the ball up-field and hoping there's a player there!

The alternative is to dribble the ball about 80 yards into your opponent's net (as long as your player is fast enough).

Gameplay is so reliant upon relative player statistics that there is little room for human skill and every game becomes a simplistic representation of the real thing rather than an enjoyable simulation.

There are plenty of niggly points too: ball movement is fair, but the bounce is unnatural and it's sluggish on the ground. Throw-ins are poor, with limited control over direction, and the tournament is far too easy to win. Pick any of the top eight teams and you sail to the title on your first go. If the football had been anything like the presentation and packaging, it could have been a winner. As it stands, it goes out in the second round.

The ST version is due at the same time and should be an accurate conversion, right down to Bryan Robson's shoulder injury.

IBM (and compatible) owners on their way to Italy, don't sell that air ticket! No PC version is planned.