Commodore User


Super Bowl Sunday

Author: Tony Hetherington
Publisher: Nexus
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore User #41

Super Bowl Sunday

147 million people watched the Chicago Bears destroy the New England Patrits in the 1985 Super Bowl. Now you can take control of twenty classic Super Bowl teams in a game that can be played in three different ways. Either head-to-head against a human or computer opponent or in a semi automatic mode leaving you to call the important plays.

The matches you can play can be either replays of ten classic Super Bowls or fascinating conflicts between teams from different eras. You can match the John Riggins running magic of the 1982 Washington Redskins against the "perfect" Pittsburg Steelers of the Seventies led by Quarterback Terry Bradshaw.

Other teams included on the game tape/disk include of course, the 1985 Bears and hapless Patriots as well as Joe Montana's 1983 San Francisco 49ers, the unique 1981 Raiders (then the Oakland Raiders) led by Jim Plunkett, Miami with Dan Marino in 1984 and without him in 1982 and 1974.

Super Bowl Sunday

The earliest game included in the collection is the 1966 contest between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs but you probably weren't even both then!

Channel 4 began its TV coverage of American football in 1982 and attracted a large following for this fascinating sport than then spawned a series of computerised conversions with this game being the latest and the best so far.

The screen display shows all eleven men on each side lineup for the 'scrimmage' to carry out the plays that you enter. These range from the short yardage Quarterback sneaks or sweeps to the 50 yard long passing plays!

Super Bowl Sunday

However, you must remember the abilities of the team you are playing with and the team you are playing with and the team you're playing against as the game resolves the plays by using the actual running, passing and kicking statistics of the teams involved.

Luckily these figures are handled in a highly playable form in this "animated strategy" game leaving you to concentrate on your game plan.

On defence you must choose to field either a normal defence or one geared to stop either running or passing plays which you can finely tune by keying on certain players. This highlights certain opposing players that your defence is going to clobber. It might be a specific running back, or a wide receiver or perhaps even the Quarterback. If you're right, then you'll stop them in their tracks but if you're wrong you would give away a lot of yards and maybe even a touchdown.

Super Bowl Sunday

The on-screen footballers then carry out the action in bonecrushing style although occasionally the animated action bears little relation to the internal maths with some irritating results. For example, touchdowns are scored when you see your defence pull the man down just short of the goaline. Particularly annoying when it happens with the last play of the game! Despite this, you'll soon be back on the sideline calling the plays in another game.

The game can be played over 5, 10 or the actual 15 minute quarters.

If you don't have the stamina for calling all the plays in a game or you're a rookie coach then try the automatic mode. The computer will then play itself in a demo calling both the offensive and defensive plays until you press the fire button. Then you can call the importasnt plays until you return it to auto mode. This is a great way to learn the game and you'll be surprised by how much you're glued to the screen right up to the last play of a game.

Finally, Nexus plan to extend the game with an expansion tape containing the stats for the 1986 winners and all 28 NFL teams.

Tony Hetherington

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