ITALY 1990 ========== U.S. GOLD £24.99 The worlds greatest game and the worlds greatest spectacle (they say) link arm-in-arm for this, the subject of US Golds latest Amiga release. A considerable amount of people will probably be still wincing from the last time US Gold happened to do a world-cup game, that time just for 8 bit machines and the result was far from pleasing. However this time the lads have done themselves justice and produced a package worthy of contention in the Amiga soccer championship. Of course it's now a un-written rule that any football game is in for a hard time because Dino Dini & Anco's KICK OFF has set the standard for all to follow, comparisons are inevitable but more on that later on. The game hardly needs any introduction, it's time to follow your national teams progress and attempt to bring glory, adulation and of course the famous Jules Rimet trophy home... The game gives you the chance of picking any of the qualifying nations and a chance to select the formation and team from a squad of 20 players, which were reasonably accurate given the fact that final squads have only just been announced. Full marks to the programmer for including Leeds captain Gordon Strachan in the line up, something Andy Roxborough the Scottish manager failed to do, at both his and Scotlands cost... it made me happy anyway. The game gives all the dates, all the locations and names of the stadia you are to play in and you thankfully have the chance to set the length of the game in which you play - this can be anything from 2mins-45mins. Most people will stick to a 5 or 10 minute match I think. There's an opportunity for a 1 or 2 player practice game too, including the chance to pick sides. Each team member is given ratings for skill, speed, stamina, aggression etc and these are totalled up allowing an overall rating for each team, obviously teams like USA and Egypt have lower ratings and therefore for a challenge - try and win the cup playing with those teams! Presentation prior to and after a game is very much in the established 'Cinemaware TVsports' style, with a digital presenter muttering away giving you all the details. This is nicely done although not quite as highly polished as the Cinemaware stuff itself. Onto the game itself which is depicted in the time-honoured over-the- shoulder view with a scrolling pitch. Not all the width of the pitch is shown at once and the screen scrolls revealing over sections. Graphics are very nice, the ball and players are well animated and includes cartoon style setpieces for the corners and goal kicks. Penalties are somewhat weaker although still quite fair. As ususal you get to control the nearest player to the ball and you can shoot with varying powers, head the ball, slide for a tackle and control the keeper when needed. Free kicks, corners, throw-ins and penalties are awarded. There's extra-time and penalty shoot-outs if required in the knockout stages of the cup. Sound is at a minimum, little ditties sound here and there and of course there are whistle sounds etc. Details are displayed on a rather nice scoreboard although I would have preferred to see the goalscorers name mentioned too, as the screen flicks off a bit too quick for you to spot who scored. The game gets tougher as you progress and depending on which nation you are (obviously weaker teams are exactly that - weak). The packaging and presentation is, as you'ld expect from US Gold first rate, some of the illustrations are a bit obscure though - poor old Franz Beckenbauer is given a pretty harsh time to say the least - what did he do wrong?? Anyway the rather bulky book gives the history, great players, team data, venue data, a trivia quiz and the players to watch out for. All very well presented and interesting to read. There's also a chance to win tickets for the world cup too... but I guess it'll be too late by the time this review gets read! Never mind. Criticisms. ----------- Unfortunatly the gameplay has a few short-comings, player intelligence isn't too high, so passing is basically out, throw ins are a bit vague, I couldn't seem to control them and my players hardly ever stood anywhere near meaning I had to lose possesion - a yellow card for that one. Corners too were somewhat poor, a little bit more thinking on the programmers part would have resulted in more authentic action. Perhaps the most limiting feature is that the ball is restricted to 8-way movement, this limits the action to a certain extent and means you soon find out ways and means of scoring goals rather easy. As I mentioned earlier, comparisons are inevitable - graphically the game is very good, perhaps the best soccer graphics yet.. animation is good and scrolling is quick if not perfectly smooth and the pitch seems to be in correct proportions. What the game doesn't have though is the actual playability of Kick Off - which is a games strong point when all said and done. US Gold must be secretly seething that Dino Dini isn't on their programming books... with his talent and US Golds marketing, things would really happen! Ratings: -------- Graphics: 86% Very good, nice game graphics. Good presentation Sound : 60% Spot effects, weak - sometimes annoying music. Gameplay: 75% Good but just a little lacking in some departments. Overall : 75% A nice attempt by US Gold and well worth a look. Summary : At least US Gold have made a competent effort with the game and although I cannot say it's an essential purchase, it's well worth a look - especially if you weren't keen on Kick off (I know such people exist). Now US Gold have another 4 years to get the gameplay PERFECT ready for the '94 cup! Reviewed by Martyn "Sniffer" Brown.. Soccer-nut extraordinaire..