A question of programming

Producer: Elite
Licence Fee: £14.99 cass, £14.99 disk
Author: Byron Nielsen

Err.. I know it, I know it! Well, not exactly - fans of the BBC quiz show will know that the squeaky-voiced Emlyn Hughes has been replaced by Ian Botham. But still hosting the show is the perennially grinning David Coleman. If you've watched the so-called sports experts getting easy questions wrong, now's your chance to prove how knowledgeable you are.

As Ian Botham or Bill Beaumont, you can choose the other two members of your team - each has a specialised sport for the 'Home Or Away' question. After loading in one of five blocks of questions, David Coleman introduces 'the show' via speech bubbles. Answers are made by choosing one of four multiple choices, if you're wrong the question is offered to the other side.

First round is the Pictureboard: team members takes it in turn to choose one of twelve numbered panels to reveal a question category. Another round is Mystery Personality, in which the identity of a sportsperson must be guessed from text clues. Home Or Away involves each team member choosing a question, either on his/her own sport for one point, or on any other for two. Guessing 'What Happened Next' is the objective in the round of the same name. Again, fans of the TV show will be disappointed to find there are no graphics, just a text passage.

The final two rounds are the Quickfire round in which nine questions must be answered in 45 seconds, and the Pictureboard again.

What is really lacking in A Question Of Sport is variety: all the rounds are multiple-choice text questions whose answers can soon be remembered as they repeat themselves. Even worse, TV sports buffs will probably be disappointed to find the questions are rarely that hard in the first place.

PHIL [46%]

THE ESSENTIALS
Joysticks: Sinclair
Graphics: only the digitised pictures of Mr Coleman et al
Sound: a fair 128K title tune, but only a couple of in-game effects
Options: one or two players

Great, not only do we have David Coleman's banal wafflings assailing our ears on the TV, now we have a computer game version. And yes, all of your favourite rounds are here, the Pictureboard, Mystery Personality, and What Happened Next? pop up when you are least expecting them. I personally can't stand the TV show, but the game's even worse.
MARK [50%]

Elite
£14.99 cass and disk
Reviewer: Ciaran Brennan

I'm sorry folks, but I've got no time for A Question Of Sport anymore - now that Emlyn's defected to Physical Pursuits, that's the proggie for me. Lovable old 'Em may have ditched the trendy sweaters for the red chic of a silky tracksuit but the combination of naff It's A Knockout games and a female co-presenter who's springier than Zebedee from The Magic Roundabout makes this the highest point so far of Emlyn's distinguished TV career.

Now that he's gone, A Question Of Sport is a shadow of its former self. Em's replacement, Ian Botham may have a couple of natty sweaters tucked away in his wardrobe, but his giggle is too manly and his line of patter with big Bill leaves a lot to be desired - bring back Emlyn, that's what I say!

Elite's licensed computer games seems to have ignored the passing of Emlyn though, and manages to accurately reflect the TV programmes current format. Either one of two players take control of the respective teams and choose two team mates from a picturesque selection. This choice only really matter when it comes to the 'Home Or Away' round, as the chosen player's natural sport will decide the question.

Along with 'Home And Away', all of the other old favourites are here including 'What Happened Next' and that age old favourite 'The Picture Board'. Each question is answered from a choice of four, with a fairly speedy timer clicking down and adding to the tension.

The only niggles I found in the presentation were that the correct answer wasn't given if a player guessed incorrectly, and that the whole event was over a bit too quickly. The first of these niggles could actually be taken as an advantage though, as it means that the supply of five question blocks may last a little longer. The manual states that each block of questions may start to repeat after four games, but in my experience certain questions were making a re-appearance second time around.

Overall, A Question Of Sport is a competent sports trivia game with a slightly flat TV presentation. The lack of sound is definitely a drawback, but everything else measures up well. If you're the type who knows who partnered Martina Navratilova in the 1982 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles tournament, then this is an absolute necessity.

RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR - as nice of couple of young chaps as you could ever hope to meet. So we locked them up in the...

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Encore
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

Oh, it's A Question Of Sport.

Crikey, still here? Unsurprisingly, this one's based on the 'popular' telly quiz show, which means you get loads of digitised pics of loveable David, Bill and Ian (but sadly, no Emlyn) to drool over, and all the same rounds too. But the big problem is that every round just boils down to a question and answer affair - which tends to get a bit tedious after a very, very short while.

I'm not too sure how tricky the questions are, but my Dad (who's been upstairs playing the thing all afternoon) says that there're not worryingly hard. A new block of questions is loaded in every four games to avoid repetition - quite a good idea really. And it's nicely presented too, although this does slow play down a bit 'cos you have to wait for hours whilst David wibbles away endlessly between rounds (as he does). Certainly worht a look if this sort of thing sounds like your idea of entertainment, but me? My copy's on its way to Jonathan Davies as we speak. Heh heh.

Label: Encore
Price: £2.99
Reviewer: Jim Douglas

"Er, and... Ian, can you tell me WHO in the 1914 World Cup scored the equalizing goal for Uruguay?"" This is the stuff advanced technology was intended for.

If you're anything other than a sport trivia nut, Elite's three year-old conversion of the BBC TV show will send you round the twist. So - assuming that you're on the whole entertained by being asked who fell off the asymmetric bars during her final twist losing the World Championships for her country - what does a Question of Sport offer?

Well, it's a pretty competent quiz program. There are six sets (loads) of questions, all along the same TV show format. The only section missing is the "who's this, then?" stage; pictures of famous sportspeople's bottoms and ears. Mind you, if you've seen Steve Davis' bum once...

Hosted on the computer as well as the telly by ever-jovial David Coleman. Q.O.S. comprises six rounds. Once you've selected your two team players from a motley crew of sporting stereotypes, it's on with the show. First up is the picture-board round. A set of twelve numbered pictures pop up and the appropriate team member is asked to plump (wrong show, surely - GS) for a for one. The numbered picture revolves revealing... an icon! Each icon represents a different sport.

David then proceeds to ask the question and your (rather short) time limit begins to tick away. Fail to answer in time, or give the wrong reply and the question goes to the opposition for a bonus point.

The Mystery personality round comprises evermore precise descriptions of sporting personalities and then a list of possibles.

Home or Away is about as pure as sport trivia gets. Home questions are easier, but worth less points. Away are worth more but tougher.

What Happened Next is a bit of a farce. The whole point of the round on TV is that the contestants frankly haven't got a clue what happens next and make extravagant guesses. Technical restrictions have turned the video excerpt from the TV show into a description of events. Once the description has scrolled across the screen, a set of options are presented. Usually the most unlikely is the correct answer.

Following the Quick Fire round (as many questions as you can answer against the clock) it's time for another picture-board round and - before you know it; it's all over.

There are six lots of questions you can load from tape, so it will take an age to play through the whole game.

Unlike some other trivia games, all the answers are displayed, and you have to make multiple choice selections. Thankfully this avoids the rather ludicrous situation of the machine asking if you answered correctly.

For the fiscal outlay, QOS is really rather good. Lots of opportunities to show off your knowledge (or lack of it). The menus are competently handled and the whole thing hangs together in a satisfactory, rather BBC sort of way.

Elite, £14.95cs £14.95dk
ST version reviewed Issue 18 - ACE rating 672

Based on the TV show, this sporting trivia game's a lot of fun. All the rounds are there and there are five separate question blocks to choose from. Great fun if you enjoy this sort of thing.

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £14.99, Diskette: £14.99
Commodore 64/128 £14.99, Diskette: £19.99
Atari ST Diskette: £19.99

WHILE JUST STARTING ON BBC1

BBC TV's A Question Of Sport is now such a long-running quiz programme that many people have forgotten when it first started (David Coleman certainly has). Still, its success cannot be denied, being the most popular sports quiz on TV (not a huge amount of competition, there) and wallowing in peak viewing figures of 19 million - a third of the population and a Princess can't all be wrong.

Hosted by the indefatigable David Coleman, A Question Of Sport has been through a number of team captains in its time. For the current series it's good old reliable Bill Beaumont and new-boy Ian Botham. Now you can emulate your favourite captain by leading your own team in a nerve-tingling quiz.

Matches can be played against the computer or another player - or for real authenticity, with three players per team, passing the joystick around as necessary. Other than team captains, members are chosen from portraits of Elite staff and a specialist subject is chosen for each.

The game is split into six rounds, each relying on sports trivia questions. Round one features the Picture Board, where all six members choose a numbered square and answer a scrolling question from four possible replies. Two points are awarded for a correct answer, but running out of time or getting it wrong passes the question over to the opposition for one point. Each round takes this general format.

In the Mystery Personality round you are given up to three clues on a persons identity, the sooner their name is selected from the four options, the more points you earn.

Home Or Away concerns your choice of specialist subject. If you go home, a question on that subject will be asked for one point; if away, a random sporting question is attempted for two points.

SPORTING SPORTING CAPTAINS

Probably the most interesting round of the TV programme (well we think so) is What Happens Next. Four possible outcomes of a described situation are given, varying from the sensible to the mildly ridiculous.

The Spectrum's Quick Fire round gives you 45 seconds to answer nine questions. Should you get one wrong, two seconds are deducted from your time. On ST and C64 this round is similar, except both sides play simultaneously. The fastest team to choose an answer gets two points, or gives the opposing team a point it answered incorrectly.

The final round returns to the picture board for the six remaining numbers.

To capture the spirit of the TV programme, A Question Of Sport, the computer game, should provide its visuals and exact round formats. Instead, it has been limited to sports questions with a few appropriate graphics and names added. The rounds have been twisted to fit into multiple-choice questions and answers, which soon becomes boring. There are six blocks of questions to load, but even sport addicts may find it difficult to stifle the odd yawn.