Kixx
£9.99 cassette
021 625 3388
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

Gary Lineker, eh? What a star. He's got the talent, the legs and the slightly unusual nose needed to succeed in the tough world of professional football. More power to his proboscis, that's what we say. That's obviously what Kixx think as well, for they've gathered together four footy games and released them under the Genial Gary banner. And here they come now, scampering through the'player's tunnel in tight formation. Hurrah!

GARY LINEKER'S SUPERSKILLS

Superskills is famous as the game which actually portrays Gary (nose an' all). In order to get Gary into shape for the big game, you have to embark on a gruelling succession of squat thrusts, press-ups and weight lifting. In other words, you waggle the joystick furiously while the Gary sprite hops around the screen. To be fair, there's a bit of variety later on, with Gary hopping over tyres while keeping a ball balancing on his nose (or something.) There's also some management stuff thrown in as well, but lists of numbers do not a game make. Basically, it's all pretty much of a muchness. Whatever that means. Gary Hooker's Superskills is more like Gary Lineker's Decathlon, really. How quaint.
50°

ITALY 1990

Hello, the name of Gazza is conspicuously absent from this 'un. That's because it isn't a Gazza game. Or something. It's a straightforward Match Day arcade dashabout, with big graphics and lots of fun hacking action. There's a bit of variety in that you can fiddle around with your team, a la Superstar Soccer but much better. Tackling and Shooting skills can both be altered, but to be honest their effects are a bit tricky to spot (all the players look the same, y'see). Lots of smart stuff and good bits, the best feature being the giant animated scoreboards that pop up when someone scores, or there's a throw-in, or what have you. Yes, I like this one. Quite a bit, in fact. Just a pity it's so easy to beat.
70°

GARY LINEKER'S SUPERSTAR SOCCER

A bit creaky, this one. It hails from the early days of 1988, and to be honest it's showing its age in a crumpled, doddery sort of way. The idea behind the game is a bit clever - you have to choose your players, fiddling around with some management-ish number lists to get an optimum team strength, then rush out and take on the opposition in straightforward arcadey fashion. The trouble is, the two halves don't get very well at all. The management bit seems to rely a lot on luck, while the arcade footy section limits you to controlling the goalie or the centre forward (the Speccy takes care of everyone else). It's fairly interesting, in a nostalgic sort of way, but as a game it doesn't come up to scratch.
30°

GARY LINEKER'S HOT SHOT!

Yup, it really does have that cringingly tasteless exclamation mark on the title. Oh, the game? Take my advice and stick to giggling at the title - the game isn't worth bothering with. It's another flakey old doo-dah, written back in the days when everyone thought Kick Off was a really neat idea. Yup. Hot Shot! is yer basic overhead fast-moving scrolly sort of affair. It's full of movement, and, er, that's it. The game doesn't even fit into the "fun for five minutes category," mainly because you'll get completely fed up after thirty seconds. Not particularly inspiring. I think you'll agree I'd say Hot Shot! was reasonably playable but, to be honest, it isn't - so I won't.
30°

Oh dear.

Label: Kixx
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £9.99 Tape
Reviewer: Tony Naqvi

Breaking people's legs, swearing, getting drunk, fighting and having his picture taken with strange women in nightclubs are all things that Gary Lineker has never done.

He's never put his name to a football compilation before either but he has put it to a few games so now US Gold's gathered together four footy titles that some of you may be too young to remember and put them all together on this pack. Ah, the nostalgia of it all.

Gary Lineker is a household name. And just like Domestos and Mr. Sheen too, he's well known and has a squeeky, just out of the shops sort of clean image. His three football games to date, Super Star Soccer, Superskills and Hot-Shot were fielded by Gremlin up to four years ago so these three games may well seem pretty new to more recent Spectrum owners.

Super Star Soccer combines the factors involved in building up a squad and actually playing matches in order to progress from the 4th division. However, in the arcade section of the game control becomes rather vague, leaving you with a feeling of being left on the sidelines a little. This feeling of not quite being on the field is however fully addressed in Hot Shot! Which, whilst being strikingly similar to the former, has far better controls.

There are no problems with control however in Superskills as the game has you in the role of the 'I will be obeyed' National Coach. All your hard work is put into actually training and coaching your team and putting out a national squad that we all can be justly proud of. (And wave our Union Jacks and shout a lot too, Hurrah!) So get out those shredded wheat and feed your team, you know it the only way to win.

The only non-Gremlin game on this Lineker compilation is Italy 1990. Released by US Gold to coincide with the World Cup in June 1990. It is the most recent of the games on the pack and is almost a hybrid of the two former games, centred around the world cup teams of 1990. It's a full, diving, sliding, tackling arcade football game with each member of your team having different abilities so that you can opt to play them in various positions. This game is possibly the best of the bunch for sheer arcade action. The game moves quickly and control is responsive and has a good feel.

GARTH:
With Italy 1990 as the best game on the compilation and the others not having been over used on other compilations, the Lineker Collection actually offers rather good value for money. four reasonable games for less than the price of a first class international striker.