REPLAY

Whiffy, spiffy, tiffy and thoroughly nifty. Prey gentle molluscs, take your seats for the great YS roundup...

Empire
£12.99 cassette
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

Sorry for any unpleasant smells during this review but (thanks to a rather dodgy curry, and via a rather crafty extension lead for my Speccy) this round up of Empire's soccer compilation is being brought to you from the comfort of the toilet. Aahh - that's better. (Flush.) Off we go then.

KICK OFF 2

It would be a crime to mention Kick Off 2 without at least one reference to the 16 bit version, which as possibly the best footy game ever, and to Kick Off 1 which, Speccy-wise at least, really was a pile of old jobs. (Flush again.)

KO2, however, is good stuff. The action is extremely fast, frantic, overhead and, as ever, best enjoyed with a pal. The main differences between this and the original is that you can't get the ball to stick to your feet, but there are a variety of tweakable (if rather ineffective) options to alter everything from team tactics to wind. Ahem.
87°

MICROPROSE SOCCER

This one's pretty top too. With larger more spritely graphics than Kick Off 2, Microprose Soccer boasts all sorts of matches to choose from, including an international challenge, American rules six-a-side or simple two player games both indoor with walls or outdoor where it may even rain. In fact, for speed, presentation, realism and trick shots (including overhead and banana kicks), you cant get much better than this.
89°

GAZZA 2

Despite what thoughts the name may call up, Gazza 2 is actually a competent little game. Reasons for this include the smooth left to right scrolling, a simple look and pleasing controls and speed which easily equals Kick Off 2. Most importantly, the game also involves a complete lack of Gazza himself, give or take the picture on the box, from which the eyes can be diverted at ease. There aren't any cups or leagues or competitions to enter, but Microprose Soccer provides enough of these to kind of cover up for it.
79°

EMLYN HUGHES INTERNATIONAL SOCCER

This one's a complete let down. It foolishly attempts to combine both a management and a slightly more advanced arcade game in one. This creates a heap of unfriendly menus and a disappointingly unrealistic and awkward arcade game. Half your time is spent studying the instructions to see how to actually play the thing. Thanks, but no thanks.
35°

This comps a bit of an 82er as Emlyn Hughes lowers the mark considerably. None of these games are available as seperate budgies, so getting your hands on two of the best and one still highly enjoyable footy games for the asking price is still a bit of a barg.

Label: Empire
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £11.99 Tape
Reviewer: Paul Berry

Soccer Stars is billed as being the ultimate soccer compilation. Arsenal reckon they're the ultimate football team too, so we know not to believe everything that we read.

Sadly, there are a couple of games here that shouldn't have even made it out of the dressing room, along with two veritable top players.

Who are the teams? Kick Off 2, Gazza 2, Microprose Soccer and the very impressive Emlyn Hughes International Soccer which, when I started playing, had me instantly hooked. The detailed of pitch and players makes play excellent as does the number of options. There are so many! This has got to be the best soccer game that I have seen in my entire meaningless life.

And onto Kick Off 2. The ghostly sprites are diabolical to control! I had a horrid time playing with the only good thing about the game being the lots of different options to choose from.

Moving on swiftly to Gazza 2 where the tears never stop flowing! (Hand me a Kleenex Garth) There are so many different things you can do in the game that it will keep you amused (And possibly addicted forever.) Control is easy and your sprites are clear - the opposition though are ghostly 'half sprites' to make the game faster, and more than a little bit spooky.

Microprose Soccer was a major disappointment. Too few options (although the 'banana kicks' are pretty cool) with two types of pitch, normal and indoor. The graphics are detailed but the game itself is too easy; you can usually walk the ball into the goal and score which won't keep anyone amused for long.

GARTH:
Gazza and Emlyn are two remarkedly good football games - both 1st division stuff so why they've been asked to share a pitch with a couple from the Vauxhall Premier League is beyond me.