Empire/Brian Rogers
£9.99 cass, £14.99 disk

Yes it's here: Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne's sponsored game previewed a couple of issues back finally emerges from the changing rooms. One or two players can participate (in one-player mode the second player is the computer, not quite as physical). And like all sporting activities the first task is to work out one's options: the menu. Create your own league, create a cup or play a friendly match.

Whether you create a league or a cup, you can choose how many teams are competing with - name your league or cup, and finally change the names of any of the teams. You then get to choose a team, whether you want to fiddle around with their speed and skill levels, then modify the playing time and kicking style.

The game is entered: the pitch is viewed in a horizontal plane with the respective teams hoofing the ball either left or right. It's only when a player moves off the side of the screen that the view flips through 90° and you find yourself moving up the screen towards the goal, which is most confusing for the first few games. The player under control is picked out by an arrow hovering over him, although most of the time thus guy is at the other end of the pitch, mostly when an opposing player has the ball.

Gazza's Super Soccer contains a couple of novel features, the Boot-'O'-Meter and especially the ability to save a game and play on any 8-Bit machine. But apart from that it boils down to another run-of-the mill footy game with some neat graphical touches on the players and crowd. Mind you the crowd is static, and the players judder around like a drunken ghost. Despite what we reported in the preview, take the time honoured advice: promises might not live up to reality.

MARK [61%]

Gazza's Super Soccer is another football game trying to imitate such greats as Match Day. It's a pity it hasn't worked really. All the footballers are drawn badly - they have no faces and walk around with one leg firmly on the ground all the time (something one does not expect any longer in the 90s. What is really odd about this game is that the pitch comes in three sections, this really stops any enjoyment you could have got. When the ball is in the centre you get a sideways view, but if it goes towards either goal the screen shifts round and you get a head on view of the goal - all in black and green monochrome. The most excitement I got out of playing this was changing one of the player's names to Gazza - then kicking him on the pitch. Definitely not the best football game ever to be produced.
NICK [57%]

Empire
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk
Reviewer: Jonathan Davies

I guess coincidences can be pretty coincidental sometimes. Only this morning I was feeling completely soccer-starved. I was longing for a good, solid footie game to review. There's nothing quite like them really. All those, er, footballs and stuff. Great. Anyway, just as I was giving up all hope, Gazza materialised before my eyes. My response was audible in the next building.

Described on the packaging as "The Country's most exciting computer game, endorsed by the country's (with a small C this time) most exciting player", Gazza's Super Soccer has got somebody who's apparently addressed as Paul Gascoigne plastered all over it. Presumably he's the "exciting player" alluded to previously. There are also loads of pics of chunky-thighed players embracing each other, so in that respect things are pretty traditional. And, of course, Gazza's autograph is scrawled casually across the front of the box. The scene is set.

At this point in a footie review one normally mentions the game's overwhelming similarities to all its contemporaries, and then goes on to describe all the unique features that set it apart from the rest of the crowd. In Gazza's case, though, this could be a little tricky. The first bit's easy enough - the game is indeed extraordinarily similar to every other footie game around. The trouble is that there isn't an awful lot in the way of radical departure from the norm. Deftly dodging this crushing blow to my reviewing credibility, however, I'll bounce back and attempt to overcome the problems that this lack of originality poses.

Before you can get stuck in and 'kick leather' (or whatever the hip term for footie playing is), there's the usual lengthy setting-up procedure to go through. You know, arranging league tables, naming your team, defining the controls and all that kind of thing. And d'ya know what, I've just found something to write about. Having done all this setting up, and maybe worked your way up the league a bit, you can save the game. So what, I hear you ask (or was that more of a discrete snore?). The spooky thing is that having done this you can then reload the set-up into the C^$ and Amstrad versions of the game, as well as The Speccy one. This opens up the possibility of rushing out and buying a Commodore and an Amstrad, and also the appropriate versions of the game, and then swopping between playing the game on three different computers at will without having to waste time setting up your teams all over again. A splendid idea if ever I heard one.

So once you've managed all this you can proceed to the game proper. Initially you're presented with a to side-on view of the pitch. Boring, eh? Fear not, though, for as soon as the ball begins to disappear out the side of the screen the whole thing waggles through 90° (or even 270°). Having taken a few steps backwards, disentangled yourself from the power supply lead and pacified the cat, you'll find yourself staring into whichever goal-mouth you were heading for. While this makes aiming at the goal and stuff a lot easier, it doesn't half throw your sense of direction.

As usual, you control one player at a time, and the others scuttle around trying to make themselves useful. If you haven't currently got control of the ball, pressing fire puts the player nearest to the ball under your control. This takes a bit of getting used to, but it means that you don't find that the control flips unexpectedly between players as in, say, Match Day. The only exception to this rule is the goalie, who is toggled between by cresting Enter.

Graphically things are merely acceptable. It's usually fairly clear what's happening on screen, as there aren't too many of those horrible tangles of sprites that you get in other games. The snag is that sprite movement is hardly slick, with the players jerking about in a rather unsatisfactory fashion. They also have a curious habit of disappearing altogether when they stray near the edge of the screen. And sound? Basically the usual peeps and roars, but nothing to complain about.

Your appreciation of Gazza's Super Soccer will depend on three things - a) whether you like football, b) whether you can face the prospect of Gazza leering at you every time you pick the thing up (I don't think I could) and c) erm, whether you think it's any good or not. Personally I thought it was kind of okayish, sort of, certainly not completely brilliant but then not entirely crap either. And I don't think I can make things much clearer than that. On the whole, good news for Gazza fans and tragically forgettable for the rest of us.

Label: Empire
Author: Rogers/Pendle/Nichols
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Apart from having the most barf-making title of any of the hundreds of football games on the market, Gazza's Super Soccer has just one other problem; it IS one of hundreds of football games on the market. So what does it have which makes it stand out from the crowd?

Well? We're waiting. Oh, well, firstly it's endorsed by Paul Gascoigne, who, as I understand it, has one of the most exciting haircuts in First Division football. Secondly, you get a little sticker with it. Thirdly... er, that's it.

It not as bad as it sounds. You get a series of fairly simple menus, which allow you to choose a one or two-player game; to select League teams, or define your own teams with named players, each with their own skill and speed factors. If you do well in the league, the number of points available to be distributed among the players increase. Interestingly enough, team data saved from the Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or C64 can be loaded back into any of the machines; I think this feature of GSS is unique.

You can choose the length of each match, and the kicking style (whether the player stands still or keeps moving as he kicks) before entering the actual match. There are some good and some bad features of the gameplay here. The player in possession is indicated by a small arrow above his head; if the player you're controlling is off the ball, you have to press fire to change possession to the next player. To control the goalie you have to hit the Enter key. It's sometimes difficult to tell the players on one team from another, and it's practically impossible when you're tackling; the animation isn't good, with the characters tending to jerk from one position to another rather than move smoothly; and if you're up against a skilled player, you have to be very persistent with the fire button to get possession of the ball.

The strangest aspect of the arcade element is that the kick-off is seen from a sideways view, but once the ball moves towards the goal, the view changes to front-on. I can see the point of this - it gives you a better view of the goal, but you tend to lose track of what you're doing when the view changes, and I tended to lose possession every time it happened. Sick-making.

Kicking, corners, throw-ins and goal kicks are controlled using the Boot-o-meter at the bottom of the screen: this shows the increasing strength and amount of spin on your shots as you hold down the fire button and twist the joystick. But I must admit, I found it hard to get the results I wanted, though I did manage to get the ball in the back of the net a couple of times.

There must be someone out there who wants another celebrity-endorsed soccer game, but it certainly ain't me. GSS isn't a bad effort, but I'd rather have seen the effort put into something a bit more original. I'd also have been happy to go without the sticker and have the game a quid cheaper.

EMPIRE and Mars Bar Boy make a real soccer turkey with this no-go footie sim.

Paul Gascoigne, as any football fan worth his salt will tell you, is like George Best. They'll inform you that he's one of those players who has an amazing amount of skill and potential, but his temperament lets him down. "The Mars Bar Boy" and "Fatty" are just a couple of this lovable, cheeky character's previous appellations; most people these days call him "Gazza" and this is where Empire and the programming boys at ODE step in.

Gazza's Super Soccer gives you three basic options; you can play a single game, create a league or generate a cup competition. If you play a one-off, you're offered the choice of one or two players, each of whom can select teams (drawn from the current First Division), name their players individually and decide on skill levels and tactics.

League and Cup competitions follow a similar pattern. For example, in both you decide on the tournament size (between four and 20 teams for the League, and between eight and 64 for the Cup), then create a new team or load a saved one. You can also name the contest: unfortunately, the program doesn't allow many letters, so if you wanted to call your cup "Littlewoods", it would read '"Littlewoo". There's an extra option which allows saved code from any 8-bit machine to load into any other 8-bit machine - a nice touch.

Unfortunately, the action doesn't complement the meticulous pre-match presentation. It's displayed in three parts: a central section viewed from the side, and two end sections seen from the viewpoint of the attacking team. In any event, the player in possession is marked by a triangle above his head.

The system used is a big let-down. The controls are fiddly (you have to change direction when the viewpoint changes, and you have to press "Enter" to access the goalkeeper), and the graphics are poor, particularly the sense of perspective, the pitch proportions and the player animation. This latter aspect is so jerky that it's hard to see what's going on a lot of the time, a fact aggravated by the seemingly aimless wanderings of most of the other players on the pitch. To cap it all, the sound is limited to a few measly blips and vague roaring noises.

If the other versions are anything like this, avoid them. The programmers don't seem to have captured the feel, speed or excitement of real football, and certainly haven't matched the addictiveness of other soccer sims. It's enough to put Gazza back on the Mars Bars again.

Gordon Houghton

RELEASE BOX
Spectrum £9.99 cs, £14.99dk, Out Now
Atari ST £24.99dk, Imminent
Amiga ST £24.99dk, Imminent
C64/128 £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent
Amstrad £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent
No other versions planned

Predicted Interest Curve

1 hour: 2/5
1 day: 2/5
1 week: 2/5
1 month: 0/5
1 year: 0/5

Empire
Spectrum, Amstrad £9.99, Amiga £24.99

Paul Gascoigne is out of football at the moment with a broken wrist, but that doesn't stop Empire bringing out the licensed computer game. As coach, build your perfect team with the players available, then take them out on the pitch for a bit of the old Saturday afternoon kickabout. Most of the time, play is horizontally scrolling, but entering the penalty area switches the match to a semi-3D view of the goal.

Gazza'S Super Soccer is the latest in a long line of soccer games made to look silly by Kick Off on 16 bit and Emlyn Hughes International Soccer on 8 bit. The players are too small and don't run around realistically at all, the scrolling is jerky and the general playing area is far too small. If you want a decent soccer sim, disregard Gazza's and choose one of the aforementioned ones instead.