Anco
£9.99/£14.99

If it's not the World Cup it's the football season that brings out a spate of football games! They never stop coming! As usual the first battle is with the option screens, where you choose to play a single game, league championship, cup tournament, international friendly or practice. You can then change the in-game options: duration of game, type of pitch, skill level and wind.

Each player has a mixture of four attributes and skills: pace, stamina, aggression and resilience. The mixture of these four determines the performance of each team member on the pitch, but if you aren't happy with one particular player, two substitutions per game are allowed. Whichever team wins the toss chooses to play either up or down the pitch - viewed from above with the now familiar 'head with arms' players. The character under control is highlighted, though the other members of your team are semi-intelligent and follow you around the pitch. As in the original Kick Off, fouls, throw-ins and corners are included, and on the disk version an action replay option allows you to see your goals in all their slow motion glory (provided you score of course).

If the score is drawn at the end of the second half and the extra time option is enabled, you play on. And if the score is still undecided after all that, a sudden death penalty shoot-out is played. I wasn't impressed with the original Kick Off and I must admit this sequel does little to fire my interest in soccer games. The worst culprits are the character sprites: it's sun shades ahoy time because the two teams violently clash as they meet (and I don't mean a punch up). The character you control seems to have a mind of his own - I very often found I had little say in sprite control.

MARK [55%]

Kick Off on the Spectrum was not exactly a resounding success and Kick Off 2 looks set to follow in big brother's footsteps. The game has all the options of the original 16-bit version, the only thing that makes the games differ are the graphics and speed. The tiny players, viewed from above, skuttle around the pitch attempting to kick the ball. Their colours clash whenever they meet, making a screen shot from the game look more like an abstract piece of modern art (don't be fooled by the beautiful Amiga screenshots on the packaging!). What really annoys me about Kick Off 2 is the control options. I wanted to play a two player game with one player on joystick and one on keys. You just can't do it. Both players have to cram their fingers onto the keyboard! Kick Off 2 is no real improvement over the first game.
NICK [53%]

Anco
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk
Reviewer: Paul Laikin

There aren't any decent cricket games on the Speccy. Sadly this situation has not been improved by Anco's sequel to the world-dominating, government-toppling, knee-trembling Kick Off (Well, world-dominating, government-toppling and knee-trembling on the 16 bit machines at least). Cricket is a slow, peaceful game mixing the gentle whack of leather on willow with the soothing sight of men in white pottering round a green field.

Anco have completely failed to incorporate any of these factors into Kick Off II. Not surprising really since the game is about football. (I was beginning to wonder if you'd noticed. Ed.)

Football is not a pretty game and nor is Kick Off II. The choice of team colours is less than helpful. Yellow players on a green pitch introduce a fairly novel camouflage element to the game. Why try to outrun your opponent when you can hide from him? More confusing still, if you stand too close to an opponent he changes to your colour. Perhaps Kick Off II is trying to be the first footie sim to incorporate an end-of-match shirt-swopping sequence. Then again perhaps not.

Apart from that the graphics are something of an improvement on the original. No more of this 'players running under the touchline' nonsense. Besides, as that loveable young pop star Gazza Gascoigne proves, football isn't about looks, it's about action. Fast action, and Kick Off II has plenty of that. Although not entirely smooth the game is fast and hectic. It's no surprise to find that the playability is as skill and as skillful as on the original. If only the same could be said for me.

Alright, so Kick Off II's as playable as its predecessor and, though not perfect, the graphics are better. (What's not so alright is that it's taken you 300 words to say it. Ed) But are there any other differences? Well, of course there are, this is Kick Off II, not Kick Off One And A Half. The differences are in the options. Instead of simply setting a standard of play for both teams here you can also influence the weather conditions, the type of pitch and the like (and by "the like" I mean "After touch", a phrase worthy of an oo-er if ever I've heard one). To be honest most of the options seem to have a fairly minimal effect on the game. Waterlogged pitches make for slower, stickier play whereas on the plastic pitches there's more bounce and less control. However, the difference is not that marked and even wacking the wind speed up to full barely ruffled the referee's Paul Daniels Deluxe Toupee.

The real skill option is "after touch" which allows you to control the ball after it has left your foot. This does not mean that you can kick the ball once in your own goal area and then guide it all the way into the back of your opponent's net. Oh dear me no. Instead you can revel in Gazza-esque crosses. Thrill as the ball curls past the defence and lands at the feet of your centre forward. Gasp as you pull off a perfect banana shot. Scream as the ball executes a Thatcherite U-turn and ends up in the back of your own net.

So there we have it, pop pickers... sorry, football fans. Kick Off with knobs on. To be honest though the knobs aren't really that special. It's a good footie game but, despite the improvements in the graphics, it's not outstandingly better than the original. If you didn't buy Kick Off then Kick Off II is worth getting (unless of course you hate footie games). But it you did then there's probably no point getting the sequel. If, however, you're looking for a game of leather, willow and nice white jumpers then you're going to be sorely disappointed.