Krisalis have made a two-pronged attack on the soccer gameing market with this one, for
contained within the packaging is a management game and an arcade game rolled into one.
The fushion of the two game styles is handled fairly well. The main option menu contains
a 'play game' icon. Select it and you have to pshycally take part in each and every match played.
De-select it and all you need to concentraye on is the management side. You can use this icon
at the end of every season, giving you a chance to reconsider.
The game is icon driven to a large degree, the only exceptions being name changes for the
players and so on. Unfortunately it's not immediately obvious what the options are but a quick
scan of the manual solves this.
On the management side you can choose from four different cup competitions, the European Cup,
the European Cup Winner's Cup, The UEFA Cup and the European Super Cup. There is also a
World Club Championship.
Once into a competition a menu gives you the option of changing various aspects of your team
to greater or lesser degree. The formation is one option while team line up (of goalies,
defenders attackers and so on) can also be changed. Complementing these options are
statistical screens aplenty.
These display your current placing in cup tournaments and the individual statuc each and
every player, including a breakdown of individual skills. If you're playing in management/arcade
mode, the match variables which can be adjusted are match length, one or two player option, and
whether the players are joystick or computer controlled.
Your options are brilliantly implemented. The icon system couldn't possibly be easier to use.
Having said that, as management games go the gameplay is not nearly sophisticated enough. Some
all-powerful deity plays in goal for the opposition while yours has been lovingly hand picked
from the nearest vegetable patch.
He almost never gets a grip on the ball during an attack and invariably throws it back to
an opposing player. It also takes too long for the computer to acknowledge your players'
proximity to the ball. By the time you have control of a player the opposing team has the advantage.
Because you have to try twice as hard to achieve half as much as the other team, there's
no incentive to keep playing. On that basis, it can't be recommended.
