World Cup Soccer is Macmillan's latest release under their new 'Professional Touch' range. The
package consists of two programs and book with an introduction from famous goalie Ray Clemence.
The first of the two programs is a football manager type game using the World Cup as it setting.
The first thing to do is pick the country you wish to represent.
Playing the manager of the country of your choice you can either select your own team or
opt for the default team supplied by the computer. When choosing self selection there's the
chance to really go to town as you are not limited to players from that country. The cast
of players contains many famous names, starts from past and present including Moore, Pele
and Ardiles.Each player has three ratings: Strength, Stamina and Speed, each beeing
expressed as a percentage.
Having decided on your team, the program tells you what group you're in plus who is the host
country. You are then presented with several options. You can either view the ratings,
position table and fixtures or play the match. When you select to play the match a scoreboard
appears with a clock counting up to the 45 minute mark.
During play if someone scores it is announced with a burst of white noise and a comment
telling you who scored - worth making a note of when it comes to reselection. Players may
also get injured or booked. If a penalty is awarded, you are asked which way you'd like to
shoot/dive. Once you have decided, a computer controlled graphic screen is represented. The
referee blows his whistle and the penalty takes place.
The outcome of the first half depends on your team selection skills while the second half
is arcade based. When playing the second half you are presented with two min arcade games,
'Header' and 'Shoot'. In Header you control the head of one of your players. Footballs are
volleyed over from the left and you have to move the head left and right to knock one into
the goal.
The goalie will dive and do his best to save your shot. Next is Shoot, in which you control
a football boot defending a large goalmouth at the bottom of the screen. At the top is a smaller
goal mouth moving left and right. A football is thrown on from a random position and the aim
is to defend your goalmouth while trying to score in the moving goal. Upon losing a football
another is thrown in from a random angle. Both games have a set number of fooballs allowed.
After completing both arcade games, a rating is given on your performance. Depending on this
you're either awarded extra goals or the other side are. When you've completed the match the
program gives information on how well you're doing and then it's back to the first option
screen. Drawing on experience from the first half it's possible to restructure your team.
The second program in the package is a factfile containing information on World Cups since
1930. To get at the information you have a choice of teams or competitions. If you choose teams
then a year must be chosen and the program offers data on that team's progress. Information
on results, attendance figures and venues are given.
If you have chosen competitions, a year needs to be input. You can then access the same
data presented in the teams section. As a bonus, a quiz section is provided. One or two
player games are allowed and the questions are presented in multiple choice format. The
quiz draws from the large database of facts used by the factfile so the number of possible
questions is massive.
