[{"TitleName":"Soccer Stars","Publisher":"Empire Software","Author":"","YearOfRelease":"1992","ZxDbId":"0012082","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 75, Mar 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-02-06","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"LOVE? PAH!\r\n\r\nLove sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better. Ha! Give us a lot of good Knicks/Pisons basketball match any day! So, what's the greatest love of your life?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Honda Custom Motorbike) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (Shergold Meteor Guitar) Ounsted\r\nDeputy Editor: Linda (Green duffle bag) Barker\r\nActing Staff Writer: Jon (SAM) Pillar\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne (My mum) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl (Highland Toffees) Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (George Michael) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (David Cassidy and Roy Ayers) Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michele (Chips 'n' Gravy) Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg (Trot-along) Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Her Greenhouse) Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Peace & Fudge), Future (World Domination) Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Paul (His Kate Bush CDs) Kidby\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC Jan-June 1991 65,444\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair leaps into its scooter and vrooms around the carpark with these mighty organs: Commodore Format (Scuba Diving), Amstrad Action (Draught Bass), Amiga Format (Wadworth 6X), PCW Plus (Insomnia), PC Answers (Well balanced yacht moored in the Aegean), PC Plus (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica album), Sega Power (Eliza Smith-Meddings), Amiga Power (Sherbert Lemons), Amiga Shopper (Sophia Loren aged 23), Classic CD (Worms), Needlecraft (Mary Whitehouse), Mountain Biking UK (Manic MTB down hill rides), PC Format (London Monarchs), Public Domain (Debauchery), ST Format (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Total! (Ladies, and errmm, associated activities with said gender).\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know is... have you ever gone to the loo and discovered too late that there's no paper and no lock on the door?"},"MainText":"SOCCER STARS\r\nEmpire\r\n£12.99 cassette\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nSorry 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.\r\n\r\nKICK OFF 2\r\n\r\nIt 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.)\r\n\r\nKO2, 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.\r\n87°\r\n\r\nMICROPROSE SOCCER\r\n\r\nThis 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.\r\n89°\r\n\r\nGAZZA 2\r\n\r\nDespite 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.\r\n79°\r\n\r\nEMLYN HUGHES INTERNATIONAL SOCCER\r\n\r\nThis 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.\r\n35°\r\n\r\nThis 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.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"82","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"In a desperate attempt to gain attention, Bertie pulled his left arm off and threw it at Wally."},{"Text":"It's a free for all. Somebody came over the tannoy and said that the donuts were ready."},{"Text":"The banana's got hold of the ball and he doesn't want to give it up. Run, banana, run."},{"Text":"While Jerry Jnr wasn't looking, Tony managed to sneak off."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"82%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[{"Header":"Kick Off 2","Score":"87%","Text":"Kick Off 2"},{"Header":"Microprose Soccer","Score":"89%","Text":"MicroProse Soccer"},{"Header":"Gazza II","Score":"79%","Text":"Gazza II"},{"Header":"Emlyn Hughes International Soccer","Score":"35%","Text":"Emlyn Hughes International Soccer"}]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 121, Mar 1992","Price":"£2.1","ReleaseDate":"1992-02-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSoftware Editor: Big Al 'Bagels' Dykes\r\nGirlie Tipster: Hannah Smith\r\nAdditional Design: Jane Davies \r\nSU Crew: John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Phillip Fisch, Graham Mason, Matthew Denton\r\nAd Manager: Tina Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nMarketing Man.: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing Women: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Proprint\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher\r\n\r\nNo part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or used to wrap your chips without the consent of the Publisher (if you offer him a chip he'll think about it though). And on behalf of the SU Crew we'd just like to say that it's great to be back on Earth Even with wars, famine, disease and misery it's a better place than some of the deepspace cruisers that we've been playing on for the last two months."},"MainText":"Label: Empire\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £11.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Paul Berry\r\n\r\nSoccer 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.\r\n\r\nSadly, 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.\r\n\r\nWho 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.\r\n\r\nAnd 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.\r\n\r\nMoving 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.\r\n\r\nMicroprose 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.","ReviewerComments":["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.\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"Football has never been a good subject for the Spectrum which two of the games, Kick Off and Microprose Soccer, prove without a doubt. If you can wait until the budgets come out then do so. If not, then Gazza II and Emlyn Hughes will take the sting out.","Page":"41","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Berry","Score":"71","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Emlyn, Emlyn, Emlyn... Hurrah!"},{"Text":"Gazza - what a guy!"},{"Text":"It's in the net - it's a GOOAALL!"},{"Text":"Kick Off - A Speccy failure."},{"Text":"Microprose's banana kick special."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"71%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]