[{"TitleName":"Football Director","Publisher":"D&H Games","Author":"John de Salis, Tony Huggard","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0001821","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 45, Oct 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-24","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Richard Eddy, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nAdventure Column: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM Column: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Column: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Column: Rosetta McLeod\r\nLondon Correspondent: John Minson\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nDesign: Tony Lorton, Markie Kendrick, Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: D&H Games\r\nRetail Price: £9.99\r\nAuthor: John de Salis and Tony Huggard\r\n\r\nWheel and deal in the football world, matching the cut and thrust on the pitch with the Machiavellian intrigues that lurk in the boardrooms of big-time sport.\r\n\r\nAs a team manager, you appoint coaches, physiotherapists and scouts, make bids for stars and sell declining players to raise money.\r\n\r\nMatches are automatically played between your team and the other sides in your league. After full time a final score is shown, complete with scoring players and score times. The results of other matches in your league are also shown, and with each completed set of fixtures the ever-changing league table showing your position can be called up.\r\n\r\nYou can also get an update on your squad, telling you the number of goals it's scored and conceded, the number of games it's played, and whether it's carrying any injuries.\r\n\r\nJust as important, of course, is an accurate statement of your financial condition. If your bank balance isn't enough to support all your deals, you can arrange loans, overdrafts and mortgages, or sell shares in your club to cover your financial shortfall.\r\n\r\nRemember the bread-and-butter expenses that are incurred every week, such as wage bills and general running costs. Regular income to offset these includes gate money, interest payments from the bank and TV broadcast fees.\r\n\r\nThere's an active transfer market in which you can boost a flagging team by buying the best players - or raise money by setting them. Bids can fail, though, leaving you intensely disappointed when you're unable to persuade your favoured player to come to you instead of plumping for the exciting football adventure that is Grimsby Town.\r\n\r\nOut of all your transfer dealings the government takes a third of the fee, and it takes 15% of any gambling wins you make.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the season, if not before, your financial decisions can break or make the club you run. So poverty or riches, glory or bust may await you just round the corner...\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: none\r\nGraphics: text-only game; ugly colour\r\nSound: minimal FX","ReviewerComments":["Football Director tries to dominate the Spectrum football market and bury the rival Football Manager for good. It fails dismally. Football Director holds all the features (not attractions) of the old favourite - slow responses, no graphics, glaring colour. And the inlay is extremely uninformative. Football Direct is a slow and poor imitation of a very overrated predecessor. The high price is ten times more surprising than the game.\r\nPaul Sumner\r\n11%","Football Director is the worst game I've seen for months, and is worse than Football Manager. The colour is unattractive, and the black-on-white text could become hard on the eyes - if anyone has the patience/lack of intelligence required to play Football Director for more than half an hour.\r\nMike Dunn\r\n8%","Get ready, all you intellectuals out there - you'll need an O level in Football Studies just to load this up! Like the other football management games, Football Director is text-only and very boring. You can choose what to call the players and the teams, but that doesn't brighten up this drab simulation.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n19%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A poor and expensive substitute for Addictive's Football Manager (well received in Crash Issue Four).","Page":"122,123","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"11","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"19","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"All the world's a football pitch in D&H Games's sports-management simulation."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"24%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"16%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"16%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"13%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 23, Nov 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-10-12","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nProduction Editor: Lucy Broadbent\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nSoftware Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nDeputy Art Editor: Darrell King\r\nEditorial Assistant: Angela Eager\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tony Lee, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1987 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"D&H\n£8.95\nReviewer: Marcus Berkmann\n\nAlthough most of the games industry has been cornered by the big companies with their vast marketing spends, advertising budgets and freebie lunches for Dr Berkman (more, please!), there's one tiny sector that's still well under control of the independents - the footie management simulation. It's probably got much to do with the massive success of Kevin Toms' Football Manager, which has bobbed in and out of the charts for nigh on five years and is probably the best selling Speccy game ever. (Is it? I'd be interested to find out.)\n\nThe best of the current crop is D&H Games Football Director, which is about to be made widely available after some time on mail order only. Written by De Salis and Huggard it's a no-frills sim which cuts out any unnecessary graphics and attempts at arcade action and sticks to what footie sim fans really want - pure strategy. The packaging's modest - a simple inlay card with the barest of instruction - but if you're interested in a game like this, you're going to know exactly what's required, and what you don't get immediately you'll pick up along the way.\n\nStarting at the bottom of Div 4 (where else?) you must pick your team and battle through a full league programme without throwing all your money away. You can mortgage your club when the going gets tough (which it will) and also borrow dosh from the bank. There's a full timetable of League, FA Cup, League Cup and European matches. Players have skill points, which are influenced by morale, which is naturally decided by winning or not. Morale is surprisingly fragile. There are appalling hazards all along the way - injuries, sendings off, postponements, crowd violence, retirements, interest, tax, other managers trying to poach your players, even sackings. There are fixture lists, automatic updatings of the league, midweek games, the opportunity to buy or sell shares, international games, loads of transfers and even three skill levels. It makes Football Manager look like a tatty old Basic game. If you like this sort of thing (which I do), you'll love this.\n\nIf you have problems finding it in the shops, send £8.95 (cheque/PO) to D & H Games, [redacted]. Oh, and remember to save regularly - it has the occasional tendency to crash!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A definite Match Of The Day for football fans. Low on action, but high on strategy. You'll be over the moon with this one!","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Marcus Berkmann","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 71, Nov 1991","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1991-10-03","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":76,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Hutchinson\r\nNew Art Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nGames Editor: James Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michele Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Colin Jones\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC Jan-June 1991 65,444\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is brought to you from the same incredibly tartan people who publish Commodore Format, ST Format, Amiga Format, NCE, Amstrad Action, 8000 Plus, PC Answers, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format and Public Domain and quite possibly three more mages by the time you read this!"},"MainText":"FOOTBALL DIRECTOR\r\n\r\nAccording to the box Football Director is 'The Ultimate Football Challenge'. Well, I'm not so sure. Surely playing football (blindfold) for real against West Germany is the ultimate challenge? But never mind.\r\n\r\nThey haven't changed the character set with this one so all looks a bit, well, Speccyish, I suppose. There aren't any graphics, which speeds up the gameplay but also makes things look quite, er, boring.\r\n\r\nWhat else? Oh yes, Football Director is probably the most crash-proof of the four I've been looking at. It's quite important, is crash-proof-ness (cos when I'm losing I tend to hit all the keys on the Speccy as hard as I can).\r\n\r\nGreavsie says: I've got this painful boil on the back of me neck, Saint.\r\n\r\nSaint says: Hee hee hee, oh you'll be the death of me, Greavsie, with that humour of yours!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"James Leach","Score":"47","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Right, we'll make mincemeat of this lot - even if they do all come on at once!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"47%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 67, Oct 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: D&H, [redacted]\r\nAuthor: Huggard & DeSallis\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: none\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nIt must be getting hard to think of new titles for football simulations, what with Football Manager. World Cup Fiasco (sorry, Carnival), Soccer Boss, International Soccer and so on ad nauseam. If you seriously think that simulating it on a computer is worthwhile when you could be watching it on the TV or even playing it in the sunshine, Football Director has all the features you could want: four leagues, twenty teams each, definable teams, substitutions, sending offs, buying and selling players and shares, finance, tax, even sackings and crowd violence. Graphics are non-existent, instructions are minimal and there's an adorable feature by which after you've saved a game position to tape, the program crashes at the end of every season. If you can put up with that, then you should get a fair kick out of Football Director. (Kick - geddit?) More sophis than Football Manager, Director may be, but then that's now a quarter of the price.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Another attempt at a football management game - aren't there enough about? Bit pricey too.","Page":"86","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 29, Feb 1990","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1990-01-04","Editor":"Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EMAP B & CP [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Steve Cooke\r\nDeputy Editor: Rik Haynes\r\nReviews Editor: Laurence Scotford\r\nDesign Editor: Jim Willis\r\nContributors: Eugene Lacey, John Minson, John Cook, Pat Winstanley, Christina Erskine\r\nIllustration: Geoff Fowler\r\nAdvertising Manager: Gary Williams\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAdvertising Production: Melanie Costin\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nEMAP Frontline, Subscriptions Dept [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nLatent Image [redacted]\r\nBalmoral Graphics [redacted]\r\nProprint Repro [redacted]\r\n\r\nTYPESETTING\r\nCXT [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nEMAP Frontline [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nSevern Valley Press, Caerphilly\r\n\r\n©EMAP B&CP 1989\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission."},"MainText":"Spectrum £9.99cs\r\nC64 £9.99cs\r\nCPC £9.99cs\r\n\r\nD&H have been making footy games for donkeys' years. Football Director is one of the their first and remains one of the best. Sophisticated game play makes it suitable for the serious soccer strategist. Football Director II is now also available with even more options, plus ST (£19.99dk) and Amiga (£19.99dk) and PC (£19.99dk) versions. Available for all computers.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"82","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"835/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 86, Dec 1988","Price":"£1.2","ReleaseDate":"1988-11-16","Editor":"Eugene Lacey","TotalPages":180,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nDeputy Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nStaff Writer: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSales Executive: Joanne Cook\r\nAdvertisement Production: Lora Clark\r\nGerman Correspondent: Carsten Borgmeier\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]"},"MainText":"FUNNY OLD GAME INNIT CECIL?\r\n\r\nFootballs have been kicked around computer screens for just about as long as the gaming habit has existed. 1988 saw more releases than ever before - Tony Dillon asks what is and what is not good computer football.\r\n\r\nOf all the simulations, authentic endorsements and plain old original attempts, there can't be any topic that comes as close to a games player's heart that our very own Soccer. Even in the very early days of paddles and mono displays, where the Grandstand home entertainment console reigned supreme with it's incredible 4-game selection football was one of them. Admittedly it was nothing more than computer tennis with double the number of bats, but it was still football. And it was the first.\r\n\r\nSince then, many have tried to recreate the feelings of running about on an open pitch, being buffeted by the wind, the cheers of the crowd and smells of the other players. What we at C+VG have tried to do is come up with a comprehensive guide to the more memorable ones, the best, the worst, the one with the nicest graphics, the one that you couldn't tell the difference between the ball and the players, or indeed the players from the pitch, or simply the one that we liked the most. Also, we've put our heads together and come up with a league table of all the football games around at the moment. Including the ones we didn't get to mention. So, here goes, straight into section one, which funnily enough is about.\r\n\r\nARCADE FOOTBALL\r\n\r\nOf the three genre of football games (Arcade, Managerial and Diagnostic), the arcade is easily, judging by the sales, the most widely popular, though games like Football Manager still rank high up in the list of best selling games. There were many early attempts at football games way back in the dawn of programming history, when programming people were just finding their feet. Now defunct Artic, for example, released World Cup I and II, which both featured small matchstick men, slow gameplay and a very low computer skill level. Funnily enough, World Cup II was given a facelift (well, not really a facelift, more a snip-and-tuck around the chin) and was released by US Gold under the title World Cup Carnival to coincide with the World Cup happening at the time. It came packaged with lots of photographs, posters and other World Cup memorabilia. Nevertheless it flopped and went down in game history as one of the worst games ever, ranking up there with The Great Space Race itself.\r\n\r\nProbably the most successful of the early arcade football games was International Soccer on the Commodore 64. Originally only available on cartridge (now released on tape and disc by CRL), it featured large blocky graphics, crude animation and a tendency to crash quite a lot (well, mine did!). The funny thing is, even with todays high programming standards and the high level that consumers expect to find of today's software, it's still one of the best you can get on the 64. Except, of course, for a slightly altered version I saw a while ago, changed by the hands of our dear friend, Mr Gary 'Moose' Penn, who changed the players from their running state, and placed them all in wheelchairs, which is sick, and terrible (snigger), and not (cough, splurt) at all (ready to burst) funny (Ha ha ha).\r\n\r\nSo, what else happened that shook the world of football gaming? Matchday did! Written by Jon Ritman, and Bernie Drummond, it was quite simply incredibly superior to anything that had appeared before it, on the Spectrum anyway. It featured large, well animated graphics, a goalkeeper that could dive and a chance to play through a knockout championship to win the FA Cup, as well as simultaneous two players to boot. Not long after that came Matchday II, which had all the above and then some, such as jumping headers, a league facility with a code entry system, and improved graphics, not to mention DSS. What's DSS? The Diamond Deflection System. What this does is work out what direction the ball's going to travel in when it hits off another player, with the player's speed and direction brought into account.\r\n\r\nBetween these two came the game that should have been a lot better and, judging by its features, it was. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Super Soccer included things like sliding tackles, enemy levels and extra training, but was so bug-ridden and unplayable that it flopped. One major bug was the energy thing. If you played a long game, the players would run out of energy quite quickly. What they would finally end up doing was jog around the pitch at a snail's pace, then if you tried to do a sliding tackle, they wouldn't get up again, so basically 80 minutes into the game, the pitch would be littered with dead players.\r\n\r\nBoth the Nintendo and Sega have their own soccer games, Nintendo's is called Soccer, and is quite playable and has several levels of play. It also has a two-player option, but suffers from slightly sluggish joycard response. That withstanding, it's still a lot better than you can buy on most home computers.\r\n\r\nSega's World Soccer is one of C+VG's all-time favourite games, and can be held responsible for many hours of lost work time - particularly the case with Gary Williams, the Ads Manager. Unlike him, though, the game is absolutely brilliant and fully captures the spirit of a big game, with the players able to do overhead kicks, banana shots and slide tackles. It's a shame that it's only available on the Sega, as it's the best soccer game on any home system.\r\n\r\nUp until recently, games have been displayed in semi forced perspective 3D, which works really well but often makes aiming for the goal difficult. Now a new trend is emerging: the overhead viewpoint.\r\n\r\nGames like European 5-a-Side and Supercup Football let you view the action from above, which gives a much more accurate look at the action, with the size of the ball increasing and decreasing to denote hoots skyward. Easily the best, however, is the new one from Microprose/Sensible Software. It's smooth, fast, very playable and extremely polished and scored 95% in the last issue. It's menu system is incredible, and the game comes a very, very close second to World Soccer - it's easily the greatest football game available for home computers.\r\n\r\nBut these are mere highlights of all the arcade football games around at the moment. Check out the league table for the full C+VG report. Now, let's move onto the next section, which by some staggering coincidence happens to be about.\r\n\r\nMANAGERIAL FOOTBALL\r\n\r\nMoving completely away from games that require fast reactions and an eye of an eagle, and onto the slower, more thoughtful games that are around the managerial. Typically: in a managerial game you take the role of the manager/secretary/accountant of your chosen team and have to make all the right decisions with the ultimate aim of taking your team to the top of their league and winning the FA Cup/World Cup/Nations Cup/whatever. Of all the ones I've seen, rather than mention games that stand out, I'm going to talk about the companies involved.\r\n\r\nFirst is Kevin Toms' company, Addictive. They released the first successful managerial game way back in, oh, well it was a while ago. It was then hailed as the best football game ever (not much of claim; check out the opposition at the time!) and was pretty simplistic. Written in 100% basic, it consisted of a series of screens with a choice on some of them. After cycling through them, you get a few highlights of the match you just played, with matchstick men and beepy sound effects. Though not much by today's standards, it still has to get a mention for being the original. I wish I could say the same for it's successor, FM2. The only difference between them were screen redesign and better graphics on the game highlights. A shame really, considering what could have been done.\r\n\r\nOne company that I have to mention are D+H games, a company almost solely devoted to managerial games, especially football ones. Though none of their games require huge amounts of thought, feature no graphics, have a tendency to be slow and are generally small, there is still an edge of the seat feeling when playing a match as minute by minute it updates the score. Probably their most famous one is Football Director, What a lot of people don't know is that Football Director is only part of a series. As well as the usual Football Director II, which boasts nicer screens and faster gameplay (except on the +3, which is six times slower than any other version), there's a two-player Super League, which is identical to Football Director except that it boasts two-player simultaneous action, and International Manager, which is Football Director set in the topsy turvy world of international football.\r\n\r\nThe last company I have to mention is the company that has recently written the best ever managerial game, Goliath Games. Headed by Doug Mathews, of ex-Scanatron fame, Track Suit Manager was the company's first release, and was well-received by everyone and featured all the teams in the World Cup, and all the players in all the teams (around 700 in all) as well as accurate statistics on all of them, a revolutionary ,match commentary system that gives you a continuous flow of text telling you what's happening on the turf. All this would normally cost speed, but in this case it doesn't. The speed of the game is fully adjustable via the joystick, from the full 45 minutes a half, right down to eight seconds a half. The Spectrum version is a bit slower than the Commodore version, and boasts a masterful piece of compaction. All the data just fits, and looking at the statistics I've been given, there were two bytes left at the end of it. The funny thing is there were two spelling mistakes, \"Substitute\" and the other one escapes me for the moment. The point I am two letters missing altogether, so if those letters were included, there would be no room left at all.\r\n\r\nI can't talk about managerial games, though, without mentioning the worst: Soccer Boss. Soccer Box is not a very good game. In fact, it's very bad. It boasts amazingly s-l-o-w gameplay, unresponsive controls and is sooo easy. Needless to say, it's still riding high in the budget software charts. Makes you think, doesn't it?\r\n\r\nBut of course, there are many others. This is just the cream of the crop and we simply haven't the space to re-review all the old games, for the simple reason that there are so many of them. We came up with over 30! Plus there are lots of pools prediction things and record filers and lots of other serious gimmicks that can't be classed as games.\r\n\r\nWe leave you now with the league tables. We've done two because it just isn't fair to class arcade games alongside strategy games.\r\n\r\nIf you've written a football game that you think is any good, or you know of one that isn't mentioned here and you think it should be, then why not drop a line to C+VG. Even if it doesn't get reviewed in the mag, we'll still get back to you and let you know what I think of it. Please include an S.A.E. if you want the tapes returned.\r\n\r\nFOOTBALL DEATURE - LEAGUE TABLE 1 - STRATEGY\r\n\r\nTitle: Tracksuit Manager\r\nHome Ground: Goliath Games\r\nRealism: 9/10\r\nDepth: 8/10\r\nSpeed: 9/10\r\nVisuals: 7/10\r\nFun: 8/10\r\nTot: 41/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Brain Clough's FF\r\nHome Ground: CDS\r\nRealism: 6/10\r\nDepth: 8/10\r\nSpeed: 8/10\r\nVisuals: 2/10\r\nFun: 10/10\r\nTot: 34/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Football Director 2\r\nHome Ground: D+H Games\r\nRealism: 4/10\r\nDepth: 6/10\r\nSpeed: 6/10\r\nVisuals: 5/10\r\nFun: 8/10\r\nTot: 29/10\r\n\r\nTitle: The Double\r\nHome Ground: Scanatron\r\nRealism: 8/10\r\nDepth: 6/10\r\nSpeed: 3/10\r\nVisuals: 3/10\r\nFun: 6/10\r\nTot: 28/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Football Director\r\nHome Ground: D+H Games\r\nRealism: 4/10\r\nDepth: 3/10\r\nSpeed: 3/10\r\nVisuals: 4/10\r\nFun: 7/10\r\nTot: 21/10\r\n\r\nTitle: 2 Player Super L.\r\nHome Ground: D+H Games\r\nRealism: 4/10\r\nDepth: 3/10\r\nSpeed: 2/10\r\nVisuals: 3/10\r\nFun: 8/10\r\nTot: 20/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Int. Manager\r\nHome Ground: D+H Games\r\nRealism: 5/10\r\nDepth: 3/10\r\nSpeed: 3/10\r\nVisuals: 3/10\r\nFun: 5/10\r\nTot: 19/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Football Manager\r\nHome Ground: Addictive\r\nRealism: 2/10\r\nDepth: 1/10\r\nSpeed: 3/10\r\nVisuals: 3/10\r\nFun: 5/10\r\nTot: 14/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Football Manager 2\r\nHome Ground: Addictive\r\nRealism: 2/10\r\nDepth: 2/10\r\nSpeed: 2/10\r\nVisuals: 5/10\r\nFun: 3/10\r\nTot: 14/10\r\n\r\nTitle: On The Bench\r\nHome Ground: Cult\r\nRealism: 3/10\r\nDepth: 2/10\r\nSpeed: 1/10\r\nVisuals: 2/10\r\nFun: 3/10\r\nTot: 11/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Soccer Boss\r\nHome Ground: Alternative\r\nRealism: 2/10\r\nDepth: 1/10\r\nSpeed: 1/10\r\nVisuals: 2/10\r\nFun: 1/10\r\nTot: 7/10\r\n\r\nAll the marks are corresponding to the best version of that game. The +3 version of Football Director 2, is six times slower than any other version, so it would be unfair to review that version.\r\n\r\nFOOTBALL FEATURE - LEAGUE TABLE 2 - ARCADE\r\n\r\nTitle: Sega Soccer\r\nHome Ground: Sega\r\nGraphics: 9/10\r\nSound: 8/10\r\nPlayability: 8/10\r\nValue: 8/10\r\nFun: 9/10\r\nTot: 42/10\r\n\r\nTitle: MicroSoccer\r\nHome Ground: Microprose\r\nGraphics: 9/10\r\nSound: 7/10\r\nPlayability: 8/10\r\nValue: 8/10\r\nFun: 7/10\r\nTot: 39/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Match Day 2\r\nHome Ground: Ocean\r\nGraphics: 8/10\r\nSound: 6/10\r\nPlayability: 8/10\r\nValue: 7/10\r\nFun: 8/10\r\nTot: 37/10\r\n\r\nTitle: International Soc.\r\nHome Ground: CRL\r\nGraphics: 5/10\r\nSound: 4/10\r\nPlayability: 9/10\r\nValue: 9/10\r\nFun: 8/10\r\nTot: 35/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Match Day\r\nHome Ground: Ocean\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nSound: 4/10\r\nPlayability: 7/10\r\nValue: 6/10\r\nFun: 6/10\r\nTot: 30/10\r\n\r\nTitle: European 5-a-side\r\nHome Ground: Silverbird\r\nGraphics: 6/10\r\nSound: 6/10\r\nPlayability: 5/10\r\nValue: 8/10\r\nFun: 4/10\r\nTot: 29/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Gary Lineker's SS\r\nHome Ground: Gremlin\r\nGraphics: 6/10\r\nSound: 4/10\r\nPlayability: 6/10\r\nValue: 5/10\r\nFun: 5/10\r\nTot: 26/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Peter Beardsley's\r\nHome Ground: Grandslam\r\nGraphics: 6/10\r\nSound: 4/10\r\nPlayability: 6/10\r\nValue: 5/10\r\nFun: 5/10\r\nTot: 22/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Supercup Football\r\nHome Ground: Silverbird\r\nGraphics: 3/10\r\nSound: 2/10\r\nPlayability: 4/10\r\nValue: 6/10\r\nFun: 4/10\r\nTot: 19/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Super Soccer\r\nHome Ground: Imagine\r\nGraphics: 5/10\r\nSound: 3/10\r\nPlayability: 3/10\r\nValue: 2/10\r\nFun: 3/10\r\nTot: 16/10\r\n\r\nTitle: Roy of the Rovers\r\nHome Ground: Gremlin\r\nGraphics: 2/10\r\nSound: 1/10\r\nPlayability: 2/10\r\nValue: 1/10\r\nFun: 1/10\r\nTot: 7/10\r\n\r\nTitle: World Cup Carn'\r\nHome Ground: US Gold\r\nGraphics: 1/10\r\nSound: 1/10\r\nPlayability: 1/10\r\nValue: 1/10\r\nFun: 1/10\r\nTot: 5/10","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"98,99,100,102","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"21","ScoreSuffix":"/50"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Computer football - second only in popularity to computer Ninjas."},{"Text":"European Five-A-Side - budget footy smash."},{"Text":"Sega Soccer - C+VG's all time fave footy game."},{"Text":"Gary Linekar failed to score."},{"Text":"Microprose Soccer - is the one to watch,"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Realism","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Depth","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Speed","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Visuals","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Total","Score":"21/50","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]