[{"TitleName":"World Championship Soccer","Publisher":"Elite Systems Ltd","Author":"Canvas","YearOfRelease":"1991","ZxDbId":"0005726","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 85, Feb 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-01-24","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nArt Editor: Mark Kendrick\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction and Circulation Director: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Robb Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard, Lisa McCourt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Judith Bamford\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kevin Gallagher\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jackie Morris (Supervisor), Joanne Lewis\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Caroline Edwards [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting Apple Macintosh Computers using Quark Express and Bitstream Fonts.\r\n\r\nSystems Manager: Ian Chubb\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nYearly subscription rates: UK £17.20 Europe £24.00, Air Mail overseas £37. US/Canada subscriptions and back issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly subscription rates US$47.00, Canada CAN$57.00 Back Issues US$5.20, Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available; If something untoward happens we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop us a line). No person who is related, no matter how remotely, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material on 35mm transparencies is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated according to the current printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Elite\r\n£9.99/£14.99\r\n\r\nElite releasing a football game? Nah, it must be a dream. Hang on! It's true!! World Championship Soccer is here, many moons after the World Cup finished, but what the hell. And, after reviewing six billion footy games in the last few months, I've run out of soccer jokes. So, this is what the game's all about.\r\n\r\nChoose from three options at the beginning: World Cup competition (one-player against computer, no team selection), a one-player (against computer and choose your team) or a two-player game. A world map pops up then and from here, using the pointer, you can pick, from 24 countries, which teams you want to play against. Having made a choice you continue by picking individual players for your team.\r\n\r\nThe individual attributes of each team member are shown: choose eleven players and hit the pitch. There are six groups of four countries all playing for a place in the final game. Only the top two teams in each group will quality for the next round, along with four of the remaining third placed teams. Unlike most other football games the time for each match isn't changeable: like real footy matches the game is played for 45 minutes (computer time). You view from above and the player under control is marked by a pointer.\r\n\r\nAll the usual features such as corner kicks, throw-ins and goal kicks are here, but despite some good options, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. Okay - lots of spritey guys running up and down a pitch are never particularly spectacular, but these look like deformed dwarves. Also, the loss of choice to change the game timer is a bad move: the game doesn't actually last for 90 minutes, but at times it seems like it!\r\n\r\nMARK 58%","ReviewerComments":["The game takes ages to load. And then there are all the options to wade through! It's a pity that, after all that, the actual soccer sim isn't up to much. Large, awkward moving players jolt about the screen, and scoring goals is dead easy as opposing players don't appear too keen on tackling. What makes World Championship Soccer better than other soccer games about at the moment is its league system. You can work your way to the top in true World Cup style and have full control over the team you play and the players you put in it. The inclusion of a bit of humour in this was an excellent idea. When you make a player kick, his leg gets contorted into some strange positions. Yoga on the football field! World Championship Soccer is another football game to stick on top of the ever increasing pile. Nothing really new to offer at all.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n50%"],"OverallSummary":"Better than some recent football games, but still way too late to cash in on the World Cup boom.","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"58","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"50","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"54%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 63, Mar 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-02-07","Editor":"Andy Ide","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Ide\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nGames Editor: James Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Jon North, Rich Pelley, John Pillar, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPublishing Assistant: Michele Harris\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1991. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"Elite\r\n£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Jon Pillar\r\n\r\nWe've had Kick Off, we've had Kick Off 2, and by golly if we haven't had Gazza 2, er, too. Well, now here comes Championship Soccer, a Sega arcade conversion that's looking to beat them all into touch as the fastest, simplest, most playable overhead-view footy game ever. Its a 1/2-player game, and I may as well tackle each in alphabetical order, so it's, er, 1-player mode to kick off with first.\r\n\r\nYou're competing in a full 'World Championship' (ie World Cup) tournament, so if you're confident enough to skip the oddly named practice game (Test 'match' indeed) it's time to choose the country you want to represent. Up pops in a snazzy world map and as you whizz about testing your geography (so that's where Cameroon is!) you can call up a teams statistics. These are a list of the team's strengths - Speed, Skill, Defence and Keeper - measured on a scale from 1 to 5. Settle on a country and you have to pick the players (these also have a list of statistics, this time based on Speed, Tackling Strength, Kicking Strength and Accuracy). Weed out the weeds and put your final 11 into a set 4-4-2 pattern.\r\n\r\nONTO THE GAME PROPER...\r\n\r\nAnd the first thing that strikes you is the kick-off - it's just a case of first player to the ball! Boot this away and you'll notice the screen scrolls to keep up with it, not the players, so frequently you'll be running like mad without actually being in view (mind you, there's a handy scanner at the side of the pitch to give you the full picture). The Speccy decides which player you control, working on the 'nearest to the ball' principle, but as usual causing much cursing since in tight spots the player it wants you to be and the one you want to control are inevitably different. The controlled player is highlighted with an arrow, and as you rush all over the place the rest of the teams swarm about as their patterns dictate, although once the action gets going you'll soon have no idea who's in which position. Bang go all the impressive player statistics, but who said this was a serious game? Fast and fun is the order of the day, with things like throw-ins and corners dropped in favour of the ball ricocheting back off the touch-lines (as if you're playing in a box)\r\n\r\nThe Speccy has some mean tactics, its men jittering towards the ball like guided missiles, and using the three types of kick to full effect. A nice touch is the way you always kick towards the opponents goal, but I found the best way to win was not to bother about kicking at all, and just dribble the ball into the net. As long as you keep zig-zagging, the Speccy's players can't manoeuvre to tackle you, and it guarantees victory by at least 20 goals!\r\n\r\nOf course, this doesn't really matter, as the only reason anyone buys Kick Off-type games is to beat their friends at them 10-0. Pick your teams, no fouls, no World Championship competition, just Spec-chum against Spec-chum! The only problem is, there's no Redefine Keys option and the keys you've got are all on the top row (1-5 for player 2, 6-0 for player 1), a hideously squashed arrangement that means you'll either have to wedge some card down the middle of the keyboard, or sellotape your unused fingers out of the way.\r\n\r\nWELL, IT'S GREEN, INNIT?\r\n\r\nThe other only problem is the presentation. Apart from some awful intro music and a neat whistle effect, there's no sound, and while the graphics are several steps up from the Kick Off doldrums, they can still get somewhat confusing as the pitch flits by. As everything's monochrome green, one team has white shirts and dark hair, and vice versa. Unfortunately, there are no graphics to show the light haired players kicking, or their goalie (they use the dark-haired versions instead), so if you're at the opponents goal, blocked by the defenders, it seems you're being hacked at by traitors from your own team!\r\n\r\nGraphical glitches aside (you can always provide suitable sounds yourself), WCS ain't a bad little footie game at all. Not quite up to Gazza 2 standards, but playable nonetheless (multiplied by 10 in 2-player mode). A very strong return for Elite, back at last from the 16-bit wilderness. Three cheers and a hearty hurrah!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Communal gameplaying (almost) at its best. Just the thing to challenge your Uncle Frank to!","Page":"65","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jon Pillar","Score":"80","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Actually, having that mini-pitch at the side isn't a bad idea. (Means you don't have to keep flicking into a different mode.)"},{"Text":"Go on then - do as the man says."},{"Text":"Oi! Who let the Harlem Globetrotters in here?"},{"Text":"Persil-white players and, er, rather a lot of another colour..."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]