International Soccer Challenge

The sequel to Microprose Soccer features an innovative 3-D perspective, viewed from just behind the ball with you always playing ‘into’ the screen. Shooting passing involves holding down fire to increase the power, and then moving the joystick to put height, direction and swerve onto the ball – on the easiest of three skill levels, passes are automatically aimed. As in Kick Off 2, you can either control a single player or switch between team members (excluding the automatic goalie).

You can either play in a fictional world club Superleague, or try to win the World Cup, and save your position to disk. Extensive practice options allow you to perfect passing, penalty kicks, goalkeeping (on penalties) and corners.

The 3-D view must have seemed a good idea at the time, but sadly it just doesn’t come off: as well as being a bit jerky it’s too slow for the supposedly high pace of a football game. It also means that there can’t be a two-player mode – usually the best option in sports sims. As with Microprose Soccer, the ball is glued to the player’s foot, so no skill is needed to dribble – contrarily, tackling the opposition is very tricky. It’s also easy to score with a set routine of running diagonally at goal and swerving your shot. This one’s no substitute for Kick Off 2.