If this game represented a country in the World Cup, it wouldn't get past the first round. You, and up to seven other players, can take part in the World Cup and choose from eight (yes, only eight!) countries. Which country you choose affects how well you play. You then get to play a match, which lasts about five minutes. Primitive graphics and jerky scrolling, combined with an irritating tune that plays continuously in the background and frustrating gameplay (such as an apparent inability of your players to tackle and a tendency for control to switch to another player at all the wrong times), make this a game to stay clear of.

See also: World Cup Carnival.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

World Cup Carnival
(US Gold, 1986)

This was the official World Cup computer game back in 1986, and as you may well be aware, it has gone down in history as being one of the worst games ever. What happened was that the original game that had been written by the contracted programmers was so awful that US Gold realised they could not sell it, so instead they used Artic's World Cup (which is also an awful game), made some very minor modifications to it, and sold it at full price, along with a few extras which weren't worth the extra money. It was an outrage, and rightly so. The CPC version actually includes a few extra bits, which are very poor and very boring indeed and deserve zero marks. In fact, Amstrad Action gave this game 0%, and I certainly agree with them!

See also: World Cup.

More information on CPCSOFTS

0

Take either England, Scotland or the Republic of Ireland to glory in their bid to win the 1990 World Cup in Italy, through the qualifying rounds, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the big one itself. The match highlights in this game thankfully aren't too long, although the players are difficult to see as they're all nearly the same colour as the pitch – that's smart! Surprisingly for a football management game, there are plenty of graphics, and 128K owners can even hear some music. Lots of graphics, however, means a lack of options, which will disappoint hardened fans of football management games, but I liked the simplicity myself. You'll probably win the World Cup on the easy skill level on your first go, but the other two skill levels are more challenging.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

After US Gold's shameful World Cup Carnival in 1986, it was Virgin's turn to release the official World Cup computer game for the 1990 tournament. The result is good, but somewhat flawed. For some reason, you can only choose to play as one of four teams – England, Belgium, Italy or Spain. What about all the other teams? You also discover that no matter what team you choose, you always play in purple, and your opponents always play in white. Each match always lasts four minutes, but the teams do not swap sides at half time. The animation of the players is very good, but the game feels strangely silent with an almost total lack of sound effects, and it had the potential to be much better and more enjoyable than it is.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Baseball may not have much of a following beyond America, but this game certainly makes it fun. You can play either against the computer or with a friend, as you play nine innings and take it in turns to bat and bowl in alternate innings. The rules are well implemented, and you can even choose how you want to bowl – fast or slow, high or low. Scoring home runs is a great feeling, too! The graphics are good and colourful for a game as old as this one, and the sound and music are both good as well, especially the applause from the crowd. I don't like the way the game goes straight into demo mode as soon as it's loaded, though.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Compete in the World Soccer League against 31 other well known teams. You can choose any of six British teams, although you can change the name of your team. There are also five skill levels. As far as football management games go, it's not the most advanced of the lot; there aren't many options, and you can't train your players or make decisions on team formation and tactics. Furthermore, there are absolutely no graphics to speak of; everything is presented in a text-only format, with no effort made to even change the default colours – and you even have to press the CAPS LOCK key before the game starts! It doesn't give a great impression, but some people like simple football management games, and this is one such example.

More information on CPCSOFTS

4

The setting is ancient Greece. You are one of the gods of Greek mythology who has incurred the wrath of the all-powerful god Zeus. As a punishment, Zeus has cast a curse of forgetfulness upon you, and now you don't even know who you are. The only way to restore your memory is to enter the realm of Hades and drink the water from the Pool of Remembrance. This is a text adventure written with GAC, and the storyline is quite interesting, with all these great tales involving the gods. Many Olympian gods and other mythical creatures appear in the game, and pictures have been sacrificed for a larger map and more descriptive text. However, it's difficult to see what the puzzles are and how to solve them. Maybe you're supposed to have a good grasp of Greek mythology to play the game properly, but not a lot of people do.

More information on CPCSOFTS

5

Roger has crashed his rocket, the Millennium Sparrow, on an inhospitable planet and must retrieve the five pieces which are scattered about a maze of rooms. Starting in one of the rooms, you must shoot all the flying objects before you can teleport to another room and continue the search for the parts of your rocket. As you may imagine, this is boring. Not being able to leave a room until you've shot all the objects is silly, and when you do find a rocket part, you have to search again for the exit to the next level. The graphics and sound effects are dire as well; just avoid playing this game!

More information on CPCSOFTS

1

Can the Darling Dude become a wrestling superstar? You take control of this wrestler as he fights, and hopefully defeats, four opponents – Skullbasher Bob, Knucklebuster Nik, the Masked Marauder, and the Golden Guy. You must win two rounds in order to fight the next opponent. The usual wrestling fare is involved here, although a lot of joystick waggling is required. This was one of the last games that Codemasters released for the CPC, yet hardly anyone knew about it at the time! The graphics and music are quite good, but the moves you can make are rather limited, and the difficulty level increases too sharply when you come to fight the third opponent. It's also a shame that there is no two-player option.

More information on CPCSOFTS

6

The garden is infested with mushrooms, and you must use your laser base to kill them and also shoot the other bugs that inhabit the garden, such as flies, snails and spiders. The main aim of the game, though, is to shoot the caterpillars that move from left to right and downwards as well. When you shoot all the segments of the caterpillar, you go to the next level. This is a pretty good version of the classic arcade game Centipede; the graphics are very similar to the original, and change colour as you progress through the game, and it's fast as well, without being overly difficult.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7