This is a great 80s football game. What makes it great? The fact that it never takes itself too seriously for one thing. When it rains both ball and players will go and behave in the oddest ways. Players will spin and slide all over the pitch, whilst the ball speeds off like a thing possessed. Then there’s the banana power. Nothing to do with 80s legend Banana Man, rather the amount of curve that will go on the ball when punted goal wards.
When this is set to high you can make even the most improbable shots come off and really irritate the person you are playing against. (That is, if you are playing the 2 player game. It’s highly recommended.)
The graphics are better than many C64 football games with both ball and players looking the part, and you can easily see which team is which. Even the socks and boots are visible from the top-down viewpoint.
There a re a few different ways of playing the game as well, be it in a 2 player league or in a World Cup event. For the player who just wants to hone his or her skill on the pitch there’s also an International Challenge mode where you play
against a CPU team that gets progressively tougher to beat. Personally, I never did get past level 6.
The sound is everything it needs to be. Sporty and a little bit jaunty on the title screens, suitably more delicate in World Cup mode and when you are actually playing the game it’s fast paced but not distracting.
However it's not all good news.
The tackling system is a little clumsy, especially when it rains, and it can be very difficult to retain possession at times. The well-rendered pitch seems to be too small for the size of the players and the ball, making things look out of perspective. The banana powered shots do look great when you pull them off, but that is easier said than done. You could really need to make a banana shot and it’ll go hideously wrong, or simply not happen at all.
Overall I would advise people who read this to definitely give it a try. Even with modern day technology Micro Prose Soccer is still my 2nd favorite game of all time. The 1st is on the PS2. I’ll let you decide what that says about me, this game and the state of my social standing here in England. Overall I'd have to give this game 8 and a half out of 10.
