Total Soccer

Not so much a new game as a tribute to an earlier age - Cant Believe It's Not Sensibie Soccer would have been a more appropnate moniker, as Total Soccer borrows heavily from the top-down classic. That's a bold move in these heady days of motion-captured 30 extravaganzas, but Live Media aren't attempbng to compete with the likes of the Aetna or FIFA games, rather they are taking a back-to-basics approach. Essentially a multimedia company, they started playing around with some graphics one lunchtime, and about a year later discovered they had inadvertently made a football game.

So what's it like' Well, if you erased from your mind all notions of Sensi or Kick Off and looked upon it with virgin eyes, you might be impressed by Total. Playing from top to bottom, or vice versa, your players run around like rabbits chasing a ping-pong ball The pace of the game is initially bewildering, and gaining control of the ball takes some practice. Live Media have eschewed the 'sticky feet' concept in favour of a more realistic approach, so ludicrous George Weah-style dribbles are pretty much out of the question.

What you can do though is knock the hall around with some confidence, as the game boasts a pass button as well as a kick button, which can be used for punting the ball upheld or, ideally, into the net. with some spectacular goals scored as a matter of course. The addition of a pace button would have been good, but may have complicated matters. All Premiership teams are included (with real player names), as are a smattenng of foreign sides, and a number of competitors can be set up.

Judged on its own merits, it's a fairly playable game, but you can pick up SWOS for a tenner. You pays your money, you makes your choice.