Striker

The Good
Striker was the first soccer game I ever played on PC. It was about 1992 when I got my first computer, a friend came to my house to help me install it, and he also brought a couple of games. Striker was one of them. I used to play several hours, although I am not the biggest soccer fan in the world. The graphics were more than acceptable for its time, and it was very easy to play. I also remember with a smile the big neon sign that appeared every time that a goal was marked, yours or your opponent.

The Bad
One of the biggest accomplishments of the game was also one of its biggest fault. The game was easy, but easy also meant predictable. One you get used to the game, you could win almost every time you played by doing exactly the same movement to mark a goal, again and again.

The Bottom Line
Yes, it was very easy. And yes, it was very predictable, specially in the easiest game mode. But, everyone who played, surely remember this game.

The Good
Very little. The 3D graphics routine is quite impressive, and there are lots of options on offer. The set-pieces were controlled using a movable dotted line, a great innovation may games built on.

The Bad
There's only one tournament on offer, which can't be customised in any way, and its difficulty almost entirely depends on the team you play as, which is pathetic compared even to MicroProse Soccer on the C64 4 years earlier.

There are virtually no sound effects, which completely robs the game of any atmosphere. The game runs slowly unless you turn off the pitch markings, which is ludicrous.

Passing the ball accurately is extremely awkward, and the scanner really gets in the way of the action. Running the ball is the only reasonable strategy, making the game one-dimensional and rapidly tedious. There are plenty of different formations, but these are largely irrelevant as a result.

The options screen is located on the formation page, for no apparent reason, making it all too easy to miss at first. You can choose most settings, but can't get the game to choose them at random, which is really needed for the wind and weather - as it stands, you can pick and choose too much.

The introductory music and title screen are laughably poor, and pressing fire once the loading has seemingly finished simply carries on loading with the music silenced - how shoddy. Also, the game uses such a weird loading system that the computer isn't fully reset by simply resetting the machine - it must be fully turned off for 10-15 seconds. You'll find this out pretty quickly, believe me.

The Bottom Line
A thoroughly dismal football game, with over-simplified and unsatisfying gameplay, along with any number of silly flaws. Later titles in the series were an improvement, but it's always been a distant runner behind FIFA/ISS/Sensible and the rest.