The heated big match between Kick Off II and Sensible Soccer has raged on in the pages of Amiga Action since we somewhat controversially gave the latter (and highly acclaimed elsewhere) soccer sim an average 78% score way back in issue 34. To send further shock waves through the terraces, Kick OFF II won Amiga Action’s 1 00 best games league by a mile and Sensible Soccer came a lowly 71 st, avoiding relegation by a mere 29 places.

So, just what is Sensible Soccer V1.1 and does it change the opinions of Amiga Action’s review team? Version 1. 1 is a simple update and if you’ve already splashed out £26 on the original you can send off a small sum of money to cover the cost of the upgrade.

And now for the interesting new features bit. Apart from supplying the updated national and club squads for the 92/93 season, V1.1 improves various parts of the game and includes the new, and much maligned back pass rule. Passing back to the goalkeeper isn’t legal (heading the ball back is), so the keeper must take up the role of a sweeper and boot the ball as far away from the penalty area as possible.

The goalkeepers themselves have been improved dramatically and as such, it’s a lot harder to score than it was before. Some of the dives look so realistic you’ll be convinced you’re watching Sky’s Premier League coverage.

Other new features include the dishing out of red and yellow cards for Vinny Jones-type tackles, player suspensions, and several new competitions, including authentic World Cup qualifiers with all the correct teams in all the correct groups.