Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Vector Ball

This one on one future sport combines ideas from a number of real-world competitions, most notably the schoolgirl favourite Netball (I wonder why the ad blurb makes no mention of this?). The action is viewed isometrically, so moving the joystick up moves your droid north-east, down moves south-west, and so on. The aim is to score more points than your opponent in each match, and be the first to win four matches (against either a human or computer opponent), before moving up to the next difficulty level. There is a goal in the middle at each end, and the ball can be advanced by shooting it (the length of a shot is affected by pushing the joystick up or down with fire pressed) as you can't run with the ball, or hold onto it for long. The main novel idea in the game is the shaping of the pitches, which are viewed in full 3D and have bumps and big divots all around.