WHO NEEDS THE SUPER BOWL?
 By Dan Gutman

 Computer football simulations are getting to the point where they're more
interesting than watching REAL football.

 If Super Bowl XXIII deteriorates into a blowout by the third quarter, it
might be a good idea to boot up "TV Sports Football," perhaps the most clever
and innovative football simulation ever. The program was released several
weeks ago by Cinemaware of Westlake Village, California and has already sold
18,000 copies.

 Unlike most computer football games, which employ tiny and silly-looking
stick figures running around your screen, "TV Sports Football" attempts to
recreate the game the way most of us are used to watching it--on television.

 "Our goal is to emulate the look of an NFL broadcast," says Cinemaware
president and chief programmer Bob Jacobs.

 For starters, while the arcade-style football game is loading into the
computer, you see a screen that reads: "TV Sports Football... brought to you
by..." and one of 12 dummy commercials appears on the screen.

 One of these commercials is for "Buffalo Bob's Famous Armadillo Burgers." 
There's a graphic of an armadillo with a cowboy hat on sitting at a table with
a knife and fork in his hands.  The company's slogan is, "If it's flat, it's
good!"

 The commercials, according to Jacobs, were written by "some deranged people
in our design and development staff."

 "TV Sports Football" also features a pre-game show (ex-jock Turk McGill talks
about which teams are playing and who is favored) and a halftime show starring
a beefy guy suspiciously named "Don Badden."

 Badden comments on what happened during the first half. Occasionally, a
marching band will come by or a leggy cheerleader will hang on to him. On
special occasions, Morganna "The Kissing Bandit" appears out of nowhere, and
the police chase her across the field.


                                         
 Aside from all these game-of-the-week flourishes, the football simulation
itself is quite good.  You watch the action from two points of view.  For
field goals and extra points, your perspective is right behind the kicker. 
For most of the rest of the game, you watch from above, as if you were in the
Goodyear blimp.

 "We cheat the perspective a little," Jacobs says, "so you don't just see
helmets and shoes."

 With many other football simulations, once you call a particular play you're
forced to run that play.  "TV Sports Football," which is joystick- controlled,
allows for a degree of spontanaety.  If you call for a pass to the wide
receiver on the left, you can audible at the line of scrimmage and roll out,
hand off, or attempt any number of other plays.

 Just like in the real world, there is a 16 game schedule and 28 teams in the
league.  Every team is different, with varying characteristics on offense and
defense.

 The teams on the disk are based on their NFL counterparts, but no real team
names or player names have been licensed.  However, you can "edit" the teams,
and change the players' names to the real ones or to your own if you'd like. 
The computer keeps statistics in 60 categories.

 "TV Sports Football" ($50) is currently available for the Commodore Amiga. 
IBM and Commodore 64/128 versions are in the works.


                                

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