''Liverpool'' (also known as ''Liverpool: The Computer Game'') is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

video game released in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

for the Amstrad CPC. In 1992, versions were released for the

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

platforms. A

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

port was released in 1993. The game was developed by

Arc Developments ''Arc Developments'' was a British game developer best known for developing '' Johnny Bazookatone''. The company was founded by a group of former Elite employees. Since then, the company has ported many games to various systems and computers, but ...

and published by

Grandslam Entertainment Grandslam Interactive Ltd. (formerly Grandslam Entertainments Ltd. and later Grandslam Video Ltd.) was a video games software house based in Britain. It was formed in late 1987 from a management buy-out of Argus Press Software by former Argus Ma ...

. ''Liverpool'' is based on the

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

football team. One or two players can play Liverpool. A

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

version was advertised, but never released.

Gameplay

''Liverpool'' is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

video game that allows the player to take control of

and play against other teams in the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The game allows the player choose the

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

and pick the team from real players in the Liverpool squad. Before practice games, the player can also set the pitch type and duration. The gameplay consists of running with and without the ball, trapping the ball, throw ins, corner kicks and goal kicks. ''Liverpool'' also includes injuries and punishments from receiving red or yellow cards. The player can use a joystick or keyboard to control the game The player can play in ''Full Season'' mode where matches in both the league and FA Cup are played, or in ''FA Cup Only'' mode, where the cup competition alone is played. The best achievement in the game is winning the double. Each version of ''Liverpool'' for the different platforms included the updated Liverpool F.C. squad from the current season.

Reception

The different versions of ''Liverpool'' received mixed reviews. The Amstrad CPC version received a low 9% from ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

''. The magazine criticised the gameplay as "sluggish" and said the controls were frustrating. The

version was considerably different and received 93% from ''

Commodore Force {{Infobox magazine, , based = Ludlow, Shropshire , editor = Steve Shields James Price , image_file = File:Commodore_Force_Issue_12_November_1993_Issue_Cover.jpg , image_caption = November 1993 cover , frequency = Mon ...

''. The magazine praised the smooth controls and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

of the opposition. ''

CU Amiga ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vic ...

'' rated the

version of ''Liverpool'' 70%. The review said that the controls are sluggish and jerky and the animations of the players are very basic. The magazine recommended the game mainly for fans of the Liverpool football club.

References

{{reflist 1990 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arc Developments games Association football video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games Liverpool F.C. Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Allister Brimble