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Heads Up

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Developer GCE
Publishers GCE
Milton Bradley
Release Date 1982
Genre Sports
Modes Single player
1-2 players simultaneous
Media Cartridge
ROM file

Gameplay[]

The player controls one of three active members of their team as well as the defensive goalie. The player must use passing, stealing, shooting, and blocking to either score in offense or defend in defense, just as in a live game of Soccer (also known as Football in most non-U. S. countries). Each game consists of two consecutive three-minute halves where each team attempts to score as many points as possible. If the score happens to be tied at the end of the two halves, the game will go into Sudden Death overtime, which consists of three minute periods until the first team scores and wins.

Should the ball go out of bounds at any time, the player who last touched the ball loses possession and the opposing team gets to throw the ball back in.

Controls[]

Main Menu

  • Choose between one or two players-button one
  • Choose skill level-button two

In-game

  • Controls the position of the player-joystick or D-pad
  • On Offense this shoots/On Defense this controls the position of the Goalie-button three
  • On Offense this passes the ball to another player/On Defense this switches to another player-button four

Scoring[]

  • A team earns one point each time it kicks a ball into the goal.

Trivia[]

  • One of only two sports games originally released for the Vectrex. The other game is Blitz!.
  • In Europe, Heads Up! was released as Soccer Football. It was not available in Japan.

Links/review[]

Click on the tabber below for a review.

vectrex.nl[]

Before there was any of the FIFA games on the PSOne/PS2 there was, in 1983, Heads Up. Another football game I can recall from roundabout the same era was the Commodore 64's International Soccer which was one of the first cartridge games released for the C64. I remember playing International Soccer back in the 80's and how impressive It was graphically and AI wise.

Having only acquired Heads Up in my Vectrex collection lately I was eager to see whether the guys were able to produce a faithful rendition of the much loved world game (Go Australia!). Pleasantly surprised I was and you can definitely see where the endless amount of FIFA titles spawned from for the newer consoles. And I do declare that I believe it is every bit as good and better than my memories of the C64 classic.

In Heads Up the player controls a team of stick-like vector men who have the ability to pass, bounce and kick for goal and, I am happy to say that the player can actually have some control, be it minimal, over the goal keeper. This is a feature lacking in many football games.

The game is played over two consecutive 3 minute halves and to state the obvious it is the players task to outscore the opposing team which is either computer controlled or put in the hands of a fellow Vectrekker. The player which may have a better play on the ball, that is the one closest to the ball, can be easily switched to by pressing one of the Vectrex's control panel buttons. Tackling is even present, be it crudely, and it's worth hunting down the opposing team's player, to try and emulate perhaps Harry Kewell or Mark Viduka from the Australian Socceroos.

A sudden death play-off occurs if scores are tied at the end of two halves, this adds to the games appeal. So maybe it's not the PS2's FIFA 2005, but vectors were always cooler, it will keep you and a friend coming back for more vector fun.

Score 6.5/10

Review written by Daniel Foot

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