Ah, football. We know it as the Beautiful Game, and it inspires passions across the world. Sadly though, most of us have little actual skill at physically playing the game, and certainly not enough skill to play in the World Cup. Fortunately, that's where video games can help out, and in this case, Taito have helped us out with Kick and Run.

You start with a choice of six teams: England, Italy, Brazil, West Germany, Argentina and Japan. Once you make your choice, your team will face off against the other five, and if you can beat them all you will win the tournament. Once you've made your choice, the players run out onto the pitch. This is when you notice that the animation is not that great. You will also notice that the game does not give each team shirt colours that are representative of real life. Really, this should have been the easiest thing to get right. Another thing you will notice is that the sound is really quite poor. The crowd whistles like a bird outside your window at dawn, and is very annoying. All the other noises are substandard too.

Playing the game is not that difficult. You've got one button for passing the ball, and one for shooting. Holding down the button alters the distance that your pass or shot will cover. If you haven't got the ball, one button will launch you into the air in an attempt to head the ball, and the other button will launch you into the air in an attempt to break the opponent's legs (otherwise known as a sliding tackle). Should your opposition get to your penalty box, it's likely they'll have a shot on goal. In this instance, you use the joystick and button to control your goalkeeper. He can run around the box and dive in his efforts to stop the ball, but be careful, as you tend to control him for too long and end up running right out of position!

The game might be simple to play, but it's difficult to master, or even get the hang of. The other teams all want to win just as much as you do. Also against you are the rules of this particular tournament. If you are not winning the game at half time, it's game over, so you'd better be aggressive and try and force a lead. Should you make it into the second half, only for the game to end with the scores tied, then you will go into a penalty shootout. The winner of the shootout goes on to the next round.

And that's about it. The teams are running out of the tunnel, so you'd better get your boot laces tied and join them, it's time for you to Kick and Run!