Drop everything and download: Kevin Toms World Football Cup

What is it?

Kevin Toms World Football Cup is a World Cup-themed take on Football Manager. No, not Sega’s increasingly intricate and dizzyingly complex management sim – we mean the version made by Kevin Toms and his beard way back in 1982, for the Tandy TRS–80, ZX Spectrum, and other 8-bit machines.

With this game, you don’t need a degree in footballologie to have a fighting chance – you just select a skill level, choose a country, select your team, and watch match highlights. (In this universe, managers are seemingly locked in a cupboard while their team fights for glory.)

Any downsides?

Only if you demand realism and complexity from your football games. Like the original, this Toms take on the beautiful game is endearingly random and decidedly basic. The highlights are crude; and for each new cup, you might find yourself with a team full of superstars or dolts with two left feet. But then so too might Brazil.

You also don’t get much control. You merely balance your team section’s skill and fitness levels, and figure out the best tactics (defensive; normal; attacking) before each match. But then that simplicity is what twangs the nostalgia glands for oldies, and also makes this an ideal game for newcomers who fancy playing out an entire World Cup on the bus ride home.

Mind you, given that Spain keeps winning the cup whenever Stuff has a crack at glory with England or Iceland, perhaps it isn’t too inaccurate after all.

Where can I get it?

Kevin Toms World Football Cup costs 99p and is available for Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store). Should you then hanker for the full-on (original) Football Manager experience on your phone, grab Kevin Toms Football * Manager – £2.99 for Android (Google Play) or iOS (App Store).