| Heads Up | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | General Consumer Electronics |
| Publisher(s) | Milton Bradley Company [1] |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
Heads Up Action Soccer is a video game developed by General Consumer Electronics for the Vectrex console and published in 1983. Heads Up was only the second sports title from GCE, after the football game, Blitz! [2] [3]
Heads-Up Action Soccer lets the player challenge a human opponent in head-to-head action or play against the computer, with teams consisting of three soccer players and a goalie controlled by a joystick. [4] Play is on a horizontally scrolling pitch. [5] The same buttons are used to pass or shoot on offense, and to select which player to control on defense. [2] The full playing time is 5 minutes. [3] Despite its name, there are no headers where the players might be able to shoot or pass the ball with their head. [6]
Noel Steere for Electronic Fun with Computers & Games said "you can't always find a human opponent to play with you. So unless you're a Siamese twin, Heads Up gets thumbs down." [2] The British magazine TV Gamer said it is a "faithful reproduction of soccer which includes a challenging one player version." [5] The 1984 Software Encyclopedia from Electronic Games gave the game an overall rating of 8, praising how "the horizontally scrolling soccer field allows for good movement and control of the stick-figure soccer players". [4] The German magazine TeleMatch rated the game at 3 stars out of 5. [3]
Retrospective reviewers were more negative. The reference guide Classic Home Videogames criticized the game for its simple graphics and slow gameplay, calling the Vectrex "not the best vehicle for sports simulations, as emphasized by this dreadful game." [6] The criticisms of slow player movement is echoed in The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech, who noted "a side-scrolling four-on-four soccer simulation was a bit outside" the strengths of the Vectrex. [7]
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990, when the Intellivision was discontinued. From 1980 to 1983, more than 3.75 million consoles were sold. As per Intellivision Entertainment the final tally through 1990 is somewhere between 4.5 and 5 million consoles sold.
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The Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console - the only one ever designed and released for the home market, that was developed by Smith Engineering and manufactured and sold by General Consumer Electronics. It was first released for the North America market in November 1982 and then Europe and Japan in 1983. Originally produced by General Consumer Electronics, it was later licensed to Milton Bradley after they acquired the company. Bandai released the system in Japan.
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