Goal 94

New Era Software developed Goal 94 to be released by Wizard Games of Scotland Limited in the middle nineties. It was programmed specifically for MS-DOS, and is one of the few text-based football manager games. It features European style of football, or soccer, as opposed to American rules football.
Goal 94 was truly up to date when it was released in 1994, following the others in the Goal series. The rules for the International World Cup changed slightly in this era, and Goal 94 reflected this.

Some of the updates in this version of Goal 94 include: three points for a win; substitute keepers will be allowed; commentary will be featured throughout the entire game; commentary—for whatever reason—can be printed out; better crossing and more effective centers, forwards and other positions; goals, caps and skills can be customized; there is new animation; player details include speed as an attribute; the goal keeper’s statistics include conceded goals; the user can play in the World Cup or the International Championship; and all of the Goal 1 and Goal 2 features are also present in this version. The team squads are also updated to reflect the rosters that were in actual play.
In each game, the user is able to choose a difficulty setting. The game keeps tracks of all statistics for game play, and rates the user’s managerial potential after each game. If the user’s rating is good enough, he is allowed to keep his job and carry on with game play. “Capable” is the minimum rating for continued play. Slumps are simply not permitted. The game also offers advanced ratings for players in a variety of categories. Some of them include: speed (as mentioned before), hardness, morale, energy and overall fitness. It also rates players in the four basic positions on the field: Keeping, Midfield Play, Attack and Defense.
The game does make the manager wait until the end of the season to acquire new players, effectively killing the transfer market and forcing the user to think ahead. The game also concentrates on management of the team itself, instead of the usual minutiae of stadiums and merchandising. The matches play out very slowly, which some will grow frustrated with, but the high management level is still there, making up for poorly developing match action.
In total, Goal 94 is a good little soccer manager, despite its text based format. It allows great and accurate statistical keeping, and adds a lot of new features over older versions of this game. It should provide a challenge for the sports manager, but players looking for arcade-style sports action should look elsewhere, as this is strictly player management.