Heads Up is a soccer game for the Vectrex. Unfortunately, the game did not translate very well to the console. When I first started the game, I thought I was looking at a basketball game because of how the playing ground is drawn. Much to my surprise, I suddenly found my players kicking the ball, which made me realise just how mistaken I was! In any case, the teams are rendered with three players as stick figures that all look the same.
Given the lack of colour for the Vectrex, the programmer used brightness as the distinguishing factor for the teams. The character animation is very well done, so looking at them move around is nice. They also change size as they move from top to bottom of the screen to give a sense of perspective. This is a nice touch and something not seen in a console like the 2600 at that time. What makes this game frustrating (at least to me) is how slow it is to move and how confusing the controls are. I had a difficult time switching between players, though I was successful in controlling them whenever I did choose the right one. Sound is not the strong suit for this game either. Heads Up can be played alone (against a rather distracted computer) or with a friend (I only tested it by myself, so maybe the two-player option makes the game better). If I can get a friend to play it with me, I’ll update this review.
