Football Manager

Copyright : Addictive | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Guide your team from the doldrums of division 4 to the decadence of division 1 in this, the original interpretation of managing the beautiful game on the home computer.

And, with SI currently transferring the most famous football management engine of all time (the backbone to the Champ Manager series) over to the newly re-established Football Manager brand, itâ??s time to take a look back at Kevin Tomsâ?? original.

Graphics

As is the norm with football management games, FM is dominated by menus and options rather than flashy graphics. The menus are serviceable and the information they contain is relatively easy to interpret although they are a little basic in look and design.

Upon getting to match day, the highlight screen takes the form of your team of stick men attackers going up against the oppositionâ??s defenders or vice versa. Animation is crude even for 1984 standards although the ball does move at different speeds occasionally depending on your playersâ?? fitness levels, which is a nice touch.

The only other impromptu graphic that occurs is the wire frame drawing complete with team colour ribbons of the FA Cup that is your prize for winning the oldest club tournament in football.

Sound

The hiss of the crowd dominates the highlight package only being removed by the cheer that accompanies a goal. The sound cuts out at the end of the game and youâ??re plunged back into an abyss of silence until the next game kicks off.

Gameplay

Originally written for the Spectrum in 1982, Kevin Tomsâ?? game is certainly showing its age. Although deserving respect for some of its innovative features, Football Manager quickly becomes tedious as season after repetitive season follows after the other despite the seven levels of difficulty.

The game is somewhat left to chance owing to the fact that you can spend a small fortune on your team one season and then be forced to go through the whole charade again the following year as your fantastic players suddenly turn crap overnight!

The highlights can also become frustrating and often bear no resemblance to the team youâ??ve picked. Only one striker? Thereâ??s still three charging in on goal. An attack rating of 20? Then why can your strikers still not get a shot on target? Tactics are completely non-existent with you instead trying to outscore the computer in all five stat levels.

Another major flaw in the game is the way that you cannot move backwards through the screens and if you do not take an option when it is presented to you then youâ??ve missed out.

Football Manager has not aged well at all but at over twenty years old the game was certainly a forerunner to many classic management titles to come later and deserves respect for breaking new ground.