Addiction (Championship Manager 03/04 (PC))

Member Name: jsrennie

Product:	Championship Manager 03/04 (PC)
Date:	12/01/05 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: greatest game ever, is about football, great attention to detail

Disadvantages: addictive, whole days lost

What can be said about this game? It is by far the greatest game ever invented and with each instalment it justs keeps getting better and better.

the overview of this game is that you choose a team to manage from the many different leagues around the world, once you have chosen your team you are able to do what a football manager does, i.e. buy and sell players set tactics, organise training etc.

i bought the game as soon as it came out and i am still managing the same team in what is now my seventh season as manager (Southampton).

After winning 2 Uefa Cups, 2 league cups, one Premiership title and getting to the championsleague final during my managerial career with Southampton you would thing that a game can get boring but this one never does.

The attention to detail is immense and all of the players in the game have attributes scored out of 20 in areas such as Finishing or Determination, these can go up and down according to how well you train your players and how they perofrm during each campaign. In some instances you can only see the attributes of players you would realistically have knowledge of making it more realistic and satisfying when you uncover a Guatemalian gem of a left winger.

The 2D pitch adds alot more to the game as you can see the goals and tackles building up and see how well passing is with each player however this simulation still has a while to go to catch up to the quality of the other aspects of the game. It also makes the gameplay much slower so i would advise watching only the key highlights to get the ulitimum playing experience.

The training also has a way to go and is best left to your assistant as it seems any slight alteration you make only has a detremental effect on your players attitude and attributes.

With the creators (Sports Interactve) and the suppliers (Eidos) parting company after this installment it will be the last of its kind, its now up to these two giants of the Managment Gaming Industry to go back to the drawing board and try and create a game that surpasses what is one of the greatest experiences you will have in your life.

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