It just keeps getting better... (Championship Manager 4 (PC))

Member Name: James-York-UK

Product:	Championship Manager 4 (PC)
Date:	01/04/03 (652 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 2D Matches, Over 200,000 players and staff, It's Championship Manager!

Disadvantages: Sound is a bit dodgy?, Uses a lot of memory!, Struggling now...

Before I start I should tell you that I have actually played the game. Some of the reviewers blatantly haven't so I thought I'd set that straight from the outset.

I'm at the end of a long first night of playing the game, I therefore haven't the time for a lengthy review, nor sufficient experience to warrant one.

What I will try to explain are the enhancements from the last version. Although menus, etc, have been slightly changed, it will all still be very familiar to users with experience of previous versions - you won't really need to look at the manual. The basic interface is essentially the same.

The most noticable change is the 2D view in which the game can now be viewed - you are given a choice of the entire match, extended highlights or key moments (these are in addition to the match speed options). The text commentary is still available for those who don't fancy the change.

So what's the 2D view like? Well, there's nothing flashy about it. It has a very basic, plain appearance. SI Games have kept it simple and I don't think there will be too many complaints. Although simple it does prove to be a very accurate portrayal of the match day action and compliments the text commentary perfectly. It adds excitement and, most importantly, it adds belief. You can make decisions based on what you see rather than statistics alone.

Beyond that I'd say the rest speaks for itself. All the usual progress you expect between versions of the game. There are hundreds of new options - particularly in training - I've not played the game for long enough to go into all of them however.

One thing I have noticed is that when starting with lower division sides in earlier versions you could earn some money by selling players. Now the game of football's changed completely, it really is a struggle down there. Your players are worth next to nothing, your club is paying back huge debts each
month, it's going to be extremely tough and will require far more tactical guile to succeed.

There's improved network/Internet play I believe but I've yet to get into that side of things. It all looks very promising on first play. At under £30 it's excellent value for money - don't copy or download this one, as usual SI Games have come up with a sequel that actually deserves your hard earned cash! Not like FIFA, etc.

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