Cows backsides and banjos. (FA Premier League Manager 2001 (PC))

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	FA Premier League Manager 2001 (PC)
Date:	21/11/01 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Detailed

Disadvantages: Slow, Graphic hungry, get bored easily

One thing that has stuck in my head since I first played this game is the title of my opinion.
That is because it is the the only memorable thing about this game. John Motson saying that one-liner.
Reason being is that this is one of the worst football management games on the market.
Sure, it has stiff competition from the likes of Championship manager but I think EA sports shot themselves in the foot with this one.

Reason I bought it was 2 fold.
Firstly, I wanted a good football management game. Rather than read about it on Dooyoo, I simply went out and bought it.
What a disappointment it was.
Second reason for my choice was the manufacturer. EA Sports.
Over the last 10 years EA Sports have become market leaders in Sports sims and I have never ever played a bad version of their games...Until now.
You can normally count on them to turn out a top notch product. Not here though.

Starting it up os quite simple although it talks a long time to launch. Not as long as my Championship manager takes to load a saved game though. Once loaded you have the normal options such as selecting a team to manage. Obviously some are better than others and the choice is yours as to how much you struggle.

The settings for team selection, formation and training are quite good as is the buying and selling of players in the transfer market.
What I dont like is the actual animation sequences for the games.
You are going to get bored watching them. OK it seemed a good idea at the time, to watch your team passing, shooting and tackling. You can even see graphically who is playing badly so you can bring them off but it takes so long to play a game, you get bored.
John Motson has been brought in to commentate on the games but only uses cheap phrases and does not call the players by name.
Suprising when you consider games like NHL and NFL manage to give running commentary and player's names.
Its also quite graphic
hungry suprisingly for a management game. Less time on the pictures and more time on the game would have been better.
Motty says about my striker " He couldn't hit a cows backside with a banjo this fella!"
Enough said.
After a match the computer simulates the day's other results. This can take some time too and really started to put me off playing it.
After half a season, I got so bored I uninstalled it and consigned it to the scrapheap of bad games.

If you want to spend you money on a better game, try championship manager. It takes some time getting into it but suits most once you have the hang of it.

Summary: