The best management game ever!!!!! (LMA Manager 2001 (PS))

Member Name: saintsfanuk

Product:	LMA Manager 2001 (PS)
Date:	14/06/01 (223 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics, Amazing options, Excellent for people who like to manage

Disadvantages: Can't resign when you want from a club, can't search for player names

I was stuck on what I could write another opinion on, which would be very informative to the reader. Then I came up with a solution, LMA Manager 2001; yes, once again it is another opinion about a computer game. I actually brought this game with my Dooyoo vouchers which they very kindly sent me about 4 weeks ago.

I have been playing the game since then about 2 hours every 1-3 days. I have to say once again it is another game, which I am very addicted to. This game has nearly everything and I would like to take you through some of the options, which are available.

To start with, this game has certainly been improved compared with the first LMA Manager game. Although I only played the demo of the first game, I can already see that the 2001 version is quite a big improvement on the first.

Once you have loaded up the LMA manager game, then you have a variety of options to choose from:


GAME TYPES
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New Game – Once this option has been chosen then you can choose to do either a full game or take up the challenge option.

The full game is where you choose a club from the English or Scottish national leagues and play through a whole season managing that one side. If you are sacked then you can move straight onto another club, but only if they have no manager. I think you can just continue on and on doing multiple season with different clubs or whatever.

The only problem I had was with being sacked. As many of you know I support the amazing Southampton Football Club. I started a season with them when I first got the game and the contract clause (if you do not do what this says then u get fired) was to not get relegated. I managed to finish my season in 12th place in the premier league, build an amazing 30,000-seated stadium, brought in some good players and sold some rubbish ones. I thought I should be safe enough to not get the sack, but the board kept giving me warning througho
ut the season that if I did not improve they would sack me and guess what they did!!

Therefore, I found another club to move onto for my second season, which I am now halfway through. The club I actually moved to was Wolverhampton Wanderers. I did not know which players where good and which ones were not but I soon learnt. The contract clause is to finish in the playoffs for that season. I think I am safe going into January being 3rd in the table. There is a thing you will come across whilst playing in the full game mode and that is a directors rating and a supporters rating. When you first come to the club, they will both be set as 30%. If you want to keep your job both of these need to be kept above 25%.

At the moment my directors rating 39% (+9) and supporters is 48 (+18). The people you need to keep happy the most are the directors as they decide if you stay or go.

One good thing about the full game is that you can build a stadium from what you already have or build a brand new one. The advantage of building a brand spanking new one is that you have a set amount of money, so that it does not come out of your balance. However, if you are upgrading then it will come out of the balance, which you have.

What makes this game very good and realistic are all the things I have mentioned above and the ability to pick out who you want to sponsor your team shirt and the hoardings. The best way to sort this out is to look for the company offering the most money so that you can maximise your income. I like this option because it allows you to be in real control.

Whilst you are going through the days, when it is time for a cup draw you can watch the teams being drawn out. There is a list of empty spaces, which get filled up as the person reads out the teams, which are being generated by the game.

If your team gets into trouble, financially that is, then you can easily take out a loan. Now I have never done this because
I do not want to be paying back people instead I just sell players it is a lot less hassle. Unfortunately you can only loan two players a season, but it is a sensible thing otherwise you could have a team of amazing players for a season for a cheap price and then lose them all at the end of the season and become rubbish again.

Buying, selling and loaning players is very simple, just use your initiative and you can find the player, which you feel suit your team. One piece of advice I will give to you is to experiment with different formations and players so that you can find the best team that you have to help you get those valuable points.

Saving the game in this mode is very easy you just press start and then move down to save. Warning though this game takes 15 BLOCKS of save you memory card!!! So another words you may as well buy one when or if you buy this game. When saving the game you have the option of saving your team for a friendly I think this is in case you have brought new players of have found an amazing formation, which you want to use.

Challenge – Yes this may sound odd but there is a challenge mode. There are 14 short-term challenges all ranging from promotion glory to a relegation dogfight. Your division and team options depend on what challenge and team you have chosen. Points have been given to indicate the toughness of the challenge for you. I have not experienced this mode fully but I did try out with the challenge where they give you £50,000,000 to spend on players and a new stadium. The challenge basically is to take a first division side and win the premiership with them within 3 seasons. It is a very good option because it gives people who are getting bored with the season mode to try something different.

Friendly Match – I am sorry to say that I have only played this once. What you do is get your friendly team (which has been saved to memory card from season mode) and take on a default team. It
sounds confusing but once you see it, the it becomes very easy to understand. You must have a team saved before you can play the friendly match though. This is actually a great way to practice with your players.

Options - The only real options worth worrying about are at the start of the game. You can choose (when you go to a club) whether they have no staff (u have to employ them), they have some staff (you have to employ the rest) or they have all the staff. You can choose if speed play is on or off, another words if you only want to have till 5 pm each day to make your decisions then have it on if not then have it off.



Highlights – I have only just remembered this so I will put it in at the end. The highlights option is when once you have played your match; you connect to football one which shows you all the tables and the scores from the leagues. You can also choose the highlights option to watch the great chances and goals from your match. This is very good although the goals look nothing like what you saw the commentary on it is good although there is very little of it.

Overall, this game is brilliant, it has a huge amount of options, all the English and Scottish teams, al the European, English and Scottish cups and many more options. I find the graphics to be very good when you are watching the match and the highlights graphics are brilliant. If you think you could make a good manager or just like football games then this is the one for you. It may have last season’s teams but they are not going to be much different, and you can easily transfer players to your team. This game is top class!!

Hope you found this helpful :O)

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