"A must have for any football fan."
User Rating: 9 | Championship Manager 4 PC
At first glance, Championship Manager 4 seems like a simple text-based game; at second glance, it seems almost too complex. However, that is the lure of CM4 – its complexity is the very core of its attention to realism. Before you start the game, you might get overwhelmed by the amount of real-world leagues and divisions from all over the world and you must choose the number of leagues and divisions you want to run in your game. While that sounds fantastic, the reality is that running more than 6 leagues will require a hefty machine; moreover, most machines will probably end up running much less than that. It is also important to note that there is a huge slow down with more leagues. Luckily, there is a quick start mode which lets you jump into a one league and one division game. Once you get started it will take more than an hour to get acquainted with all the nuances of CM4. There are training schedules, coach assignments, contracts, youth players, finances, transfers, morale, tactics and even rumour control; in addition, you must meet the board’s expectations for the club. It is important to note that the training aspect is definitely the most difficult to figure out, an intensive training session may increase players’ stats but might tire them out and in effect, have adverse effects on stats in the long run. The fun part is working the transfer market to strengthen the squad and then to devise a good tactic: sounds easier than done. Firstly, you must work within the transfer budget. Secondly, transferring a player out may have a negative effect on player morale thus causing a barrage of angry players also wanting out. Aside from that, finding a good tactic may be difficult as often a tactic may work at home but not away, or the tactic may only work for a few matched. All these things must be considered. After taking care of the details, you can watch your squad's performance on a 2D match engine - this is what really sets CM4 apart. On a technical note, the interface is basic. I did not dock points for graphics as they're good enough for a text-based game. However, the sound is definitely mediocre at best and could use some improvement over the next installment. The original game had many bugs, but luckily a large patch (this review is done with the patched version) was issued fixing many problems. Therefore, I would not advise any to purchase this game without access to the internet in order to receive the patches and to take advantage of the multiplayer component. Perhaps an automatic update system would be in order. All things considered, CM4 offers a depth no other sports related title can offer. Anyone who has ever yelled at the TV (saying things like “why the hell are they playing 4-4-2?”, “why is there only 1 striker?”, or “why the hell isn’t so-and-so starting instead of so-and-so?”) needs to play this game. A must have for any football fan.
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