Definitely a worthwhile experience!!!
TCM 2005 is a reasonably realistic football management simulation and this is because it does a good job at making you feel like you are in control of a team consisting of actual football players who each react to your decisions and to the surrounding environment differently. Their morale drops when they are constantly warming the bench, and vice versa it hits the top when you show them that you rely on them!
You get to experience the real - life tensions that actual managers are facing while being in charge of a football club. You have the various club stakeholder groups to deal with (board, fans, players) and the developers have really managed to find the optimum formula of combining the constraints that each group will impose on you and finding the solution which will maximise the benefits enjoyed by each stakeholder group.
The inmatch menu is quite extensive, and it gives you the feeling that by adopting a hands - on approach like a real manager would, standing by the side line and constantly waiving their hands about, you could actually guide your players to victory! And indeed, sometimes your tactical decisions will be crucial for your team's way to glory. On other occasions you may commit tactical errors which will undoubtedly spell out defeat for your team. And it is precisely this thrill that makes TCM 2005 such a good game: you win some, you lose some, but its always worth risking it all with bold and ingenious tactical decisions! Because when it pays off, you get an enormous sense of achievement out of the game, and consequently a high replay value!
The sheer size of TCM 2005's database witn the enormous number of leagues, players and stats is a joy, if you like to analyse patterns by comparing stats. The player stats are also based around a very good system which makes them not-too-complicated and comprehensive, but at the same time detalied enough to give you sufficient info about the players.
Another point worth mentioning is the extent in which player contracts are covered! It is a highly realistic feature of the game.
Perhaps the one and only disappointing aspect of the game is ironically created out of a desire to offer more flexibility and variety! More specifically, i find the manager interviews, player talks and the manager interventions during matches very refreshing additions to the game. But at the same time, these are the areas which eventually become repetitive. This is created by the fact that a lack of variety is offered to you as a manager, regarding the responses you could have to each of those additions which are intended to make gameplay more enjoyable. This is the reason why im rating gameplay at 7, and not higher.
Obviously the graphics and music are not the strong ponts of TCM, but they are not appalingly bad, and thus do not impair the game's overall excellence. The various menus and screens are designed so that they look quite attractive, and its just a pleasure to arrange your starting line up since the screen looks so pretty!
My best personal experience with the game was when i was in charge of Crawley in the English C Division and it was the last fixture of the season. My team was in second place, one point behind the leaders, Woking. That meant that in the last fixture a win was essential for me, as well as a draw or loss for Woking, were i to snatch the championship. I won the game 2 - 0, but Woking scored in the 85th minute, thus winning their final fixture 1 - 0 with a late goal, and snatching the championship title! The tension was incredible! I didn't mind the second place, because my team was promoted anyway!
A highly immersive game!