So what is the biggest Football Management series on the planet? LMA? Nope. Premier Manager? Nope. Championship Manager? No. Wait! I mean't bingo! Knew I should have thought that one through a little better...
So anyway. CM 01/02 has just been released on the XBox. Frankly, I think it's over-rated. Not my type of game. However, CM2 96/07 is.
It's hard to explain what is so good about the game. Firstly the graphics. Basically, there aren't any. A few boxes and stats are all you're given, but who really gives a flying duck? Graphics doth not make a game, the game does.
Whereas the modern CM's give you tons of useless junk like "Previous form" and "reliability", 96/97 keeps it simpler, and it's a lot better because of it. Rather than trail through a players stats and looking at each one individually, you can look at the stats on a whole quite easily. This means that you won't have to spend an hour calculating if a player is good or not, you can just take one look and say "I'll have him." Slave labour? Yes. Easy and fun? Even yesser. It means that even if you're in trouble, you won't have to take a risk on a player just because you don't know whether "Capability 20" is useful...
And unlike most football management sims, you can actually WIN matches without having to spend hours tinkering with your strategy. Check out the "CM Guide" in Egonga's cheats. The link will be posted below.
Satisfaction is the only thing this offers you more than most fm (football management) games. You get a warm feeling inside after you take a team from the conference and turn them into Champion League hopefuls *wipes a tear from his eyes*
So, why should you seek out this older CM rather than just buy a modern one? Well, the difficulty is lowered (which should be done for all fm games), tactics are easy to create, you can find world class players easily and cheaply, and a lot more. Little time and effort is required to win big time, but the rewards are great. Especially when you've built an entire team of your own hopefuls rather than the crap you started with. Isn't that right Mr. O' Neil? Yes, we know you visit our site...
Graphics: 5
Gameplay: 10
Lastability: 10
Beating Man U as a Third Division Club: 10
Overall: 9. It may not be fancy, it isn't big, it isn't super detailed. What it is is pure fun...
