Total Club Manager - PC Games

At first, though, things are quite overwhelming. Met by a mass of menus, thumping background music and an awful lot of decisions, it's not just novice gamers who may feel disorientated at first. Still, some time spent learning the game set up is well rewarded, as for the most part the in game menu system that effectively controls the game is efficient.

The main staple ingredients of the football management sim are here--a lively transfer market, board expectations, keeping the team happy and playing well as well as farming off jobs to the staff are just of the options at the player's disposal. This side of the game is still quite some way behind the all-conquering Championship Manager series though, although EA have certainly made progress over their previous attempts to conquer the football management market.

Where the game scores big though is with the match day presentation. Whilst you can skip to a result, true benefit will be gained from watching the matches pan out, in true FIFA game style. It lets the gamer watch how tactics are implemented, and also offers a genuine chance to change the outcome of a game through shrewd substitutions. In this area alone, it's untouched in its genre

However, the game is some way from toppling Championship Managerfrom the top of the table. But it does offer a nice alternative, and a good challenge, for those who like their football management games with less text and more action.--Simon Brew