1st April 1992
Hill, Greaves, Tarbuck? Just who is Jimmy and what does he know about footy? Dunno, but Ian Osborne has heard it's a funny old game...
Jimmy's Soccer Manager
Why do they bother? If you've seen one footy management sim you've seen them all, and I for one have seen far too many! It wouldn't be so bad if Jimmy's Soccer Manager added something new to the genre, but it doesn't - it's just a straightforward rehash of old ideas, and not a particularly good reworking at that.
Take Your Pick
The first thing you do on loading is, surprise surprise, pick your team. The screen updates a lot quicker than the Speccy version, but you're still only allowed to select eleven men! What about the substitute? Not that you need one - injuries aren't displayed until you select your team for the next match! Presumably players only ever get injured on the final whistle, or do they just play on regardless? For a supposed serious management sim, this is a very serious omission!
When you've selected your team it's on to the game and, as you've probably guessed, there's no animated representation of the match here whatsoever - you just sit watching the clock and following the scores. Aaarrggghhh!!!!! There's no graphic representation of the game whatsoever! If you find this sort of thing as boring as I do, you'll no doubt be hoping for an option to skip it, and go straight to the results. Well bad luck, there ain't one!
Colour Me Bad
The menus are easy to use and nicely laid out, but the colours used are hideous - they look like the demented offerings of a frustrated art student! This is especially true for the player files, the only thing in the known universe with a colour sceme worse than Phil's shirts. Still, the layout is good - nice mug shot of each player.
All the usual features are there, such as transfers, injuries (after a fashion), morale, etc. Although good use of menu options makes them very easy to use, but the game is slowed down considerably by some incredibly boring presentation routines. For example, to buy and sell players you have to make a phone call - the speech takes a ridiculous amount of time to appear on-screen! Honestly, you'd have more fun ringing the speaking clock.
Programming a management sim is relatively straightforward, resulting in loads of companies releasing half-baked efforts just to fill their back catalogue. Jimmy's Soccer Manager is a real stinker that adds nothing to an already unpopular and overdone genre - and who the hell is Jimmy anyway? 38%
Phil
Even as a total footy freak, I'm getting fed up with the endless flow of mediocre management games. For my money, nothing can beat the excellent Tracksuit Manager with its host of tactical options allowing the kind of depth and sophistication completely lacking from Jimmy's.
The latter offers nothing new to the genre, and features a very boring 'watch the clock' match scene. It's not totally awful, the market is already flooded with management sims and there's nothing special about Jimmy's Soccer Manager to make it stand out from the crowd without a giant inflatable banana. 42%
Verdict
Presentation 30%
Reasonably well organised but pukey colour scheme.
Graphics 0%
The only graphics here are those awful mugshots.
Sound 20%
A few spot effects but that's it! Awe-inspiring or what?
Hookability 30%
Boooooooring! Booooring! Paint drying has more kick!
Lastability 23%
Quickly gets very samey and just plain dull!
Overall 40%
Screenshots
