Previous Next

Football Manager, by Addictive, has to be one of the best strategy games available for home computers. As the manager of a football club you have to get from league division four to league division one in as few seasons as possible.

The first screen asks your name and allows you to select your team from the whole league. There seems to be little advantage in picking the well known clubs as they are all dependent upon the skill of their manager - you.

The team you inherit is then displayed, together with six pieces of information on each player - playing position, number, skill rating, energy rating, saleable value and status (either picked or injured). From this screen there are a number of other options affecting the game. You can get a display of your performance, beg for a loan from the bank and even pay off loans. You can change your skill level, change the team and player names, save a game or restart a saved game.

Once you have done all the housekeeping from the first menu you have an announcement of your next fixture, which might be in either League or Cup competition.

Following this there is a readout of the comparison of the teams giving ratings for energy, morale, defence, midfield and attack. This is worth careful study as it is here that you can achieve the most valuable changes by modifying your team.

Unlike the BBC version, there is no graphical display of the actual matches, but it's none the worse for that. I doubt that this game will ever be bettered. It is all it claims to be and is very addictive to boot.

Dave Carlos