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Kick Off is the best straight soccer game ever - few will doubt that. It's fast footy action made it an immediate hit with all who played it, but Anco decided it wasn't quite the complete soccer experience so they've decided to release an updated version, and Player Manager is it.

Player Manager is a one-player management/arcade sim in which you are, unsurprisingly, the player-manager of your Third Division Team. Naturally, the Board aren't overwhelmed with the prospect of staying in Div 3 or, horror of horrors, going down even further, so it's your unenviable task to move up the table and the divisions. There are nine menu options on startup, ranging from Club information to your current player list, each option opening up further selections when clicked. As well as the normal league matches there is also a cup competition to take part in, pulling in extra cash and glory the further you progress.

Matches look and play exactly like Kick Off, albeit with a few refinements such as increased player control and differing pitch conditions, and there's also an option which allows you to control all of your team a la Kick Off, or just one player in his position.

Sequels are seldom as good as the originals, and this adage has never been truer than in the case of Player Manager which, although possessing a huge range of extras the original didn't have, fails to have the same kind of immediate impact.

For one thing, Kick Off was at its most enjoyable with two players, an option which doesn't exist in Player Manager. There are also a couple of bugs in the match section. For instance, I was fouled in the opposition's penalty area, but was I awarded the penalty? Was I hell!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to slag Player Manager into the ground, but after many months of playing Kick Off and enjoying it immensely, I expected much better things from the follow-up.

The managerial additions are a neat idea, but when all is said and done Player Manager is only a worthwhile buy over Kick Off if you have no friends you want to play against in the original's two-player mode.

Apart from the odd minor graphical alteration, ST Player Manager is exactly the same as the Amiga version. Only buy it if you're a Kick Off loner.