Previous Next

One of the first games that I ever played on my Spectrum was called Football Manager. This was late 1982/early 1983 and the idea of the game was to pick a football team and juggle the club's finances and then sit back through edited highlights of the match knowing that nothing you could do would change the course of the match. Now, Artic have re-hashed the idea and transformed it into a rugby league simulation.

The season starts with you and a squad of fourteen players with varying degrees of ability and energy. Thirteen of these must be picked for the first match although you do have the opportunity to add to your squad be dealing in the transfer market. This is advisable and you should bid fairly high for players in order to make sure of getting them. This is for two reasons. First, only one player per turn is available and you are only allowed to make one bid. Secondly, your player's energies decrease by one point per match and, if their energy level reaches zero, then that player is out injured. I had to play several matches with less than full side turning out and not surprisingly got heavily beaten each time.

When you have finished making your team selection, you can sit back and watch edited highlights of the match. These are rather stylised with one attacker and three defenders and some rather crude graphics. These highlights go on rather too long and the only decision that you have to make is whether to kick for goal or run the ball when you are awarded a penalty. You start off in division two and the aim is to secure promotion and also have a good run in the John Player Cup in the hope of improving as the season progresses.

The game is controlled by moving an arrow onto one of a series of icons. These are all fairly self-explanatory such as a picture of a table to give you the league table and a boot if you want to sell a player. The game overall though lacks the addictive qualities that made Football Manager a best seller. Even at a budget price, I don't think that you will get too much pleasure from this one.