Previous Next

Do you have what it takes to turn a squad of players into a winning team? David Roberts takes on the challenge and two months later...

What is it about football that gets your adrenaline flowing? The action on the pitch or the trials and tribulations of the board room? Well, if you're looking for pure footballing action, get Sensible Soccer or Kick Off 2. If, on the other hand, all you've ever wanted is to juggle with the statistics of your favourite team and make it successful then Domark's updated Championship Manager '93 could be the answer to your prayers.

Unlike the original version you now have the choice of using over 2,000 real player names and stats or Domark generated ones. Whichever you go for, just remember that your ST is going to take about half an hour to prepare the game for you before you can actually start. This is a real pain, but apparently that's the price you've got to pay if you want to get stuck into all these lovely player statistics and club records.

It's taken a while - well, thirty minutes - but you are now the manager of the club of your choice and you have five weeks to go before the season starts.

During the build up to the season you can organise up to seven friendlies at home or abroad. This option is great for testing your squad against teams of different strengths and skills.

After the first few friendlies, you spot which parts of your team need strengthening - each player gets rated at the end of the game giving you an indication of who's playing well and who's not.

If you have money available, it's a good time to go shopping for some talent. You can take a look at the transfer list, the foreign market or just unleach your scouts on a couple of unsuspecting players. The scouts follow these players around and produce reports on their performances helping you decide whether they're worth the fee.

Once the league starts, things can get quite stressful - especially if you have a small squad. The pressures of the game are such that injuries and match bans are quite frequent and you might find yourself selecting players from the reserve squad to help you out. In addition to the league, you also have to compete in the Coca-Cola and FA cups as well as any European competition you might have reached - this includes the Anglo-Italian, Cup Winners', UEFA and the European cups. So, you don't only need good players, you also need everlasting ones.

Championship Manager '93 is not an action-packed footie game. When you've selected your team and you get to the match screen, don't expect animated highlights and crowd noises, 'cos you don't get them. The screen is a very basic setup and the only indication you get on how your team is doing is three bars moving up and down and messages like, "Waddle finds the net... but it's disallowed... the linesman spotted an offside." Get the picture? It's very much like going to a match with a bag over your head and asking somebody to tell you what's happening.

The original version of Championship Manager was very slow and it was practically impossible to feel involved. The information and statistics that you could get your hands on were great, but it's a pity they weren't representative of real players and clubs.

Domark obviously took notice of this criticism when producing the 1993 version, and have come up with a much more addictive and exciting management sim. Sure, it's still not very fast, but if you like management sims that make you think by giving you loads of options, more statistics and information than you can cope with and the chance to lead your team in a realistic environment, then this one's for you.

Huge database of real players and you have control over all aspects of management.

Still pretty slow and it could do with a little more action.