ST Format


Leeds United Champions

Author: James Leach
Publisher: CDS
Machine: Atari ST

 
Published in ST Format #42

Leeds United Champions! (CDS, £24.99)

Now, here's a management game with a difference; you can only manage Leeds United. Fine if you're a fan of them, then, but what about Bristol Rovers, eh? They're in dire need of a manager at the moment.

Anyway, consider, if you will, a Leeds United languishing at the bottom of the league. They desire, as should you, to be at the top (where in reality they are, give or take a place or two). It's up to you to get them there.

Your first move is to make sure Gordon Strachan never, gets injured. Once he goes down it's time to wave hello to the Toby Gibbonposture Sunday Morning Crap League. Once you've managed to stave off that fright, it's time to train the men then sit back with a glass of hot toddy to watch the match.

Leeds United Champions!

Ah. Bit of a problem here because for the duration of the match, you tend to see a rather uninspiring picture of the tunnel at Elland Road. The attacking, defending and blatant falling-over-howling that goes on is only hinted at with a few words at the top of the screen. And even then the finer points of the melodramatic screaming and tumbling are glossed over. so what it comes down to is another management game which, though it's done well, has nothing new to offer. About the only thing which this game has and many others don't is the chance to nick promising players out of your Youth team. You don't get to interfere with the Youth team (good thing really, because you'd be locked up) but it pays to keep an eye of the lads because occasionally a decent player turns up, forcing you to child-nap him before he's eighteen and forced to leave the minor side.

Once more, everything is icon-driven and you can fiddle with the positions of your team, as well as training them and trying to control their tempers. Temper is a rating given to each player, and must be taken into account before giving them responsibility on the pitch or letting them near night-clubs. You can also increase the stands at your ground, charge what you like for tickets and generally try and extort money from punters and foreign businessmen. Actually, that was a lie.

Verdict

Leeds United Champions! suffers greatly from having an exclamation mark after its name. Apart from this, it's a sound management game with less-than-stunning on-pitch action. Mouse-controlled once again, it's as good as most, better than some and worse than a few. OK?

James Leach

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