Football management games were born to be bad. Even the most respected seem to be either woefully inadequate (Football Manager) or unbelievably tough (Player Manager). And the less aid about the less known varieties, the better.

The only real exception seems to be Football Director II from D&H Games, so I warmly greeted the opportunity to test my minor league skills on the same publisher's new Striker Manager. Unfortunately, this game reeks of all that is wrong with sports management affairs, so brace yourself for a pretty furious rant...

No matter how much you try it seems impossible to take any authority over Striker Manager. In the management sequences opportunities to actually make decisions are extremely rare, and anyway, whatever you do seems to be totally ignored. The short action sequences lack any direction or, for want of a better word, goal. The animation is too crap to be laughable, it's just plain sad.

Playing games seems to be little more than watching text on the screen switch from 'Defence' to 'Midfield' to 'Attack' and back around again. The boredom is peppered with tiny goal-mouth shots wherein players seem to shoot the ball in just about any direction.

At the end of each match we are treated to a results service covering the first and second division results from almost every European country. This reveals the game's aspirations as a pan-European management extravaganza. John Atkinson, the game's author, might claim that this is a 'comprehensive' service. In fact, it's almost totally irrelevant to the game, and worse, impossible to switch off - it goes on forever.

We look forward greatly to a revamped version of the two-year old Football Director (due within a matter of weeks). It'll take quite some game to stop football management going the way it's been threatening to for years - into oblivion.

I'm afraid it's yet another terrible soccer management game. Look elsewhere for entertainment.