Championship Manager 4 Comments by Kristan Reed

first reply w00t 10/10


*goes to read review*

Looks and sounds so boring, i'd fall asleep before i'd opened the box even if promised a 10/10 game.

So, Krudster, did you have any iffy results/calculations?

still argue that a fully realised 3D match engine would be the ultimate way of displaying highlights, but we suspect that this is not something Sports Interactive would consider, at the risk of diluting the purity of the game. Looking at our crystal (foot)ball, however, it can't be beyond the realms of possibility to imagine CM5 in 2007(?) sporting a glitzier approach to the match highlights. Think of all that power at their disposal.

I agree enitrely. The tech just isn't there to do a 3D match engine for this game justice. I'm sure we will see it, but in a few years time.

Never quite understood the appeal of this one... and people have the cheek to call me a spod for liking RPGs! :-)

Still, there must be something in it - maybe it's 'cos I loathe and destest footy? Well done to Sports Interactive. *claps*

Of course it'll have bugs. CM2 was the buggiest game
I've ever come across, and it didn't stop me playing it for two years solid. 4/10? Have you taken leave of your senses?

Its sad that bugs have now been accepted as coming hand in hand with initial versions, but what I will say for CM4 (and the series) is that there is a hell of alot there. Some problems should've been picked up on during beta testing, but I would imagine it is virtually impossible to test every single club/player in the game.

Yeah, you're talking about a game with an unfeasible amount of players in it. It'll take months of play for all the odd quirks and bugs to emerge. It's not a case of bugs being an accepted part of PC gaming; I'm sure (and I know) the team worked ridiculously hard to squash every concieveable bug; one thing you couldn't accuse SI of is being lazy.

One element I didn't mention in the game that I'm sure will be popular is online play. It's not the way I'd choose to play it (I tinker about way too much), but the fact that it's there is definitely going to be of interest to the fanbase.

Does it ship with it's own odbc driver and macro library? :) It just looks like work to me, really dont' see the appeal.

Ooh look, ten minutes after posting and we're already onto Excel comparisons. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Is the Xbox getting a version of this, or are they being left out this time?

Zzzzzzzzz indeed but at the thought of playing this one. Of course I like football slightly less than Blerk does...

krudster, or someone else, do you happen to know if there's a German version of this? I don't like the genre, but a mate of me is playing hardly anything else. I guess he's only ever played the German footy management sims afaik, so it might be a good idea to push him towards this. I can't see it on any release lists here, at least not under "CM".

Scratch that, I had the clever idea of going to the German eidos website and have indeed found it. It's called "Meistertrainer".

I can safely say that there will be a German version...but maybe a trip to www.sigames.com would be in order, where you can go onto their message board and ask the experts.

The exel comparisons are entirely fair, in that it is just numbers gone mad. But then do you sit with excel at 10am one morning and suddenly look up and realise it's 10 o'clock at night four months later, the kids are probably still standing outside the school waiting for you to pick them up, the wifes long since packed and left, nuclear winter is suddenly upon the world yet you still can't understand how you lost 2-1 to chelsea?

Ahem.

Yes, not played it since CM2 when I had a damn fine liverpool team, so good that when I failed to win the cup one season I was promptly sacked. Ungrateful swines.

I just get the feeling that SI could churn out the exact same game next year, give it a Question of Sport style CM5 logo, and still get 10/10. :)

And newsflash time...it sold 124,627 in the first two days on sale in the UK alone. This makes it the fastest selling PC game ever, and the third fastest seller, after GTA Vice City and The Getaway....Not bad eh? It's also the biggest selling game ever from the Eurogamer shop...

Ah, and as you don't sell bad games...

(j/k)

But really, how many copies? 5? 6?...

(j/k again)

I'll shut up now.

Dammit. I feel how I could be attracted to this game like never before (played the Amiga version at the time too). But "at the time" was back when I had an enormous amount of time compared to now.

Still... On the laptop, whenever I want. A quick game of CM, eh? Before the next meeting? Oh, let them wait outside for a few more minutes.

Must resist.

Edit: Is there a demo?

Edit 2: Please don't say there is.

Yes there is, but for your benefit there isn't...

Should we really believe a review posted today?

As opposed to a review written before the game was finished?

I refused to play this when I first got it because of the amount of bugs in it.

However I downloaded the patch and it was brilliant, fixed pretty much every bug in the game :) (sped it up too \o/ )

As opposed to a review written before the game was finished?

Now you've lost me... Today = April 1st. Anyway, don't know why the hell I'm discussing a game I don't care about.

Rauper: I guess jaa means as it's April Fool's day...


EDIT: Doh!

*shakes fist*

Do a GBA CM-lite version boys eh! Then I can cope with the 2 hour journey into work ;-)

Nice idea Nem.

Precisely, Alastair (thanks and :p).

Btw, Bungie has two new peripherals for the game they announced precisely a year ago: Pimps at Sea. Unfortunately, I can't seem to access Bungie.com.

Nice idea until I miss me bleedin' stop. Again.

Here it is: the PimpWheel and the Pimpcom.

One element I didn't mention in the game that I'm sure will be popular is online play. It's not the way I'd choose to play it (I tinker about way too much), but the fact that it's there is definitely going to be of interest to the fanbase.

Something I noticed about this version is that they've reorganised how players turns in hotseat mode. Before, if two players had a match on the same day, one player would do all their pre-game actions (not including the final team select) and then move onto your game. Afterwards it move onto the next guy. Now its designed so that everyone has to do their actions before you can move on. I can imagine this will work well online.

krudster, or someone else, do you happen to know if there's a German version of this?

I'm pretty sure, but don't quote me, that the version released here is multi-lingual.

I just get the feeling that SI could churn out the exact same game next year, give it a Question of Sport style CM5 logo, and still get 10/10. :)

That says something about the series, doesn't it?

Still... On the laptop, whenever I want. A quick game of CM, eh? Before the next meeting? Oh, let them wait outside for a few more minutes.

That's an oxymoron. :)

Aw come on, I inserted a smiley!

"it sold 124,627 in the first two days on sale in the UK alone" - Now here's a new one, popularity equals quality. I'm sure you're a TATU and Blue fan too Krudster? :)

Thank god for the Patch!!

It's a great game, a worthy sequel and well worth the 20-30 quid. But there is a lot of really nasty bugs, so much so that the game will be almost unrecognisable once they've finished patching and updating it....

In a good way :)

jaa: ahh, ok. The review went up at 3pm or so... so I had forgotten about April Fools :)

Excellent review - spot on ! 10/10 !

I won't touch this unless someone comes up with a decent and quick to use editor. The editors for the last game were incredibly frustrating and it took me almost 20 hours to remake Division 3 - more time than I spent *playing* the game, after I realised the random stat generation was useless and gave everyone under 5 in everything.

I don't think the game is officially available in Germany, if it is it wont have real players. Something to do with EA owning the license to the German leagues...

Would Eurogamer give the exact same game a 10/10 if the sport was something like handball and not football?

I just found a copy of 'Championship Manager 2' for the PC stuck in the back of a drawer here at work! Is it worth me having a go at it, or is it so old and cack that I may as well put it back where I found it? :-)

I know others have mentioned the bugs in it, but i really think they should have been mentioned in the review, even if it didn't affect the overal score.

I really wouldn't play the game before you get the patch, ah, sorry, the 'Enhancement Pack.' These weren't minor bugs like names spelt incorrectly, they were game-play affecting. I was drawing 1-1 with Wigan, i went to the tactics screen, when i went back to the match i was winning 3-0? There was also a problem with injuries, lots of them, and for a long time. Surely you shouldn't be shipping a game where the score randomly changes, makes the game fairly pointless. 10/10 for the patched version though, i deffinately agree.

Oh, and could someone with an unpatched version of the game check Bristol City's 'Lita' finishing stat and post it here? They said they'd not changed any stats but i'm sure this has changed. My best striker isn't my best anymore!

Would Eurogamer give the exact same game a 10/10 if the sport was something like handball and not football?

You'll be able to find out. They're developing a ice hockey managing game using the same enginer.

I doubt it though. Its something to do with football so it get 2 marks from the start. :)

As said before, even with the first patch, there are still too many bugs around to really recommend it for now. Well, thats how I feel anyway: I've bought the gane, but not going to start with it until the second patch is released. Bugs / Score changes etc. ruin the game and its atmosphere: so playing the game in its current state wouldnt do it justice for me. I've heard of some people for whom the league just doesn't advance: next seasons european fixtures are set out but not the league. A guy sacked after 2 successive promotions form Div 3 to Div 1.. in a playoff place and gets sacked coz he wasn't doing well enough: when in real life that manager would be thought of as god. These are major bugs: I've had a 19 season game go corrupt on me in the past for CM97/98: and the feeling of wasted time is so strong it really makes you sick of the game. I know there is a great game here behind the bugs, so i'll just wait for now.

CM2 is still utterly brilliant; give it a go if you want to find out what the fuss is about. I do understand the furore over bugs, but if they didn't happen to me, WTF am I supposed to do? Knock a couple of points off? Or stick to my guns and rely on the fact that they WILL be ironed out ASAP. I think some people need to realise that properly bug testing a game as complex at CM is nigh on impossible.
No one care more about this situation than SI themselves, and they will be sorted.

CM2 is still utterly brilliant; give it a go if you want to find out what the fuss is about.

Right, I will then!

And if I don't like it then I'll give it away in a compo on the forums. :-)

I think some people need to realise that properly bug testing a game as complex at CM is nigh on impossible.
But at least they should have ironed all of the serious bugs.

"I think some people need to realise that properly bug testing a game as complex at CM is nigh on impossible"

Thats rubbish - proper development and testing would see to it. Some of the bugs are pathetic.

Hi.

Get yourself over to the forum, master smith. Bit more goes on over there.