For purists and hardcore soccer fans, Eidos’s Championship Manager series has
been quite the asset for helping them live out their club management fantasies.
Offering an unrivaled amount of depth and complexity, the series has been quite
successful with its niche audience across a variety of platforms, from PC to
mobile.
Now, the latest entry to the successful franchise is seeing its way to cell
phones everywhere. While newcomers and non-soccer fanatics might find the
overall experience to be a little overwhelming and lacking in the visual
department, fans will find Championship Manager 2008 to be an improvement over
the already great entries to the series, and a worthy purchase.
Championship Manager 2008 begins by letting you pick your soccer club from a
roster of up-to-date British clubs, and then handle all of the reins of your
team, from the players in your club to elements within actual games, which
unfold via a top-down view with a running text commentary.
Aside from allowing you to trade, sell, and purchase new players for your club
Championship Manager lets you micromanage your club in many key ways. You can
change around your team’s formations, set up a training schedule for your
players, and edit your tactics however you see fit. Championship Manager 2008
gives you a lot of control over the elements of your squad, allowing for
countless options for expansion and play, made all the more impressive due to
the fact that it’s a mobile game.
The menu interface is done very smoothly, which is important due to the game’s
dependence on it. Navigating the interface is very easily done, and fans of the
sports sim genre should have no trouble finding their way through a season.
The game’s aesthetic is not one of its strong suits, though it doesn’t seem to
matter all that much. Being a menu-based game, Championship Manager 2008’s
overall look is decidedly low-key, albeit a slight improvement over last year’s
model. The menus have been spruced up a little bit, the media portraits look
sharp enough, and the text looks pretty
clean. While it certainly won’t impress you, it’s still not horrible to look
at.
The review build was played on a Motorola Razor v3, and did not have any sound
whatsoever.
Championship Manager 2008 is a deep and complex simulation with up-to-date
rosters and a streamlined menu system. While it’s certainly not for everyone,
hardcore purists and fans of the sport will get a kick out of it.
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Gameplay: 9.0
A menu-based game that allows you to handle the ins and outs of managing a
soccer club, Championship Manager provides a lot of depth and tons of real-world
professional players to trade and play. While the learning curve can be pretty
steep for newcomers, those who’ve played other entries in the franchise will
enjoy.
Graphics: 6.0
Being a menu-based game, there’s not much to look at here aside from some clean
text and menus.
Sound: N/A
The build as played on a Motorola Razor v3 did not have any sounds to speak of.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 9.0
Championship Manager 2008 is surprisingly deep for a mobile game, and can be
quite addicting once you get past the learning curve.
Overall: 9.0
The game certainly isn’t for everyone, as it’s not much to look at and can be
pretty overwhelming to those who are unfamiliar with the series. Still if you
are a hardcore soccer fan and want to take a stab at the inner workings of a
soccer club, then Championship Manager 2008 is definitely worth a look.
