m-d-m
Apr 6, 2003, 19:46
SI Games took their bloody-well time with this. Eighteen months of waiting finally bring CM4 to the gracious public. I just prayed that SI made it amazing for the sake of the CM scene.
Thankfully they haven't been sitting on theirs asses this past year-and-a-half, no they've been going about creating the best damn Management sim ever.
The first thing that strikes you about the new game is the frsh new look. The skinable interface may not be groundbreaking, but it's better than just customising the menu bar in the old games. The fresh, almost XP-style default is a millions miles away from the CM3 interface. Good start...
The three most obvious changes to the game have to be the training mode, tactics and the new 2D match engine. The training in the old game was pretty much telling the coaching team ho intensive they were to train your million pound strikers, but now you can rule the roost over the entire weeks training regime. From giving them a cross country run to a 5-a-side training match, via the piggy-in-the-middle (eh?) you can choose the level of training your players go through.
In the old games, tactics in my opinion were quite frankly overwhelming. Especially when having to tinker with the With/Without ball screen, beginners would be quickly put off the game. In the new game, the tactics aren't as confusing, but just as detailed. Individual instructions now play a larger part in the game, with you able to set you defenders to man-mark the opponents £10 million striker, or your star midfielder to hold up the ball until your big forward is ready to make something of the ball.
The biggest change is the fantastic new 2D match engine. OK, so it looks like a throwback from an early 90's footy game, but when you've been brought up on a diet of purely match commentary, you get excited about this sort of thing. Now you can see exactly where your team is lacking, whether it be strengthing up your defense or getting the ball more in the midfield. The match engine lets you see the match like your watching the main match on Match of the Day/Sportscene/whatever the football highlights show is for your region, or in the terraces to see the entire 90 mins. (free up an hour for that)
Bar some 500 bugs in the CD (Who rushed beta testing? These are fixed with SI's 4.0.3 patch available from www.sigames.com), the wait is over, and it has been worth it. Lock the door, grab some beer and say goodbye to the missus- CM4 is in your life, and i ain't gonna let go.
8/10
P.S., I intend to write an indepth review of it and post it on my own website at www.champmanager.dot.nu (http://www.champmanager.dot.nu). I'll let you all know when that goes up.
Thankfully they haven't been sitting on theirs asses this past year-and-a-half, no they've been going about creating the best damn Management sim ever.
The first thing that strikes you about the new game is the frsh new look. The skinable interface may not be groundbreaking, but it's better than just customising the menu bar in the old games. The fresh, almost XP-style default is a millions miles away from the CM3 interface. Good start...
The three most obvious changes to the game have to be the training mode, tactics and the new 2D match engine. The training in the old game was pretty much telling the coaching team ho intensive they were to train your million pound strikers, but now you can rule the roost over the entire weeks training regime. From giving them a cross country run to a 5-a-side training match, via the piggy-in-the-middle (eh?) you can choose the level of training your players go through.
In the old games, tactics in my opinion were quite frankly overwhelming. Especially when having to tinker with the With/Without ball screen, beginners would be quickly put off the game. In the new game, the tactics aren't as confusing, but just as detailed. Individual instructions now play a larger part in the game, with you able to set you defenders to man-mark the opponents £10 million striker, or your star midfielder to hold up the ball until your big forward is ready to make something of the ball.
The biggest change is the fantastic new 2D match engine. OK, so it looks like a throwback from an early 90's footy game, but when you've been brought up on a diet of purely match commentary, you get excited about this sort of thing. Now you can see exactly where your team is lacking, whether it be strengthing up your defense or getting the ball more in the midfield. The match engine lets you see the match like your watching the main match on Match of the Day/Sportscene/whatever the football highlights show is for your region, or in the terraces to see the entire 90 mins. (free up an hour for that)
Bar some 500 bugs in the CD (Who rushed beta testing? These are fixed with SI's 4.0.3 patch available from www.sigames.com), the wait is over, and it has been worth it. Lock the door, grab some beer and say goodbye to the missus- CM4 is in your life, and i ain't gonna let go.
8/10
P.S., I intend to write an indepth review of it and post it on my own website at www.champmanager.dot.nu (http://www.champmanager.dot.nu). I'll let you all know when that goes up.