☆ Door 4 - Christmas Retro Gaming Advent Calendar ☆ #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

Why I Love........

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER

"it's no secret that my obsession with football management games was all consuming (especially in the early 90's).

Being brought up on a diet of Kevin Toms finest mixed with anything else I could get my hands on I was a footy manager sim junkie.

Championship Manager was a new horizon in the world of football manager games though.

When CM hit the Amiga the playground was a buzz with management chat. Us managers would compare notes at any opportunity as we discovered the hidden gems on the game which were the difference between winning and losing.

We would even print out our teams from the screens and take in a wad of paper to prove that our top players had 9.89 average rating stats. 

The obsession with stats in CM was and still is the bait in Champ Manager. The fact that you are essentially devoting your time to a spreadsheet doesn't matter it's a game that means when you stumble across an unknown player with a load of 20 ratings it's like striking gold!

Single Player CM was fun but 'hot seat' multiplayer took the game to a different level. My friends and I had many saved games and each time a different mate came round we'd load up our respective game and compete to become the best manager. 

It got to a point where we'd be singing football songs at each other or trying to outbid each other for the latest star in the game. The fun levels were through roof for footy fanatics like us.

When you look at how simple CM is compared to the latest Football Manager 2016 then you will see they are worlds apart BUT simplicity is its strength. The depth is there but it is still possible to play a season in an evening. 

I recently listened to an interview with the godfather of football manager games, Kevin Toms, recently and he was adamant that the key to his awesome games is the simplicity of them. You don't get bogged down in multiple tactics sliders and spend 3 hours fiddling before you even play a game, you just get right on and play. 

That's exactly why I love Championship Manager. It was enough of a leap in complexity and realism from Football Manager (KT version) but didn't suffer from being over complex.

It essentially leaves a lot to your imagination when it comes to the match highlights but that's part of the fun and t just love the match engine text that builds you into a frenzy.

The game was a revolution in the World of footy manager Sims and truly defined the genre as we know it today.

Viva Champ Manager!"