In a nutshell:
The biggest name in football management returns for a new season in which it???s suddenly the underdog. Despite giving 110% though it doesn???t quite walk away with the silverware this time.

The lowdown:
Since 1993, the Championship Manager series has been the most popular football management game in the world - for a while it was the best selling PC game of all time in the UK! Ever since original developer Sports Interactive left to work on Football Manager for Sega though it???s never quite been the same. This new version is a definite improvement on last year???s game though, with a brand new interface that???s arguably better than any of its rivals. As well as the new Match Analysis Tool there???s also a new team talk feature and the chance to give individual instructions to specific players. The accuracy of the database of players still doesn???t come close to that of Sports Interactive, but it???s still far from second division.

Most exciting moment:
The new Match Analysis Tool is probably the game???s biggest new feature, with a truck load of statistics to examine at the end of every match, for not just the game itself but every individual player involved. Not all of it is always useful but it certainly does help when deciding what changes to make to your side.

Since you ask:
After Sports Interactive left the series, publisher Eidos set-up their own brand new development studio just to work on the Championship Manager series. Named Beautiful Game Studios, the team is based in Wimbledon with their own in-house research team for player statistics.

The bottom line:
Second best is still good enough.-HARRISON DENT

i have played several football manager games over the past 15 years and this is average.

after watching a real football match i get the urge to play on a football manager game i load this up but within 15 minutes i get bored.

1.you need to go through too many screens to sell players or negotiate wages etc it really becomes tendious when you have a squad of rubish players you need to flog.

2.the tactics you can deply are limited. to the degree of saying take long or short or mixed throw ins etc. but you never actually feel the players are paying any attention to your tactic tinkering.

3.you have little control over the running of the club in a fiancial way.

the positives are the animated matches are pretty good.

james_villa

a great game when you start but after a few seasons you can get bored and fed up as many of the players are unknown to everyone so you end up spending more money on scouts than the players. the actual matches are very good as you can change the game speed and what part of the game you want to watch but the graphics are awful with coloured circles representing players. this game overall is well worth it due to its realistic features but i wouldnt spend over ??20 on it as it will only entertain you for a year or so and no longer unless you are very dedicated (and or (possibly)have no social life)but a good game overall.

This game is by no means worth the investment of time it requires. Having to choose your team on one skin and set positions on another and formation on yet another is the tip of the iceberg in terms of problems. It is absolutely impossible to get any non EU-players with a small transfer budget because of work-permits and again this is only one of many other problems this game has. What may seem like attention to detail in between games is simply borig and a waste of time. Despite the ammount of time that needs to be put in you still feel hopelessly uninvolved and I would not recommend this game.

A very good and above all addictive game for all ages. With the addition of the international team management (previously missing from the 2006 version) it has even more scope for possiblilties.
My only disappointments about the game are the pre-match engine that take an age to prepare each match, and the omittance of the MLS league due to (i believe) licensing rights. Next season with Freddy Adu alongside the one and only David Beckham, I feel it is imperative to add this league to next seasons version.

I'm not sure where to begin, but basically the game feels like someone took the heart of an original Championship Manager product, then switched it with that of EA production. The end result is something that is far more FIFA than it is Pro Evolution Soccer - and we all know how that works out.

One game for the gamer who's impressed by shiny skins, one game for the person who wants simulation and some depth when they're trying to win the title.