Review: Championship Manager 2007 (360)
Normally, Gamestyle picks up a football management title once every two years, as there is no real need to have the latest managers or transfers in place to fully appreciate what is a strictly timeless experience. Championship Manager 2007 features more leagues than ever before and tweaks to the addictive formula. While the original team behind the series have moved on, Eidos has maintained the license to reasonable effect.
The new front-end interface is easy to navigate, with sub-menus proving to be ideal stepping-stones towards your goal. For the inexperienced, the boxed manual and in-game help system are disappointing and offer little in the way of a valuable resource. Many of the features and tactics that are vital to building a successful squad and backroom staff are left to be discovered. While experienced players will know the routines and decisions required, others will be left floundering in the savage world of football management.
A major criticism of this release is that it is too easy. Despite the range of options and players on show, the feeling persists that it is a lightweight in comparison to the Football Manager series. For instance, when reviewing such titles as these, Gamestyle uses its tried and tested two-club system. We take one English club (Newcastle United) to experience the highs of what the world can offer; then we seek out the grass roots of football, with the Scottish 2nd division and Raith Rovers Football Club. In only one season at Newcastle, we managed to win the UEFA and FA Cup, finishing a respectable fifth in the Premiership, before the board decided not to renew our contract.
This exposes a flaw in the whole coaching setup. While the chairman may ask various questions before hiring you, if you are not of a suitable stature or ranking at that time, they will not extend your initial one-year deal, regardless of the answers you provide. While it is more favourable to drop down a few divisions and build up your reputation, for many wanting that quick thrill of managing a leading club, it will prove to be all too quick. Soon enough, despite a double season, you'll be out the door quicker than Sam Allardyce.
In comparison, our success at Raith was established over consecutive seasons, rising through the leagues to reach the top tier. Rather than spending millions with ease, any player signings were achieved via expiring contracts or free transfers. And while the scouting system offered by the game makes it difficult to expose any real talent or bargains, in this era of the Bosman ruling, it is possible to construct a decent team on a shoestring budget. Yet this can only be achieved by trawling through the players on offer, making slow progress, as the available filters are not advanced enough to warrant their selection.
Selling players, in comparison, is difficult, as few offers materialise and even less for squad members you wish to ship out on loan. An easy but costly option is to simply terminate the contract, if they are unwilling to mutually agree to this drastic measure. Players lack intelligence, often asking the same questions of their manager over the course of a season, or suggesting they will review their future when you've already placed them on the transfer list. While the matches themselves come with a breadth of viewable perspectives, tactical options and dug out actions, on screen, the referee will consistently blow for holding.
While Gamestyle prefers its management to be a solitary experience, Championship Manager 2007 comes with a variety of additional modes. You can jump online with the multi-player battle mode or take a trip down the hall of fame. For the most part the game behaves well, loading promptly and lacking any delay that we've come to associate with previous entries in the series. At times it struggles to allow the soundtrack option; with regular consistency it will crash, prompting a total reboot of the console.
Overall, Championship Manager 2007 is a fair update of a popular series and will, without question, subtract many hours from your social life. It cannot hope to be a substitute for the real thing, but it lacks true sustainable depth and difficulty to be anything more than a fun off-season pursuit.
Rating: 6 / 10
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