Championship Manager 2010 Review

When we first booted up the Champ Man 2010 review code that Eidos sent us last week, we were surprised to find a database of players that hadn't been updated since June of this year. Put another way, Glen Johnson may have been at Liverpool (as were Alonso and Arbeloa confusingly) and Ronaldo/Kaka were at Real Madrid, but Manchester City was largely the same team as it was last year - no Toure, Adebayor, Tevez, or Lescott - and Ibrahimovic remained at Inter Milan. Understandably, we feared the worst for a database that should at least have July's transfers accounted for and some of August's as well for that matter.

However, when we downloaded our own copies of the game at the weekend via the 'Pay What You Want' promotion, a collective sigh of relief went out from the TVG team. Beautiful Game Studios had not only added a September update, which bought the game up to date with all the transfers prior to the close of the summer window a couple of weeks ago, but had also patched up some of the game as well (more on that a little later). With all forgiven, we got down to giving the updated database a good run for its money and we've got to say that it doesn't disappoint.

The depth of the game now makes finding undiscovered superstars a much more engaging and enjoyable experience, while an improved scouting interface streamlines the process. Set across a world map that allows users to divvy up wage budget funds into specific regions, the interface then feeds through scouting results automatically in regular mail updates. It's both simple and effective, making finding wonderkids a more hassle-free pursuit without sacrificing the challenge (you'll still have to pay close attention to your finds in order to make a half decent signing).

CM's transfer market has also been spruced up considerably in the two years since the last game, ensuring that the best players don't depart from their world class clubs without a considerable struggle. Not only will teams haggle over price tags more realistically, but contractual negotiations are often tricky once a price has been agreed between clubs. We missed out on a couple of good signings because they were considering offers from other clubs and, while this has been part and parcel of the Football Manager experience for years, there's no denying the fact that Beautiful Game Studios has worked hard on these basics to level the playing field with Sports Interactive.

We did notice the player database come unstuck on a couple of occasions though. While picking our Champions League side (which requires four 'home grown' players and eight 'associated grown' footballers), we were annoyed to find Liverpool players Stephen Darby and Jay Spearing not listed as 'home grown' when we know for a fact that they are. Worse still, this stopped us from being able to submit a squad that fulfilled the Champions League criteria. In order to stop this problem from breaking the game, Beautiful Game Studios has added an 'auto pick' button that allows you to submit a non-conforming side.

Other stand-out examples of database frailty include the Liverpool board stating that they were, "pleased that [we] marshalled the players sufficiently to avoid an embarrassing beating," after Manchester United had just beaten us 4-1, or Gary Neville's agent approaching us with news that Neville had, "expressed an interest in joining the club [Liverpool]". This actually happened with Gary Neville in two separate games, while our Liverpool team got a similar offer from Ryan Giggs' agent as well. However, while these kinds of mistakes could easily be referred to as diabolical in Alan Hansen's big book of football, they were nonetheless only a few teething problems that we came across in an otherwise much improved and solidly implemented database.

Moving on to the pitchside action, the game's new 3D match engine is a huge improvement, not only over CM08's, but even over Football Manager's as well (last year's version at least). The animations are certainly the best we've seen yet, exhibiting more detail than FM09's attempt and by quite a margin. You can clearly make out the occasional overhead kick or Marseille turn, while goal celebrations see players punch the air exuberantly or do a little jig, and missed opportunities leave them hanging their head in shame.

For the most part, the engine plays out a decent enough representation of the beautiful game to keep you immersed. Key areas of play, such as build-up and the variety of different goal scoring opportunities, feel particularly natural, while teams do a fairly good job of maintaining formation without being too rigid. However, as with FM09's match engine, which was far from perfect even though it was a big step forward, CM2010's engine is still battling with some niggling problems that will require some fixing.

Firstly, there's the overly mistake prone behaviour of players. This includes kicking the ball out of touch at point blank range when there are no other players around them and some painfully slow reactions at times that will have you tearing your hair out. We even saw David James get lobbed from 40 yards out while he was on his line (okay, maybe that last one isn't so unrealistic). On a different point, the set-pieces are a bit shaky at times. On one occasion the majority of our team formed a huddled wall of sorts to defend a freekick, leaving one defender to mark five opponents in the box. Curiously, the freekick taker took a shot at goal.

We're pleased to say though, that the September update appears to have patched up some of these problems already. Players now react more effectively to threats posed by an attack or to a pass that's been threaded through to them, while set-pieces do appear to be more solidly implemented. Additionally, while players will still make believable mistakes, their level of error proneness no longer boarders on the moronic. All round then, it's the best match engine we've used in a football management game and places the ball strongly back into Sports Interactive's court for FM2010.

Before we get into the 'Back of the Box' features (e.g. CM Season Live and creating your own set-pieces), it's worth remembering that the two critical elements of a football management game are its database and match engine. Everything else is merely padding that improves the experience overall but will never make it or break it. With that in mind, we're genuinely pleased that Beautiful Game Studios has finally got its act together with CM2010's most important facets to the point that they are now on a par with FM's. After all, this kind of competition can only be a good thing for gamers; a point well illustrated by FIFA's return to form last year.

So, here's the back of the box spiel for CM Season Live: a subscription based service that allows gamers to download up-to-date information on the real world of football - player transfers, game results, injuries, top scorers, and league/cup standings across 49 different competitions in 10 different countries. We can't tell you much more than that as the first CM Season Live drop is scheduled for October, but we're certainly relishing the prospect of rescuing the once proud Portsmouth from the drop zone next March.

We're able to tell you a lot more about CM2010's create-a-set-piece mode though. Anchored in the game's 'Tactics' interface, the set-piece creator is both easy to pick-up and tricky to master. Corners and freekicks from around the box can be custom created via a top-down view of the pitch that allows users to place every footballer on the team, select kick takers, and dictate player runs at each stage of a set-piece, from before the ball is kicked to the finishing move. It's certainly a well put together editor and, apart from a couple of minor omissions (e.g. step-over dummies from freekicks), we can't fault it.

Set-piece creations can then be tested in the game's match engine directly from the 'Tactics' menu, which is not the only appearance of CM2010's engine outside of match day itself. Training routines can also be played out through the engine itself, with everything from practice matches with your full squad to crossing and shooting drills with a selection of players where you can select specific parameters (e.g. deep crosses or shooting with the player's weaker foot). Repetition of these drills will then improve player performance on match day, although overdoing it can result in injuries. Overall, it's certainly a good use of the engine and yet another example of CM2010's impressive depth.

Basic training schedules have also been markedly improved over CM08 with the 'Mould Player' option, which breaks down the focus of a single player's training into certain traits, such as instructing fullbacks to look for overlaps or telling wingers to cut inside/hug the touchline from wide positions. It's similar to some of the new features that FM09 introduced last year, although we've got to say that we prefer the way Beautiful Game Studios has made the changes in CM2010.  This is similarly the case with specific match tactics, which now present a straightforward interface from which you can choose to 'wind up' certain members of the opposition, 'take on' specific defenders, or 'stand off' troublesome forwards.

Again, it's not as if these features haven't been in FM before, but we do prefer the user-friendly match tactics interface in CM2010. Beautiful Game Studios also takes Sports Interactive's original team talks feature from a few years back and runs with it in CM 2010, allowing users to specify praise or criticism for specific sections of the team (e.g. attack, midfield, and defence). In fact, the praise/criticism options are preferable in general. Champ Man's new system seems to provide the words you're looking for more often than FM's previous models, while the ability to choose your tone (e.g. calm, passionate, aggressive, or eccentric) is a nifty little touch.

Beyond this, the Prozone theatre from CM08 makes a welcome return, allowing players to once again scrutinise every anal detail about their team's performance with the help of in-depth, Match of the Day-style analytical breakdowns. Sports Interactive is launching a similar 'Match Analysis' feature for this year's FM, so it'll be interesting to see how the two stack up against each other come October. News and media coverage receives superior billing in CM to what we've seen in FM previously, with a new 'Back Page' tab that breaks down all of the relevant news like an internet feed. Branding on news stories from the UK's tabloid papers and foremost footie mags only helps to make the feed seem more believable, while the stories that crop up and the way they're written is far from formulaic.

This sort of attention to detail in the game's presentation is present throughout and we simply don't have the time to go through all of the improvements here, so we strongly advise that you go out and find them for yourself.