Championship Manager Online - First Look Preview

Although the hugely successful EGN/GameStars Live event was home to very few groundbreaking announcements, Eidos was one particular publisher that took the opportunity to showcase a number of new titles alongside a few notable announcements.

Particularly the biggest came from the confirmation that Championship Manager would finally be going online, where TVG was privy to a â??Behind-Closed-Doorsâ? first peek at Championship Manager Online.

The first assumption when the announcement became clear, was that this would be a network enabled version of Championship Manager 5, or something along those lines; however the reality is a distinct departure from this scenario.

Partnering with Swedish based Jadestone Entertainment, Championship Manager Online looks like the Championship Manager we all know, however the actual game is a vastly different experience to what weâ??ve seen in the past. With both the assistance of Eidos and Beautiful Game Studios, Championship Manager Online will retain the look-and-feel of classic Championship Manager titles, whilst also making use of the comprehensive database that BGS have created for the forthcoming release of Championship Manager 5.

Although the name Jadestone may not be instantly familiar over here, back in their native homeland itâ??s a completely different story. Originally conceived back in 1999, the game has become hugely popular in Sweden since its launch in 2003, where funnily enough the game is known as Football Manager.

The game is a web-based, stand-alone, persistent title, which allows you to compete against thousands of other online players. Players engage in the typical tasks of a football manager, such as transfers, tactics and training; however instead of playing against AI controlled opponents, youâ??re dealing with actual human competitors.

The game offers up six leagues to choose a club from (England, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Germany and France); however unlike the Championship Manager series in which you can automatically select which team you fancy, this time around itâ??s all about your ranking as a manager, i.e. you canâ??t just jump in as manager of Manchester United or Arsenal, until youâ??ve gained enough prestige and respect to be offered the position. Throughout the game youâ??ll earn Manager Points, which are weighted accordingly based on the club that youâ??re with and their particular aspirations; so whilst youâ??ll need to win a trophy to earn Manager Points with the big clubs, a mid-table position with a club like Norwich, would be good enough to earn you the points.

The game is also split up into different game worlds to ensure that each league only has one team, ensuring that everybody doesnâ??t jump straight in for the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea; these will also be expanded as more players join Championship Manager Online and highlight the ever-evolving strategy behind the title.

Whilst this all sounds similar to the Championship Manager weâ??ve all grown up on, the main difference comes in the form of matchday, and perhaps the biggest surprise at first is that you donâ??t get to watch matches in real-time. Instead players are told to make their team selections and tactical decisions at midnight before matchday, the server then takes all of the data and makes batch-calculations to decide the outcomes of all the games, before serving the result and accompanying replay the following morning, just in time for your first cup of coffee.

We can hear the screams now, because thatâ??s initially the way we felt; surely one of the most important aspects of a good manager is the decision he makes on the pitch, however thanks to a variety of filters youâ??ll be able to ensure that poor players will be subbed and tactics changed if you need. More importantly it also highlights the different experience that Championship Manager Online offers; this game is more about the relationship you form with other managers, the decisions you make and your actual career as a manager, whereas offline management titles are closely focussed on the matchday and very little else. The decision also nicely sidesteps the issue of time difference, whereas it would be virtually impossible to arrange matches in real-time with opponents across the other side of the globe. Itâ??s designed to be a complimentary experience to the likes of Championship Manager 5, and once we got over the initial disappointment and listened in on a few of the other neat features, we were left eagerly awaiting our first chance to go online with Championship Manager.

Weâ??re told that managers will be able to level-up their skills along similar lines to an RPG system based on the Manager Points that they currently have, which is also tied into a â??Knighting Systemâ? that ranks players accordingly; TVG will have more specific details on this side of the game soon.

Finally thereâ??s the promise of being kept alert as to the progress of your game through SMS mobile alerts. Weâ??re told that managers will be able to keep a check on results, scout for players and even submit amended transfer bids through this function.

The game is certainly built around the community aspect, and as such Jadestone painted a picture of the â??Championship Manager Online Newspaperâ? in which fans can become journalists/editors to write for the online magazine about matches, transfer speculation, etcâ?¦ Whilst weâ??re also assured that a WebTV option will provide managers with replays of other games, and matches that they deem important.