Championship Manager 3 Review

Championship Manager 3

Championship Manager has been walking out of shops en masse. The game has outsold everything else in the PC market, making itself the biggest PC game ever and nailing Command & Conquer to the floor, and stomping on it. Before running off to get a Transit van and driving over it repeatedly. That's how big a game that is. Be warned, if the first two games in this series caused you any moments of discomfort or tension, this game will cost lost hours in sleepless nights, red eyed breakfasts and bleary mornings at your desk.

And watch out for those you hold dear, because the arrival of Championship Manager 3 no longer means you'll be whining for a night off every four or five weeks when the latest bout of Champions League matches comes about-- now you'll be asking for a leave of absence to pursue your relationship on a nightly basis, slipping in an odd hour here or there before you go to bed, getting up mysteriously at the break of dawn and disappearing upstairs to the toilet for hours at a time.

The reason for this strange behaviour is that Championship Manager 3 is just too engrossing a game. It has an unprecedented level of depth, with new stats for the players, teams and clubs, accurate to the last degree. And let's face it, we all know we could do a better job than Ferguson, Houllier, Taylor and co. And as for McCarthy, don't get me started.... Let's just say that I agree with Eamonn Dunphy when it comes to this one.

You'll be able to take charge of teams in 16 world leagues, including all of the European leagues (both Irish leagues excepted) as well as the Brazilian, Argentinean, Japanese, US and Malayasian leagues. Those clever boffins at Sports Interactive have covered all angles foreign, which is partly responsible for giving the game its incredible sense of scope. Foreign signings can be affected by how they settle at a new club, with a player's statistics now encompassing his fluency in languages.

Despite the huge success and popularity of Championship Manager 2, there have been big changes in this game, with a new engine driving the action. The games is 'windows' based which allows you to plot your way through a potential quagmire of statistics a little bit more easily, by letting you filter the information you want on-screen. This is a big help, as Championship Manager 2 could tend to cause more than a little frustration at times as you struggled through all of the details, feeling more like an accountant than a manager.

The game is also bigger and better this time around. There are more than 35,000 footballers , each of whom has 31 statistics governing his career, whether they be the old classics of pace or the newer ones such as, already mentioned, ability in languages. But that's not all. On top of the players, you have to factor in managers, referees, scouts, physios and so on. Not to mention the big man at the top, Mr Chairman who decides whether your fired or hired.

In the end though, it's what happens on the pitch that counts, and this is where Championship Manager 3 beats the opposition hands down. Tactics and training are as in-depth as you need them to be-- for example, you can train players to be better by hiring the right coach. If you want to, you can position every single player individually in every possible situation, or you can use one of the standard set tactics. Whatever you want, this game will let you do. If you've been waiting for a football management game, then twiddle your fingers no longer. This is the definitive game for would-be managers.