Game | | Total Club Manager 2004 | Format | | PS2 | Publisher: | | Electronic Arts | Release date: | | Out now |
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When this one popped through the letterbox I must admit I was somewhat under excited. This game has been out for quite a while now and has probably been reviewed by every games website you can shake a memory stick at. Nevertheless, I stuck it in the PS2 and was raring to go. Unfortunately my raring was to be somewhat in vain. When the game starts you have a variety of options concerning which team you are to manage, the level of difficulty and just about anything else you can imagine having options for.
That is really what this game, like every other football management game, is about - tweaking options at the right time to give the best results from the resources you have available.
And my what a lot of tweaking! My first attempt at computer football management was on the ZX Spectrum in 1983 with the now legendary game somewhat appropriately called "Football Manager".
What that game started has now been refined to the point of stupidity. Whereas in the early days all you really had to do was pick your team, train 'em up, pick a formation, and occasionally look for transfer bargains, has transformed into a mind-blowingly complex (and painfully dull) experience which relies upon your judgement in tweaking everything from the price of tickets to the amount of sugar in the players tea (not really!)
I think it should be renamed Total Club Chief Executive 2004 as this would reflect what you do most of the time. Bet the marketing men would have a job with that one though! What began with "Football Manager" (a simple excuse for watching stickmen pass around a bright yellow blob whilst you crossed your fingers and hoped that playing your goalkeeper up front might work out) has turned into a long and overly protracted stat-fest which I am sure blokes with no girlfriend no doubt love - but with very much improved graphics. I must admit I was somewhat hampered in getting straight into the game by not having been supplied with a manual with my promo copy - so my patience had probably been tried to stretching point by the time I figured this one out.
I suppose also it all depends on what you want from a game too. I have to use my brain at work (world-domination can be challenging!) and so generally like films and games that allow me to turn it off at home.
Other people may not have that challenge and may find games like this as a way of getting the old cogs turning. Horses for courses I suppose, but this was not for me - it was more of an exam than a game as far as I am concerned. This does not inspire me to get a fake tan, buy a camelhair coat and become an alcoholic - it is the equivalent of working for an insurance company. 5/10 Dr Leevil | 
