Championship Manager 2007 (PC CD)

i have played several football manager games over the past 15 years and this is average.

after watching a real football match i get the urge to play on a football manager game i load this up but within 15 minutes i get bored.

1.you need to go through too many screens to sell players or negotiate wages etc it really becomes tendious when you have a squad of rubish players you need to flog.

2.the tactics you can deply are limited. to the degree of saying take long or short or mixed throw ins etc. but you never actually feel the players are paying any attention to your tactic tinkering.

3.you have little control over the running of the club in a fiancial way.

the positives are the animated matches are pretty good.

james_villa

What a way to start a new season. Championship Manager 2007 defies all expectations, and delivers exactly where it counts.
The game has given us a more than viable alternative to Football Manager.

First things first. The match engine, at last, plays a decent game of football. You'll see long range goals, scuffed shots perplexing keeper and defence to bobble in off the post, crisp one twos and vicious finishes; or that shot spiralling off the strikers boot and ending up in Row Z.
If only you could really analyze that forwards performance; despite that hi-profile miss, does the rest of his game justify future selection?

This is where Championship Manager 2007 brings out the big guns; with the Match Analysis Tool. It's much like watching Richard Keys analyze each teams post match stats, commenting on their shots, passes, and general areas of play.
But the CM2007 version is far more flexible - and powerful. So it allows you to see what your teams got up to, but also allows micro-analysis of each player's performance.
Want to see all the runs your winger made? All the crosses he managed to successfully deliver; or those that he over-hit to sail over the strikers' heads? Beautiful Game Studios have given the gamer the power to really see what's been going on for the full 90.
There's no hiding behind a "good enough" average rating for your players now. At last you can see who's been misplacing those passes, or not denying the opposition wide men the opportunity to cross. Why rely on a number when you can look at the real evidence?

The Tool also includes a Goals option. It does exactly what it says on the tin - you can see exactly how goals were scored (and where, and when). Was it headed in direct from a corner? Was there an intricate passing build up? Or did your midfielder pick up the ball from his own half, run unchallenged through the midfield, and then unleashed a thunderbolt from 30 yards?
You can quickly and easily see all this (and more) - and importantly see it for your opponents too. Identifying where you've gone wrong is just as important at looking at what you've done right, and the Match Analysis tool let's you do just that.

Truly revolutionary.

While games like Football Manager seem to sit on their laurels and only add incremental features that entirely fail to really bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay AND realise, Championship Manager is now pushing the boundaries.
According to SI themselves, FM 2007 is indeed "Evolutionary not Revolutionary". You'd wonder why they'd do this, when the previously maligned Championship Manager team are will and eager to try new things and take a chance?
It's no doubt a worry for SI when it takes them a year to come up with less appealing features than CM2007 has managed in just a few short months.

CM2007 is certainly the CM03/04 to the CM4 of Champ Man 2006. The same time between releases, and the same remarkable improvements. Are Beautiful Game Studios at last delivering on some promises? The evidence is there to suggest they most certainly are.

CM2007 also lets you get into the minds of your players more. Is one of your players unhappy? Talk to him DIRECTLY about the issue. A face to face chat. This is REAL man-management...not some media-based excuse for player interaction!
That's right - Championship Manager 2007 has realism right there. The ability to talk with your players and put their minds at rest...or if you so choose upset them, alienate them, drive them from the club. You are the manager, they'd best do what you say!
While other games are happy NOT to let you talk to players face to face, Beautiful Game Studios has breached something that has long been called for and long been needed; and in the 2007 version it's been tweaked and honed and toned to perfection.

For the first Championship Manager in a while International Management is right back in the mix. Much missed, much called for, Beautiful Game Studios have now delivered on this front. Take your side to the Euros in 2 years, and beyond that the World Cup itself - if you are good enough to do so.
Plus, as a manager of a National side, you can ask for manager's opinions on the players you are interested in bringing into the International fold. So what does Aidy Boothroyd think of Ashley Young's chances of playing for England? Does Sir Alex think that Wes Brown can do a job for the side? In CM2007 you can find out.

A final note must go to the much improved transfer system. Things have really opened up here. The restrictive board interference has toned down - no longer will they quibble over a few quid here and there for a transfer fee, or an extra £200 a week wages. Go over the top though, and they'll still raise an eyebrow - no paying £5million for a conference player I'm afraid!

Championship Manager 2007 is a well-rounded, well-designed, and above all a well-intentioned return to form for the CM brand. While Beautiful Game Studios have been listening to the fans, they've also gone out on a limb to try new things. And those things have worked.
This could be the start of a very interesting year or so, and we can only hope that next year's version improves again on this impressive package. I think we are starting to expect it, to be honest.

FM - what's that coming over the hill?

This is utter garbage! it's as though they have taken everything that was good about previous CM editions and removed it all. it is totally unrealistic and gameplay is poor. desperately dissapointing!