Mr review of CM0304

[Wheelori]

At first look, i thought yet again i had been ripped off by sigames and eidos, i use the term yet again very lightly, it was only CM4 they ripped us of slightly. But on closer look, you see the games refinements, no crashes in a full hours play, very rare for most on the previous edition.

The game is spot-on, leaving arsenal with little cash for players, but still with a very strong squad.

The 2-D engine looks not to have been improved a great deal, but now fires up a lot quicker, and has new animations.

The background is a clean up of CM4's traditional, and is easy to read and see. For gaemplay, it would appear one really does need to dig results out, but as my first 5 or so games show, if you have the right training and tactics it is easily done.

So it would appear Eidos/SIGames have really created the ultimate simulator of football management. 00-01 was good, 01-02 even better, CM4 was nearly there, but no, 0304 has cracked it.

Definitely worth getting, no problems with pentium and all this requirement miloohaa, just a decent management game.

Best Buy- www.amazon.co.uk, i would like to be able to put you right though to the order page, but can't remember, but it's £17.99, plus a couple of quid delivery.

Wheelori Verdict - ****ing Ace.

 

[patrick42uk]

would you say it was too easy to win like the last one?, i got bored of that. also are you finding your top striker so far to be scoring an unrealistic amount of goals, again like the last one. if these two things are fixed it just might convince me to get it

 

[Wheelori]

they've got the balance just right now i feel, it's worth getting.

 

[Andrew]

I've ordered it from gameplay.co.uk because it's not released in Australia until the 5th of Decenmber.

I heard that the only problem is that it's slower than CM4... Is this the case? I found CM4 playable, but a little slow. Is it really that bad?

 

[Wheelori]

no, it's not stupidly slow, the only thing i have found too slow is when making a substitution, you have to wait around 15 seconds for it to generate through, but everything else is quick.

 

[Andrew]

no, it's not stupidly slow, the only thing i have found too slow is when making a substitution, you have to wait around 15 seconds for it to generate through, but everything else is quick.

OK, cool. Have you got a fast computer and what settings do you play it at ie. database size and number of leagues?

One thing I find dissapointing with CM occasionally is the data. One thing for example, is that no player in the world doesn't have a preferred foot. You have players like Zidane who can use both feet, but he'll always shoot on his right if he can. Like Freddie Ljungberg either footed? Yes, he's good on his left but he prefers his right. If anything, the most "either" footed player in our team is Henry... he even took a free kick on his left! Which leads me to my next point...

Why is Henry's passing and creativity so low? Surely a player who has a record number of assists in a season should have high passing and creativity. Van Nistelrooy's creativity is higher than Henry's for christ's sake! And why is Van Nistelrooy's work rate so high (20)? His work rate is so overestimated. If you watch him, most of the time he just stands around. Occasionally he decides to run and put pressure on the other team, and this fools people into thinking his work rate is so high. I'll admit his work rate is good for a striker, but I thin Henry's work rate is at least on par with Van Nistelrooy's.

Another point of Manure bias is that Rio Ferdinand is rated higher than Campbell. Just because he cost 30 million more than Campbell doesn't mean he's better. Just look at them both over the whole of last season and Campbell was clearly better than Ferdinand.

 

[Wheelori]

i run it on windows 2000, not an overly quick computer.

i play on small database, and run 2 leagues from england and germany, and the top division of italy and spain.

the statistics your players are given, very much depends on the training regime you give them. on their profile their is a 'show effects of training' box, tick it, and then you can see where you need work.

the values of players changes often over the course of a season, the range of henry, from what i have noticed is 17.5 mil, right up to 32.5 mil. he didn't stay at this value for long though, this was after consecutive champs league hat tricks.

Campbell is just better than ferdinand. fact.

 

[Asterix]

Is there an Editor to change the data like in CM01/02? After a while I always liked to insert myself into the game as a young player at a lowly club like Exeter then get Arsenal to buy me. Silly but fun.

 

[Allyboy]

Its worth downloading the two patches for it, as it fixes a couple of annoying things, i.e. 7-8 out of 10 shots going over the bar.

There are still some things they have not quite got i.e. Wiltord signs a pre contract deal with Man U and then pesters me to be in the first team and asks to be put on the transfer list (even though no one can buy him!).

You still occasionally get the opposition goalie being unstoppable, I was playing against Reading in the FA Cup and one of their defenders was sent off after 5 mins. I then had 36 shots 21 one of which were on target which Reading's keeper saved them all! And to make things worse one of their midfielders took a pot shot from 35 yards in the 88th min and they scored with their only attack!

Still the EPL and CL double more than made up for it

 

[Andrew]

I'm playing the original version. Haven't noticed any bugs yet. And I won't download the patches because it makes the stadium backgrounds not work for matches. I downloaded this "superpack" and it adds all these backgrounds to it, which makes the game feel better... so without these backgrounds working properly the game is worse IMO. I'll only install the patches when I find some serious bugs. The only thing is that strikers seem to find it difficult to finish sometimes. But it's kinda realistic because one match they might score everything and the next they might miss everything... that's football for you.

I'd give this game a 9/10 and I think now it's just as good as the older CM3 versions were. The next one or two season updates should just about be perfect.

 

[AussieGooner]

With the computer I have I have stuck with 01-02 and think it is by far the best game I have ever played

 

[Wheelori]

I'd give this game a 9/10 and I think now it's just as good as the older CM3 versions were. The next one or two season updates should just about be perfect.

good luck with that then, this is the last one being made. eidos and SI are splitting up, i read on here, that SI take gameplay, and eidos take the name, or other way round cant remember.