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30th July 2003:
Can EA Manage?
Total Club Manager aims to bring EA into the football management Premier League.
Posted by Chris Barnett - PC,PlayStation 2,Xbox - UK and Europe

The makers of FIFA have never managed (no pun intended) to capture the success of their 'playable' football game in a management game. On top of that, football management games are usually a 'no go' area on consoles. So EA is braving the history of the genre and releasing Total Club Manager for the PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The feature in this game that stands out so much is the fact that it can be linked with the upcoming FIFA 2004 to play the matches. So you can take control of the managerial side of your favourite team in Total Club Manager and then load the team into FIFA 2004 to play games. Whether the games played will actually count towards the performance of the team in the management game has yet to be announced, but it sounds interesting nonetheless.

The game will contain 50 leagues (on the PC anyway) including all the English leagues. That means that over 55,000 players will be featured in the game, 30,000 of which will be FIFPro players (officially named too).

To view the games the FIFA 2004 3D engine will be used, allowing the player an unprecendented view of the action. So instead of watching a blob move as in Championship Manager 4, you will actually be able to see the reactions and actions of your players in real time (literally if you opt to view the match in 90 minutes time mode). As the game is viewed, changes to formations, player orders, passing styles and offside traps will be possible.

A fully operational transfer system will ensure maximum realism and pressure of the purchasing system of football. Reserve squads and transfer windows will ensure that all areas of the market will be covered by the game.

The console versions of the game will get a feature that enables them to play head to head with friends in a one off game whereas PC owners will get a unique stadium editor. This editor will allow full customisation of stadiums in both cosmetic and financial means (increasing capacity and such).

All versions promise to feature Player Missions that will crop up in the middle of a career, aiming to challenge the player with scenarios such as relegation battles, promotion pushes or unbeaten runs.

As you can see by the huge list of features, this is an ambitious title with everything in the past counting against it. With the most popular sports title in the world (FIFA soccer) as its older brother it should be a success no matter what the game is like (especially due to EAs extensive marketing campaigns). Let's just hope that it really is as good as the features suggest that it can be.

At the moment the game is due to be released on 7th November in Europe with the US date yet to be organised.

Chris Barnett

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Total Club Manager 2004
for PC

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