Club Manager 2015 Review (PC)

fair
key review info
  • Game: Club Manager 2015
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Club Manager 2015 match

Club Manager 2015 is fond of throwing curveballs at the player at the most difficult times, with unexpected defeats when victory seemed certain conspiring to deny a manager the money they need to try and shore up the fortunes of the team they are managing.

The title allows players to take control of a club from the great footballing nation of Germany, with eight full leagues simulated and the option to start off with an entirely new team, created by players to suit their ideas.

Then Club Manager 2015 gives gamers control over everything from team management and tactics to pricing for tickets and expansion plans for the zone around the stadium, and it invites them to try and make their team as successful and as wealthy as possible.

The team names are real but all players have new names and faces, which might be a problem for some football fans.

The title does not offer too many options in each category and the level of simulation is rather limited, but the experience quickly settles into a rhythm and is very fast, with my first season taking about an hour and a half, even as I was exploring some of the features.

And their results
And their results

Club Manager 2015 seems to suggest that money is the most important element of modern football and that means players will need to carefully choose how to spend their funds.

A good player is a solid investment, but it is more important to offer incentives for the team to win and to make sure that the stadium is in the best shape it can be so that fans deliver 100% occupation as often as possible, given that seat prices are well set.

The match simulation in Club Manager 2015 is a little weird because it offers limited details about the way the game is going.

Player power, stamina and energy are all important, but the money a team can get if they win can sometimes trump actual physical characteristics.

The game makes it hard to tweak a team behavior in any significant way via the tactical screen or anything other than a monetary injection, which feels like a very simplistic take on the modern state of football.

The obvious reference point for the game is Football Manager 2015, the experience created by Sports Interactive, which delivers a deeper experience, with more immersive elements and more choices for players, but requires more time to reveal its various mechanics.

The two games deal with the same topic but they take very different approaches and Club Manager 2015 is more suited for those who want fast gameplay and clear evolutions for their teams, even if a lot of elements of the sport are abstracted.

The title has fairly simple graphics and does not even try to show gamers the matches their team is involved in using a 3D match engine, as Football Manager has been doing for the past few years.

Only short snippets of action, the most important phases, are offered using very crude models and ball movement, and they feel entirely unnecessary for the type of experience the development team is trying to offer.

There’s also no 2D option, so basically it is impossible to get a sense of how the team is performing using visuals aids.

For those who will love Club Manager 2015, graphics are not important, but the lack of actual match action should be a clear sign that some football fans should probably stay away from the game.

The user interface is mostly very easy to understand and use, but there are some small problems with the use of the English language, which makes it hard to understand what result pressing some buttons will achieve.

The sound design of the game features some truly impressive pieces of orchestral music, some of which would be more at home on the soundtrack of an apocalyptic movie than a football simulation experience, but players have the option to put their own songs into a folder in order to have their favorite tracks playing.

No multiplayer is included in Club Manager 2015.


The Good

  • Fast season progression
  • Simple to understand

The Bad

  • Limited choices
  • Match results can be inscrutable

Conclusion

Club Manager 2015 is a limited video game and it’s clear that the development team did not have the ambition or the resources required to challenge the leader in the field.

But a cursory glance at the reactions linked to Football Manager 2015 reveals that plenty of fans have been talking about the good old days and the simplicity that the series has abandoned in the previous few installments.

Club Manager 2015 is just the kind of experience they should try out because, once they get accustomed to the interface, they can run through an entire season in about 80 or 90 minutes, tweaking the aspects of the club that they can control and not having to worry about player talks or about an almost infinite array of possible tactical tweaks.

I also found that it’s more satisfying to play a new club or one from the lower divisions, in order to see it grow and expand.

The core mechanics work as advertised and it’s cool to see how fast money can disappear from the account of a club, especially when matches are not won and loans are coming due.

Club Manager 2015 could do with a little bit more polish, but as it stands now, the game is a classic take on the genre it is part of, with some clear limitations and plenty of options for gamers to experience nostalgia while playing it.

story 5
gameplay 6
concept 8
graphics 6
audio 6
multiplayer 6
final rating 6.5
Editor's review
fair
 

Club Manager 2015 Images (20 Images)

Club Manager 2015 matchSelection timeTraining is importantTransfers are simulatedOffers and denials
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