Pro Cycling Manager 2011

Pro Cycling Manager, as a series, has a much smaller audience than it deserves. That's a real shame because, after a few less than perfect releases in 2009 and 2010, the developers at Cyanide and the publishers at Focus Home Interactive have managed to create a real gem, a game that combines the managing aspect of professional road cycling with the excitement of the actual racing and infuses the entire experience with all those special moments that the sport delivers to its real world fans.

Cyanide always time their releases to coincide with Le Tour de France, the biggest bike race in the world, and the race has been dramatic enough, both in terms of actual sports results and in terms of human suffering, that a lot more people will be now interested in cycling, even for a short time.

Those of them who are also video game lovers will find that Pro Cycling Manager 2011 is a perfect way to mix real life interest with virtual escapist entertainment.

Gameplay

There are two sides to Pro Cycling Manager 2011: one that deals with the actual management work and one that delivers an actual simulation of cycling races.

The management aspect is the one that has seen the least improvements in the new game, mainly because most of the existing elements already worked pretty well. The player is able to handle almost all the affairs of the team that he chooses to manage.

Relaxing ride	Yellow Jersey

As in real life cycling, the biggest decisions of the season come early and quite a bit of work goes into creating the schedule for each rider, choosing a trainer for him and deciding when he should aim to be in peak physical condition in order to be able to get some wins.

There are quite a few variables to take into account when making scheduling decisions, ranging from player profile to ability, from length of races to the number of days a rider will spend in the saddle. It's one of the most engrossing aspects of the game although Cyanide would help the process by making the scheduling interface a bit more intuitive and the information about rider preferences a bit clearer.

The manager also makes decisions about equipment, about media statements and about how to handle the sponsors but these matter little and are in the game mostly to add flavor.

One aspect that the development team needs to improve for PCM 2012 is the rider contact, which is still pretty basic and has only a small impact on performance. It would be nice to see something closer to what the Football Manager series has, with multiple choices for conversations and a larger array of possible replies.

The actual cycling simulation of Pro Cycling Manager 2011 is the one that received the most improvements in this edition of the game, and most of it is linked to the physical presence that cyclists now have.

It's much harder than it was in previous titles to move through the pack, either going forward, preparing an attack or a sprint, or moving backwards to get the much-needed water supplies.

The way most stages play out has significantly changed. It was previously rather easy to get into a break and attack when the situation required it, but the player needs to now pay closer attention to movements in the peloton. Moving the riders around appropriately in preparation for actions that will happen in the next few kilometers is crucial for the competitive player.

The changes have affected me significantly and I have been caught out quite a few times, with my leader unable to respond to an attack because he was blocked by other riders. I have also seen situations where promising sprint finishes were ruined by my lack of attention to positioning.


The physicality might be a bit of a chore at first and a lot of players might be frustrated because of it initially. They should stick with it because it adds another welcomed realism level to the game, one that can only grow if the feature is enhanced next year so that it allows for more contact between the riders, especially when falls and breaks are concerned.

The Artificial Intelligence of PCM 2011 also got an upgrade and is now better able to judge breakaway chances while also being more combative when it comes to taking both intermediate sprints and mountain points.

Rainy day	Peloton

Some aspects of the simulation, like riders falling and the relation between effort and attack strength, could be improved in next year's game, but the current mechanics already mark quite a leap forward for the series.

The big problem that Pro Cycling Manager 2011 has and which might, unfortunately, be unsolvable, is that it's a game that takes some time to learn and a lot of time to play, even if the gamer chooses to simulate a big number of races. In this gaming space where quick, easy-to-play titles are coming to the fore, the simulation could be one of the dying genres unless it manages to reinvent itself significantly.

Graphics and audio

For a niche sports simulation, Pro Cycling Manager 2011 looks pretty good. There are quite a few graphics options that the player can tweak and there is even an opportunity to modify the overall look of the races, although I usually settle for the bright default option.

In a game where everything from bike models to rider shirts offers quite a lot of variety, one big problem is that faces are similar and rather ugly, which is especially a problem for the screenshot happy cycling enthusiast.

Leading the race	Winning season

The community will likely fix this in the coming months, but it would make sense for Cyanide to also work on making all aspects of the game's look as good looking as possible for the next game in the series.

The sound design of PCM 2011 has changed little over the years. The commentary is still only worth listening to during the bigger races, when it offers some information on the history of the competition or on the chances of different categories of riders.

The soundtrack also suffers because it can never return to the heights reached when legendary band Kraftwerk composed an entire album linked to Le Tour de France. Still the tracks delivered this year are pretty good, although a bit too repetitive.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer in Pro Cycling Manager 2011 allows gamers to play any of the races included in the single player section of the game while facing off against human players that are smarter than the included Artificial Intelligence.

Pro Cycling Manager 2011 in multiplayer is best enjoyed with people one already knows and who thoroughly enjoy cycling. This means that all those interested in the human versus human races should get friends interested or frequently log into the official site of something like PCMDaily.com.

Conclusion

Pro Cycling Manager 2011 is the best that Cyanide has delivered in this series since about 2004, a game that only had small problems on launch date and quickly got a number of patches that fixed even those issues.

The game also benefits from targeting a fully formed community that is ready, in the short term, to work and fix any remaining issues while, in the long term, it also works on full conversions that add quite a bit of new content. Expect to see more races and more variety when it comes to teams, shirts, riders and equipment.

Cycling might not be the most popular of sports and PCM will likely never be the best seller that the FIFA and the Madden series from EA Sports are, but there are quite a few things that this game does that are on the same level if not better than the franchises from Electronic Arts.

For the cycling enthusiast who is also into video games, Pro Cycling Manager 2011 is a must and for those who love one of the above and have a couple of weeks worth of evenings to spare should try this low profile gem when they grow tired of other time wasters.