Early impressions!

[killershrew]

#7390

Original (Playing Amiga version):
Having not played this for a while I had a hard time for the first game or two before I got the hang of it. The menu is cryptic and the menu controls are not completely intuitive even when you read the manual. I like that it is possible to rearrange the team and buy new players, even though the transfer market is very rudimantary even for it’s time. It employs the “a few random players available” approach first seen in the original Football Manager in 1982 (wich only had one available at a time though).
Also cool that there are different players with different portraits and skills wich makes the team management more fun. You have to play the same formation though as far as i can tell. I would like the option to play more players at the back. The league seems to be reasnably balanced. i have played 2/3s of the first season and i dont think i will be promoted on my first try.

The gameplay is fast and fun but at the heart very simple. there is not alot of room for finesse although the different bonus targets and pickups gives atleast an illusion of strategy. There is also the old and tried give opposition the ball then tackle them strategy that is a way to cheese the matches but is also so obvious i struggle to avoid it, it just kind of happens naturally at tip-off. It is possible this doesnt happen in multiplayer, i havent played against anyone else in 30 years or so.

HD-remake:
I just had a quick game in the HD-remake on steam without changing any settings or anything and it is noticably slower. At first you’d think it would be interesting to have more time with decisions but as it turns out the game of speedball is so simple in nature that that extra time just feels a bit tedious. I will give it another go soon.