ManagerLeague : Online football manager : ManagerLeague Review

Giuseppe Sole's BlogSee all entries in this blog

ManagerLeague Review (05/06/2008 18:09)

The Game

Managerleague is an online football manager with 38,000 managers, in 19 different leagues and 16 different languages. It started back in May 2005 with Fifth Season AS deciding to bring out heir latest game. The man doing all the work with editing the game inerface is Christian "Spinner" Lassem, and he is assisted with Gizmo and Xontas. They deal with in-game issues such as violations of the rules and support requests.

Each season lasts 37 rounds, which include basic training, matches, custom cups and official cups. Official cups include a League Cup, Department Cup (everyone enters one of these) and the newly formed high-class Champions League.

The great part of ManagerLeague is not just the gameplay, but when you have spare time, the community!
There are several socialising places

Forums - A very active one compared to other games I have played
IRC Chat - Talk to other managers by a chat client - very useful, underrated
Private messaging - The least common way of socialising, but it is used generally!

Review Topics:
- Appearance (0 - 3) (Decimals are allowed)
- Introduction/Learning Curve (0 - 3) (Decimals are allowed)
- Game Play (0 - 3) (Decimals are allowed)
- Fun (0 - 3) (Decimals are allowed)
- Approval Stamp (either 1 or 0)
- Total score (add the above figures, which should be somewhere between 0 and 13)

Appearance:
Colours:
The game from scratch in all fairness looks bland Black with the occasional lighter colour such as green makes it look like the game has not been fully developed properly designed. Once you have done the simple process of registration you get a new main colour. Except it isn't a colour. White. Already a new user thinks "Oh dear, why should I be interested in this, when it gives me nothing good to look at". It is a very boring cover and nothing seems to stand out.When you go into the my team section, you have a few pictures, but again, predominantly black. As you look arounf, you get a few pictures of a pitch, a stadium, a match in progress, but that's about it from all 30 pages the site has to offer in the game side of things. This gets 1.5 of the 3 points for the appearance section, and I will give it 0.75 - half-marks, room for improvement.
Layout:
This is a massive improvement. The answer to the previous question referring to "nothing good to look at" has been answered in this department. This game is for the mature people in this society, who care much more about the organisation of things than pictures jumping off the page right into your face. From the start it's fairly basic - 3 buttons referring to the basic actions. Then on the first interface inside the game we see a nice layout of ideas, spread all around the page, a good show of all parts of the basic community. Then inside the game one of the best ideas I have seen - latest forum posts on the front page. I would nevr have imagined using the forums if it wasn't here, and I think the community thriving as much as it is has only one root - this idea. Elsewhere, we see set oages for all of the pages needed for a manager. Simple but effective layout.
This gets 1.5 points out of the appearance section, and I will give it 1.25 - not perfect, but not far off.
Total marks for appearance: 2/3

Introduction/Learning Curve
Very beginning:
I'm afraid this is a big downer for ML. there is a threshold of knowledge that a new manager can have, and this, with new features, will be surpassed soon. You are given a standard long rules section, which admittedly is standard - not a problem. However, the game manual which has all the knowledge doesn't actually help tremendously much - you have to use this after you get some ideas how to play. You need the quick guide start for this, but once you have done all it says, you know you have plenty of time to settle down, look around and relax. So I am making it seem simple how to learn it all eh? Well, say a manager looks straight at the top - let's look around. Hmm, what do i do? where do i go? Andwer is you are about 95% stuffed - unless you find that quick start guide. This gets 2 out of 3 marks for this section, and I give it 1. Half-marks, room for improvement.
I understand!.
You finally have go the hang of all of it. But, you start to think, that was one hell of an effort to get this far, and I dread to think what will happen next for workload. Well here's a problem. You realise that when you know everything, you are well behind. So more people leave, as it is not a level playing field and there is a lot of work to do. This gets 1 out if 3 marks for this section and I will give it 0.75. Nearly perfect, but a few managers are lost here.
Total marks for Introduction/Learning Curve: 1.75/3

Gameplay:
Quantity:
This game has so much to choose from here. It has detailed tactics such as offside trap, it has stadium decay, easy-to--read individua training page (which includes training for each player and whether the player is resting in training or not). Selectable team training and training camps, which although is not realistic, it adds something to the game. There is a running commentary in match for excitement and interest just to add to the amount.
Overall, there is a lot of ideas in the game itself, and it has 1 limit - the limit of the human mind! This gets 1.5 of the 3 points for the gameplay section, and I will give it 1.25. Not perfect, but what is?
Quality:
You can say it's all well when there is infinite amounts of ideas, but if none of them work in practise, what's the point? Therefore the need of this section is high.
All of the following get 0.25 out of the quality section
Matchplay - the running commentary can admittedly be a little frustrating with reaction to tasks, but overall is excellent. Score is 0.2
Team - Tactics is in depth with ideas visibly put into matches. Score is 0.25
Transfer - The search engine is fantastic, you can make it very specific. Also the scouting system is excellent! Score is 0.25
Staff - It is hard to see a noticable difference with staff, seeing what they add. Score is 0.1
Stadium - Upgrades realy make a huge difference, and it lasts 26 seasons - in depth with calculations as well! Score is 0.25
Leagues - Very structured and detailed league table, could do with a few more features such as fixtures underneath etc. Score is 0.15
Total marks for Gameplay: 2.45/3

Fun (Section is short - experience is not fact, so short):
Game:
I thoroughly enjoy the game itself, great fun and it does really make you feel like a manager...almost. The managerial challenges make the game even more enjoyable. This is the main part of the game so scores 2/3 for this section - I will give it a big 2! Full marks for a section!
New people:
The socialising oppurtunities are never-ending, and the cmmunity is lively and great. This is one of the best parts of Managerleague, no doubt!
1/3 marks are awarded to this part of the fun section, I will give it 1!
Total marks for Fun: 3/3!

Stamp of Approval:
One of the best games around, 1!

Total: 10.2 - My marking was harsh!

Share on Facebook

Blogger has no team.