At a Glance

Newly revved up, with time taken to develop not only its vast database of teams and players but also its brand new, custom-built 3D game view, Championship Manager is back. The soccer management game, developed by Beautiful Game Studios at Eidos, has taken all the good things from previous 'Champ Man' titles and added neat and useful touches such as the ability to see more than a single player 'state' at any one time. Usually you either get told the player is 'tired' or 'stressed' or 'travelling', CM2010 introduces a rolling 'lozenge' of information that can combine several aspects of the player's state of mind and physical shape. This means that you've really got to keep your eyes open and your brains sharp. Scouts will help you along the way, as will a good policy in the market. But it's not all about buying and selling. You also get to train your squad with set-pieces for actual play during a game. As you'd expect, keeping your team members in top psychological form is also key to them winning the league or cup (or both). This is catered for by much more tightly integrated scripted interactions between you and the highly-paid (or lowly motivated) centre forwards, right backs and keepers. What's really cool, however, is the addition of 'CM Live'. This is actually regular updates per year that includes all of the scores, competition standings, player transfers, player stats, bookings and major injuries from the ten leading countries in Europe. These are downloaded directly on a monthly basis throughout the season and includes full updates of 49 major leagues and competitions.