Japanese game developer Square Enix has released a football manager game called Championship Manager 17 for smartphones and tablets. It is a free-to-download game with in-app purchases and is available on the Play Store as well as the App Store. Football manager games are popular as they are easier to play and involve players in every aspect of the game. What makes Championship Manager 17 an interesting addition, despite the existence of games like Top Eleven and PES Club Manager, is the simple layout and the deeper control it offers.
Graphics and layout
Most of the new football management games tend to overwhelm users by cluttering the layout with too many features and visuals. In Championship Manager 17, Square Enix has kept the layout simple with fewer categories showing at a time. So if you’ve joined a club as a manager, the game will take you straight to your team’s career window instead of landing you on the home page first. The game uses real clubs and real player names and allows users to manage the club as it is. A lot of new football manager games such as the PES Club Manager allow more flexibility—users can name their own clubs, select their jerseys, and hire players from any leagues or clubs.
To keep the layout simple, the developer hasn’t even used player images. Colours are used to distinguish the various on-screen elements. This makes finding anything on screen easier. The hidden pane on the left side of the screen shows all the other options such as transfer details, training, cup progress, league status and finances.
During a match, you can see your team play in 2D graphics. This is one of the reasons why the game’s file size is so small. It takes up only 80 MB after installation. The likes of PES Club Manager offer 3D graphics and look more like a football simulation game than a management game, but then it takes up about 1GB of storage.
Gameplay
Championship Manager 17 works like any other football management game. The key differentiator is the smart layout, the smart gameplay and the licensed players and teams it offers. Playing as the manager of any low-rung team is free, but for top-ranking teams such as Chelsea or Manchester United you need manager ratings of 10 or you can get it by paying Rs.60. You cannot manage multiple teams at a time and the only way to leave one club and join another club is by resigning. The game offers access to all the football leagues and tournaments from 15 leading football countries such as England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Australia.
Winning a game fetches you coins and stars which can be used on player training, pre-match drills, improving player skills and hiring new players. Gameplay is fun and immersive. You can modify the style of play, and also the length of the passes, tempo, tackling intensity and the duration of the matches.
Is it worth downloading?
The game is easy to manage, works offline and doesn’t really need a high configuration smartphone to work. The game is not as graphical as the PES Club Manager, but is equally challenging and fun to play.
Developed by Square Enix
Price: Free (In-app purchases Rs.60 to Rs.6,200)
Available on iOS and Android
Tested on OnePlus One (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 3GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU, 64GB storage)
