Ultimate Soccer Manager is everything that is in the name, it is possibly one of the best football manager games I have ever played, although I may not play many, I have spent playing this game into the early hours of the day. It mixes the competitive nature of all the manager games such as championship manager yet holds the fun of a pick up and play game, this allows it to appeal to many gamer, modern or classic, action or beat-em-up, even if this will be your first football manager game, you will enjoy every minute.
While graphically wise it is impotent to its successor USM 2, it doesn’t disappoint with its range of 3d and 2d graphics from a full view of the stadium, to finding the latest thoughts of your team on the local newspaper.
Each section or ‘room’ within the game is carefully positioned so you are able to find any place you want, although at times you may get a bit lost and unsure where to discover places when you start the game, you soon get the hang of it, the rooms are mainly no motion during or when switching between rooms although has soma animation for when you hover over a certain object e.g. corner of the calendar flicking up when you hover over it.
The pitch
graphics are well done as well with the inclusion of moving characters, 3d and 2d graphics but slightly pixelated players on the pitch but you can’t expect top of the notch graphics from a game that was made in 1998, can you?
Overall the graphics are good for its time, but if you are a modern gamer and are used to high definition graphics, then you may not be impressed.
With these animations also come sounds that will give you a clue to what they are such as the sound of an injured man when you hover over the injury list. It provides clean crisp sounds throughout the game during the actual matches and the sounds of the ball being kicked or the crowd cheering, to the sounds of the food trucks outside of the stadium, what makes the sounds good in this game is that they are authentic, real commentator voices, true crowd cheers, and sounds of sizzling sausages. The only bad part of the sound is probably the most repetitive theme tune ever created in history, with its synthesized tune it plays throughout the game except during match periods and can get on your nerves at a very increasing rate, so I recommend turning the music off, and sticking your own tunes on ASAP!
Finally the most important part of the review, the game play, this is truly where the game shines, while it may not be the most tactical game in the world, it allows you to take control over every aspect of the game, (except of course the players in the matches as it is a manager game) it will allow you to decide whether or not to improve your stadium by construction, make more food vendors, increase the price of tickets, change the training routine or even increase the price of football shirts, magazines and even hotdogs.
But if you decided you would rather just focus on the player part of the game, you can just leave all the hard work up to your coaches, sit back, build a team, and watch the football.
Overall, this game is possibly one of the best football games out there, and with a sequel to finish off you can exactly be un-happy can you? But if you are really enthusiastic about the game you could even see your team with all the best players in the league, dominating all who try to beat you, while watching Arsenal and Real Madrid crumble at your feet, or you crumble at theirs, either way, you can play to the near future and watch as you play out what could happen.
