A basic and underwhelming soccer manager
While later Ultimate Soccer Manager games will become a bit more playable and exciting, the first in the series didn't really manage to capture that spark that good games of its kind are capable of doing. On the surface everything seems ok. The interfaces are easily workable, the options to manage players from the most basic training to field tactics are included, but something is missing. Because on the surface the game looks just like any other manager of its kind, the only thing that could be wrong with it is in the background. Yap, you've guessed it, the game either relies too heavily on random events or simply, your actions do not translate that well in the results that your team can accomplish. And once a soccer manage disregards this immediacy aspect, the feeling that you're truly having an impact, the simulation no longer matters, as you could be absent from the game just as well. Either way, subsequent Ultimate Soccer Manger games managed to fix the wrong-doings of this one game and to bring the franchise into a more comfortable position. So, you might want to try this one out just to compare and contrast it with later editions, but otherwise Ultimate Soccer Manager 98 could do the trick much better for retro management freaks.
