Premier Manager
| Developer: Realms of Fantasy | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Gremlin | Sound: |
 | |
| Year: 1992 | Difficulty: |
 | |
| Genre: Management | Lastability: |
 | |
| Number of players: 4 alternating | Rating: |
8/10 | |
You’re handed the reins of a bottom-tier British football club. Your responsibilities include recruiting players and staff, building a team, overseeing training sessions, deciding tactics and substitutions, and chasing down sponsors (the advertising boards feature games published by Gremlin and Amiga magazines of the era!). You’re also in charge of the club’s finances. The only things spared are cleaning the locker rooms and mowing the pitch—but who knows, maybe those will show up in a sequel…
After dozens of hours squinting at spreadsheets, funnelling money where it counts, and kicking the right people into gear, you should start reaping the rewards of your efforts. Slowly but surely, you’ll climb the league rankings, inching closer to your ultimate goal: topping the Premier League while snagging as many cups as you can along the way. Fair warning—it’s going to be a long haul!
Premier Manager lays the groundwork for a prolific series of football management simulations, still popular today. It’s aimed primarily at enthusiasts of the genre, but remains accessible even to amateurs like me, thanks to its clear interface and reasonably uncluttered menus. To add a splash of colour between management sessions, the game lets you watch your team’s matches live on a small animated screen—minimalist, of course, but a welcome addition. It’s the sort of detail that sets an engaging management game apart from a tedious stat-fest. Here, there’s a well-judged balance between complexity and atmosphere. That is, assuming you like football and care about English leagues even a little…
As for me, it’s a passion.
|
