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Eidos Interactive has released a new edition of its popular football management game, Championship Manager. However, unlike previous releases this is not merely an update with the latest player and team information - it marks a significant upgrade with several new features.

The first significant change you notice is the new interface, part of a whole new look for the game.

Gone are the large buttons of earlier editions, replaced with a sleek new look that allows the user to choose the colour scheme.

Another welcome addition is a two-dimensional match engine that gives you an overhead view of your team's games. The screen is not going to win any awards for graphics, but it is a big improvement on the old text-only representation of matches and can be a big help in making tactical changes during matches.

However, the real strength of the Championship Manager series has always been its size, with data on several thousand players from as far afield as South Korea and Mexico.

The latest version of the game has a database of more than 200,000 players and staff from 39 nations. CM4 also adds depth to the franchise.

As well as the usual physical attributes listed for each player, such as agility and acceleration, is seemingly less important information such as home town and favourite team.

Imagine being manager of Sunderland and trying to convince a lifelong Newcastle supporter to sign for you.

With so much information on each player available, the new interface scores highly by making it easier to access data.

Navigation around the game is helped by a set of Web browser-style forward and back buttons.

Furthermore, every time a club's name is mentioned, regardless of the context, the text acts as a link allowing the user to move quickly through the data.

Unfortunately, the enhanced statistics have exaggerated the biggest drawback of earlier versions. CM4 is slow.

When starting a new game, the player gets to choose how many leagues they want simulated both in full detail and in the background.

Naturally, leagues played in full detail require more memory, so to ensure you are not creating a game your computer will not be able to handle, CM4 advises you on the optimum number of leagues for your system.

However, even if you stay well below the game's recommended size, waiting for the computer to calculate the results of other games in the league can make you want to cut your wrists just to alleviate the boredom. Regular auto-saving of games in progress only adds to the problem.

As if that was not bad enough, the new match engine, while speedy, does get tedious as you wait for the little circles representing your players to finish celebrating after a goal has been scored.

It is no wonder the user manual recommends resting for at least 10 to 15 minutes an hour while playing the game.

Despite the rather lengthy delays in the gameplay, the Championship Manager series has built up a legion of fans around the world due to its size and scale.

CM4 should appeal to old fans of the series, thanks to its new look and subtle additions that add to the game's complexity. New users will find they can get into the game quickly because of the quick-start feature.

An increased role for the 'assistant manager' means newcomers can get advice in team selection and contract negotiations.

This is a feature that will also appeal to more experienced players looking for help with some of the more tedious areas of the game, such as comparing the fitness levels of two players in the same position.

By building on the best bits of previous versions of the series and adding enough new features to keep die-hard fans happy, CM4 has been passed the ball on the edge of the area. It shoots, it scores!

Championship Manager 4

Publisher: Eidos and Sports Interactive

Pros: Significant upgrade to game will appeal to long-time fans

Cons: New features need more memory

Price: HK$260

Web: www.sigames.com



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