OT: Management games

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:14 am

I know some of you play variations of these... I'm looking to try one. I'll try a demo first, but even the demos look like they take some time to get into. I want some recommendations on what the best product is, and I'll go dig into the demo of that product and see how it goes.

So... assuming I don't care which sport (baseball, Hockey or soccer) which of the following is the best overall product?

NHL EHM

OOTP
Diamond Mine
Stratomatic

CM series (CM 5 coming out in 1 week)
Football Manager 2005 (available Nov 5, but beta demo is available now.)

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:18 am

I'm going to have to go with Football Manager. I want to say OOTP, but I now just use it for online leagues.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:21 am

I wouldn't call Diamond Mind and Strat-O-Matic "management games." Unless something has changed in the past few years, I would call them single season simulators. I don't think either has any type of "franchise mode" that I usually associate with management games. OOTP is an excellent game if you don't mind sacrificing a bit of realism for the GM aspects.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:22 am

Go with the Football Manager 2005 demo. But I know you're a hockey freak, so EHM might be a good bet, too.

Take care,
PK

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:25 am

EHM uses a bunch of football manager's features.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:29 am

I think it will be either EHM or FM 2005.

Questions:

online play?

Is EHM as involved as FM 2005? FM 2005 is the sigames main product right? Is it more polished? More detailed?

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:31 am

OOTP just dropped to $20

It's really deep.

Post by **Jared** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:57 am

I haven't played any of the baseball ones, so I can't say. Football Manager looks like it'll be excellent, and EHM is great if you're a hockey fan. Really can't go wrong with either of those.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 11:21 am

Well the management aspect of it isn't quite as strong but the game I've been addicted to recently is Title Bout Championship Boxing. Pretty fun sim with all the real boxers throughout history. While there is no real league structure to it, I've been having fun just simming my own fantasy heavyweight division with Tyson,Ali, Foreman, etc, regularily fighting each other. The game stat tracks so you can see who is ranked what and their boxing statistics for each game. You can try it out on demo and it has a decent if small community that supports the game

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/tb/

http://www.cornerwork.com/

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:04 pm

If you are a hockey fan why not try out the old freeware of EHM? Go to
fhockey.com and you can download any version of the game and also read tons of "how to" stuff to learn the game a little quicker.
I don't have the new NHL:EHM yet (it's not out in the U.S. yet but i could pick it up at this store that imports european games), but from everything i've read and based on the demo the game is WAY more complicated than the freeware. The demo only let's you play six months so it's not gonna let you see the Free agency and stuff like that. Plus, despite the patches, the game still has it's problems.
The original EHM has lousy trade AI and other problems, but for the most part it's a ton of fun. I've played that game more than any single video game" in the last 5 years. I've had two seperate long term franchises. One i played for maybe 15 years and the current one i'm up to 2031. The only problem is that it's too easy and you have to put restrictions on yourself to make it more competetive.

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 9:24 pm

LAking wrote:I don't have the new NHL:EHM yet (it's not out in the U.S. yet but i could pick it up at this store that imports european games), .

You talking about interact-cd? I was there last weekend. They have copies on the shelf for $45. Feels heavy too, like there is a pretty good manual in there.

Ted

snate · Post by **snate** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:36 am

I agree that the baseball games are not "management" games but imo strat-o-matic baseball is the best sport sim around.

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:03 am

Granatofan wrote:
LAking wrote:I don't have the new NHL:EHM yet (it's not out in the U.S. yet but i could pick it up at this store that imports european games), .

You talking about interact-cd? I was there last weekend. They have copies on the shelf for $45. Feels heavy too, like there is a pretty good manual in there.

Ted

You know, i don't even know the name of the store but since it says you are in Pasadena i'm sure it's the same place. It's on Lake and the game was $45. I'm in South Pas myself. Pretty damn good store. I don't go all too often but when i'm over in that area i try and check it out. Most games are at least a few bucks cheaper there, plus the have a pretty good selection of classic PC games, imports, and used games for great prices.
Yeah, the game has a pretty big manual. You can actually download it form the SI website. It's somewhere around 50 pages i think.

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:33 pm

LAKing,

That's the one. They give better trade in credit on console games than the majors, but their console selection is slim. Occasionally you will find a great title there and it will be cheaper too.

Ted

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:09 pm

Bad news. Championship Manager 5 has been delayed until just before Xmas or possibly not until next year.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:25 pm

The full version is not out yet, but I have been following the development of this one:

http://www.f1cm.co.uk/

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:40 pm

Don:

Wow -- that looks bitchin'! I used to have a DOS-text game of F1 management from the late 80s or early 90s and played it all the time. Teams like Leyton House were in there -- it was awesome!

Please post in here when a demo is released!

Take care,
PK

jcalvert · Post by **jcalvert** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:51 pm

I love OOTP6, but I only play it online. It is a fine game for solo play, but online is so much fun. Point of fact, OOTP6 is the only online game that I play!

I also love the CM series. I have used Gameplay multiple times, and they always send me the product on time (within a week of release day).

Speaking of CM, does anyone still play CM 01/02 or did everyone move to the graphical updates in CM4 (and 03/04)? I like CM4 better, but CM 01/02 runs better on my home machine so that one is the version that gets most of my time.

Cannot wait to see what FM brings to the table.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:02 pm

JC:

I'm a step behind you: I still play CM 00/01 with the latest roster updates, which I believe is the 2002-03 season.

Take care,
PK