LMA Manager 2006 : Review

The bug is fixed!

Tactics play a huge part of building a successful team and you won’t be moving up the league without them. Fortunately there are many options at your fingertips to aid you in maximising your squad’s strength. The tactics you choose seem to affect your team with a precision not seen the Championship (Football) Manager series. You’ll actually see the visual changes on match days. Team tactics and individual player tactics are easy to manage thanks to the use of the sliders and graphs.

LMA Manager has also stepped up the A.I of the transfer market. In previous games people soon became aware of a bug that would allow you to buy almost any player by placing a bid 50% higher than their market value. This was one of the first things I tested, eager to see if Codemasters had removed the bug, thankfully they had. Just like the real thing, you wont be able to predict the transfer market with the same precision as previous games.

Buying a player is now made more realistic with the option of clauses, player swap deals, and even staggered payments. Scouts can be assigned to find players based on the parameters that you set using a filter system. The scouting system remains a joy to use and the transfer system’s make-over is a welcome, and huge, improvement on previous games.

Graphically it’s an improvement on LMA 2005, close-up shots of players are now sharper and stadiums have more life in them, but they still don’t push the power of the console. Managers and player’s emotional animations have been enhanced and now express joy, disbelief, and frustration. It’s still a graphically average experience that, alongside the aforementioned repetitive game engine, will see you skipping match day viewing frequently

The sound during matches isn’t always consistent. You’ll often hear a delay between supporter’s chants in the crowd and the action that the chant represents. For example, hit a shot towards goal and you may hear “ooooooooh” before the shot gets anywhere near the goalkeeper. The delay in sounds are frequent and will soon see you reaching for your music collection.

LMA Manager 2006 is never going to win any awards for innovation but the overall package is good. The database lacks the depth of the Championship (Football Manager series),despite some new European leagues, but it still provides a worthy journey through the eyes of a football manager. Codemasters have improved greatly on the previous series, Xbox live players can now download up to date player lists and individual player stats. LMA Manager 2006 is still one of the best and most addictive football management sims around.

Pros

Improved transfer system
A more realistic fooball experience
Excellent team training facility
Dug-out tactics

Cons

Improved match engine still doesn't capture the 'beautiful game'
Repetitive graphics engine
Slow learning curve for beginners

LMA Manager is the best console football management experience to date.

LMA Manager 2006

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