Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #465 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Eidos
• Released on: 2009-09-11
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Windows XP
• Format: Unknown format
• Dimensions: .51 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
TOTAL VISION With over 500 custom animations per player and multiple pitch views the custom 3D match engine lets you watch all your tactics and formations come together.
TOTAL KNOWLEDGE Bringing scouting closer to the real world. Create full scouting networks in countries around the world, invest money to build up a number of scouts to grow local knowledge and stay one step ahead of your rivals in the transfer market.
TOTAL PREPARATION Victories are built in the preparation during training. CM10 gives managers a fully hands-on approach, putting players through their paces including practice matches. Control both sides or try out new signings to help select your ideal XI...
TOTAL CREATIVITY Free kicks & corners can make or break a result, create your own set-pieces, practice them during training on the 3D pitch before watching them unfold during match day...
TOTAL CONTROL With brand new mail and media suites, enhanced tactics and formations, new leagues, and a vastly increased database of players no other game gives a manager more control of his team…

Customer Reviews

Good Enough
This review is based on the demo version of the game. (Review of full game below)

Fans of Football Manager will hate this game...just because it's not Football Manager. Fans of the CM series will love this game as it's CM. Me? I play both and enjoy both.

If you've played any of the previous CM games, this is a vast improvement on them. The 3D engine looks great, the matches play out more or less as expected with not many flukey results and it's relatively easy to play without a manual.

This may not have the depth or 'realism' of FM, but it's a far easier game to play for the novice and doesn't punish slight mistakes with horrendous results. It has enough depth in tactics to satisfy all but the die-hard FMers, but the ordinary tactics are good enough for those wanting a game instead of being immersed in football.

Buying players based on scout reports is relatively painless, and scouts can be trusted. As for training, you can let your assistant handle the lot, as well as pass over control of the youth and reserve teams. You can even let your assistant handle the 1st team so you can get on with buying and selling players if you wish.

Or you could immerse yourself in the lot. You can have as much or little detail as you want.

I have no idea how good the manual will be, so let's wait and see on that.

It's a good game, better than those that came before, and well worth the extra year's effort it took to get the game right.

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My previous review of this product was based on the demo. I have now purchased the game and played it for while, so this review is for the full game. I'll compare it to Football Manger later in the review.

It's fun. A lot of fun. So much so that I kept promising myself that I would only play one more match and then go to bed. I finally went to bed at 1am. I haven't had this much fun with a game for years.

For someone new to Football Games CM is ideal. For someone who is overwhelmed by other football games, it is also ideal. You can start out by letting your assistant do most things and gradually take over some of the roles yourself as you get used to the game. More to the point, you don't get punished by the AI for doing so.

The game is well balanced in that respect. You can take on as much or as little responsibility as you like. I have played around with the training scheme creator and it is easy. The set piece creator looks easy enough, though I haven't delved into that yet.

Buying and selling players is also straightforward, without fancy graphics getting in the way. You can sigh anyone from anywhere, seemingly with no restrictions at all, which all adds to the fun of the game.

In short, it is a challenge and being a football game it will always throw up oddities, but it doesn't punish you heavily for making small mistakes. In-game adjustments to tactics are easy enough once you get the hang of the user interface, but more than this, it is a game and was well worth the extra years wait.

'If I were to compare thee to Football Manager' (with apologies to Shakespeare), I would say this: FM is far more realistic in its simulation of football, has greater depth and is far more of a challenge. In FM you get age restrictions on transfers and limits to the number of foreigners and you have feeder clubs. Where CM does score is in the scouting system. You use your scouts for individual players, but also have a general scouting network, the size of which is decided by how much money you put into it.

In summary, CM 2010 is a fun game and I mean GAME. It isn't a football simulation, it isn't a lifestyle choice, it is a game and it's fun.

CM2010 is decent enough, but basic
Alright. This is my first venture into the Championship Manager series since the Eidos/Sports Interactive split. Since that point, I have only been a devoted player of the Football Manager Series.
I decided to buy this game this year because I had read some positive reviews and I thought Beautiful Game Studios might have developed a decent game by now.

Well have they? Yes and No.

The Pros:

1) The 3D match engine is very good and gives a decent example of your tactics and how your players operate. It's not without its flaws, but its better than the match engine from FM2009.
2) Player attribute ratings are very realistic. I've always felt that in FM2009 player ratings are inaccurate.
3) Training is handled well, it can be as detailed as you want or you can leave it to your assistant. Either way, the team and individual drills are a good feature.
4) Vast array of players available, I was able to assemble a very decent squad at the start just by looking at Free Agents.
5) Runs smoothly on my operating system. I'm running a 4GB Dual Core processor 2.0Ghz with ten playable nations.

The Cons:

1) Player, Manager and media interaction are poor. They do exist, but the depth is far greater in FM2009, and I suspect will be even greater in FM2010.
2) The game is to easy. I won the Championship with Coventry in my first season, and am currently 4th in the Premier League in March 2011. I even won 5-2 at Old Trafford, not sure about that although I have singed one or two very decent players.
3) Players react very badly to changes in squad status, often they will request a transfer. Couple that with the poor player interaction and you cannot really justify your decision.
4) Not enough depth to match team talks, the options need to change depending on the importance of the game in question.
5) The game is very buggy and prone to crashes. Make sure you install the September update before you start any new game. (This is very important, it fixes many known problems in the game at the point of release.)

Championship Manager 2010 is a game which is very playable and enjoyable. It lacks the overall depth and quality of Football Manager but this is easily the best Championship Manager version for many years.
It's certainly not the complete package, but finally Championship Manager is on the up.

CM series goes from mid table obscurity to europa league!
I, like others who have reviewed this game, am a huge fan of Sega's Football Manager series and of the older versions of Championship Manager before that.

But once the Sports Interactive Team [the original creators of CM] parted with Eidos to join Sega I found the Championship Manager games that followed to be poorly produced, lacking in depth and far inferior to it's biggest rival.

With the release of CM2010 that gap seems to have closed considerably, a lot of thought and love have gone into the creation of this game and it shows. Like all football manager games you are responsible for buying/selling players in the transfer market, hiring your coaching staff, handling player contracts and organising your match tactics. Unlike all other football manager games you can also set up a worldwide scouting network, build set piece routines and oversee the numerous training drills and practice matches in glorious 3D.

The 3D engine, used for games as well as training, is fair [no worse but no better than that found in FM09] and navigating the game world is easy once you get used to the layout. But this game's strengths are also it's weaknesses, for example, the importance of training in improving your squad and avoiding injuries means that you must run practice matches/training drills weekly and change training schedules daily. With already slow loading times this means you will spend far less time actually playing league games than you will training, scouting or building new set piece routines. I found it took a couple of hours just to get through three or four league fixtures.

In summary, CM2010 is a great leap forward for this series, it is a well thought out and absorbing football management experience jam packed with inventive features... but it is also a slightly frustrating experience jam packed with some time-consuming and mundane 'tasks.' Keep going though Eidos, you've lifted Championship Manager from mid table obscurity to the europa league... champions league standard next season perhaps?