As a game which is predominately text based there doesn’t seem to be much difference visually in the game between high definition and standard definition displays, and on the televisions we tried it seemed almost identical. So it seems you won’t need a magnifying glass to read the text on screen.
It’s a shame that LMA Manager 2007 doesn’t feature text descriptions during game proceedings though, much like you see in numerous other football management sims. You either have the option to watch the game in full via 3D, and although you can speed up the game events it still can be a little excessive and may put some off watching each game, instead making them choose to just skip to the results. Watching the game though can be rewarding, especially in important matches where you will watch with nail biting tension, feeling the stress building up. At time you might even need to be careful, otherwise you’ll be going down your local Doctors surgery to pick up something for high blood pressure! It certainly adds some excitement to the game, especially when your team scores a cracking goal in the nick of time, handing you that all important win.
Fortunately saving isn’t a problem; you have the option to save in-between matches, giving you plenty of opportunity to do so often. Even if you forget to save for a while, you’ll get a kind reminder that you haven’t saved for 60 days (of game time obviously) and then giving you the opportunity to save there and then.
So, you want to know how the PlanetXbox360 team did don’t you? Well we did rather well actually. We managed to win several titles in our first season in charge of Liverpool Football Club. Now you don’t have to pick such a renowned team as we did, it’s possible to even create your own from scratch in the fantasy team creation mode. First of all we managed to lift the Charity Shield against Chelsea in our first game in charge as manager. By the way you have the option to skip the pre-season if you can’t wait to get started in the season proper, you also have this option with each new season too, helping you to get straight into the action. After lifting the Charity Shield we then got off to a rather slow start. But what’s great about getting to manage your favourite team is the option to get rid of those players you’re not so keen on and attempting to bring in the players you are. We attempted to bring in a few new players; however some clubs had prices on players that were just too high for what we (or the board of directors) were prepared to pay. We managed to get a couple of nice signings at the beginning of the season and sell a couple of players we weren’t so keen on – for high prices of course! During the season there were times when we had the directors and supporters a little worried, getting knocked out of two cup competitions quite early on. However by the end of the season we had managed 25 wins in the league with 11 draws and only 2 loses, giving us a total of 86 points in the premier league and making us Premiership Champions! The celebrations didn’t stop there however; as we managed to claim the Champions League also with a 1-0 win in the final over Barcelona! So we did rather well in our first year in charge of Liverpool FC. However the second season didn’t start so well…
Overall LMA Manager 2007 on the Xbox 360 is an incredibly addictive game which we have really enjoyed our time with. OK, so it helps that we did rather well in the game. But next time we think we may give ourselves more of a challenge and choose a team less likely to succeed. It may be worth noting that the game doesn’t seem to have player likenesses (well it certainly didn’t seem so) as well as not featuring official kits and so forth. So if that’s something that may put you off the game then be warned, although it didn’t make any difference to us, as the player names are all there. If you’re tempted but unsure, then obviously there is always the demo available on the Xbox Live Marketplace which you could give a go.
If the football season is taking over your life at the moment, then you certainly may be interested in giving LMA Manager 2007 a shot. Especially if your team are not performing so well at present and you think, or rather know, you can do better.
