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"Stick with 2004’s edition and pray for a host of changes with 2006, unless you have £40 that you just have to spend."

Another year, another incarnation of Codemasters' LMA Manager. I've literally run out of ideas as how to start a review of a football management game, or any sports game in fact, seeing as I've written about the past few LMA titles, Championship Manager, PES and the rather lacklustre but full of potential Club Football (news of which at going to press is that the series is being put on hold). Rather worryingly released so soon in the light of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, LMA Manager 2005 seems to have sunk in the water when it comes to word of mouth about which games people have been playing, and the popularity on that thar GameFAQs isn't exactly roaring. The words “pissing”, “on”, “one's” and “fire” come into mind when you see the release slot.

To be honest, I think it's worth ploughing straight into what's hot and what's certainly not to save going over old ground. Let's lay out the facts; LMA Manager isn't a patch on Football Manager 2005. There. I've said it. I won't lie and mess around in order to please certain folk; it just isn't. I would much rather play SI Games' marriage breaking, phone-dehooking, friend-shunning game upside down on the moon than sit down and play LMA. There's so much more to it, it's more engrossing, much deeper and that keeps me hooked.

However, not everyone has access to a decent PC, especially those still at school and therefore those most likely to have the spare time to venture into Codemasters' flagship title. Not everyone has thousands of pounds worth of flat plastic to flip up and play FM on when in the car or long train journey. Not everyone is willing to pay around £500 just to play the most popular management sim around. Instead, those people make do with LMA and whilst I have mentioned my preferred game and the reasons for it, if you like your football short and simple then LMA Manager 2005 is the game for you.

Because of the gulf in terms of hardware between the PC and Xbox/PS2, Codemasters have had to make do with tinkering about with their masterpiece in order to keeps things fresh and inviting for fans. In last years addition, found here, we saw the introduction of ‘stroppy' players who would throw the dummy out of the pram when they sensed something wrong, which added another element of cautiousness to everyday management. However this time around I'm quite concerned that this is nothing more than a re-hash of 2004 with fancier graphics, tidier animations and better explored Live options.

You still have to pay to cheat by ringing up an expensive phone number and noting down the codes, which, depending on whether managing Exeter City with £500 million in the bank seems attractive or not, has its pros and cons. You still can't rule without an assistant manager, whose duties still consist of arranging new contracts for players (I want to do this at any level to ensure I have enough left for new purchases) and hiring and firing staff (again, at any level I want to do this so I can swap and juggle them around so I have a decent, all-rounded backroom team). Hiring the lowest-paid candidate and taking away any responsibilities seems the only way to go, which is annoying as this guy is a strain on my budget.

The match engine still has bugs roaming around and whilst it would be amusing to see insects play 5-a-side, it wouldn't be very realistic. Keepers dive and then magically re-appear holding the ball and walking away from the goal, wingers still seem inclined to hug the line and then dribble straight over it, resulting in a throw-in to the opposition. My major beef with the match engine is how loose the thing feels; players seem to wander around and become unaware to the surrounding chaos. For example, Giggs went on a bombing run down the left for Man Utd against me once and as he rode the second tackle, I was fully expecting someone to run in and clatter the Welshman and find the ball heading into row Z. Instead, my defenders seemed compelled to line up behind him and run along, leaving the winger to run the ball out as he forgot where the touchline was.

The brand-new Live option promises downloadable content for the transfer window in January (wasn't this supposed to be in last year's game?) but again I see this as under-used as the technology is there for players to load up their current teams and battle it out over the net. You could have live rankings, tournaments, perhaps a Yahoo-type fantasy game based on the Premiership. We could, we could.

Despite the fumblings of the match engine, visually things have improved as matches look far more slick and presentable and the players animations aren't as matchstick-like as before. As always though the crowd are still cardboard, patterns of empty seats are repeated around the ground which makes for boring viewing and the only time you can actually view the stadium you spent millions on during the summer is when it rotates around before kick off. Perhaps flying in and seeing the stadium from atop of one of the goal ends so you see the pitch, fans and various banners on field whilst viewing the team sheets and formations would make for better atmosphere.

There's not much more new here that would warrant the full £40 price tag. 2004 proved to be the year of change as we saw the series lean more towards Football Manager. Players had spats, tactics were far deeper, player valuations were more spot on and dugout options during the matches made more of a difference. It seems as if everyone knew about the up-and-coming GTA title and decided to throw it out when no-one would see it.

If you haven't got a PC to run Football Manager then LMA Manager 2004 will more than suffice on either the Xbox or PS2. I just don't feel that enough has changed here to make this game a worthy purchase that you would feel justifies fourty notes. Maybe it's my unquestionable lean towards to the PC giant, but this year's LMA feels a bit light on the ground. Having to pay for a download to update rosters that will only take effect when you start a new game, thus rendering your progress of the past few months useless, also doesn't feel justified.

Stick with 2004's edition and pray for a host of changes with 2006, unless you have £40 that you just have to spend.


Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04