Championship Manager 4

aka: CM4, L'Entraîneur 4: Saison 2002-2003, Meistertrainer 4, Scudetto 4: Championship Manager
Moby ID: 8910
Windows Specs

Description official descriptions

Championship Manager 4 is the latest addition to the long-running series of soccer management sims. Like its predecessors, the interface still consists mainly of text, menus and clickable boxes, which are all navigated using the mouse.

Though CM4 is visually very similar to its predecessors, it does offer a few new additions as well as some enhancements to the series. The most notable of these additions is the 2D pitch viewpoint, which is only available during matches. Basically, it replaces the classic commentaries with a top-down view of the match, where you can watch your players live up to your selected tactics (or watch them stuff up in style). Other additions and enhancements include a totally skinable interface, a revamped tactics engine and an enhanced contract negotiating system.

As for the actual gameplay, little has changed since the previous installment. Being the manager still means you're in charge of almost every aspect of your selected club, from hiring staff to setting up team tactics and so forth. And you still have to live up to that pesky club board's expectations.

Spellings

  • 冠军足球经理4 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

1,613 People (1,559 developers, 54 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 25 ratings with 2 reviews)

Extra Buggy

The Good
First, the style of the game is quite good. The training is more complex and offers great options for your players to get ready for each match and the transfer system is well designed making you in charge of most of the financial aspects of the game. Other good points is the tactics and formations, which can be suited in anyway you want. This gives a fine art of realism to the player, as you try to manage your team to success, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of failure whether it be on domestic or in Europe.

The Bad
The game is quite buggy. Although the player can enjoy a mainstream of playability, the gameplay itself is sharp-infested with errors and bugs; for one, the news columns tend to show a tag error in the script language as well as having errors in the statistics. Minor occurrences happened once or twice where the bug/error kicks in to ruin the match such as changing the scores after half time, and the player's morale is always affected to a minimum whenever you lose a game. Adding to the problems already mentioned, this would make managing a small team to success very, very hard.

From one's perspective, the game is a marked departure from the old CM3 series and adds new textures, style and even a 2D view for every match. That's fine! but on the whole it lacks creativity and depth. As the game progresses, it just becomes increasingly boring.

SI/Eidos have tried over the years with several patches to repair and refine the game. But this would make any hardcore fan of the CM series angry, seeing that any product from its publisher's (especially Eidos) ought to stand on its own. This one doesn't. It just leads to the suggestion that this game was rushed and not fixed.

If only it weren't for the bugs, then I probably wouldn't of have written the bad section of this game.

The Bottom Line
Its a fine game, but as said the problems wouldn't suit anyone whose a fan of this great managerial series nor anyone whose willing to give a try first.

Windows · by S.t.e.f. (2) · 2006

Disappointing but progressive

The Good
You can now see your tactics unfurl in a graphical fashion. Training of players is now not just part of folklore, but a real part of the game. Media handling is now a major part of life just as in the real game. The game was rewritten from scratch, so doesn't suffer from ea sports franchise syndrome, ie real changes not cosmetic. The Championship Manager series are just untouchable in the realism stakes. Teams of researchers contribute player ratings to the game which has every football league in the world worth mentioning.

The Bad
When it was released there were an unacceptable number of bugs the worst of which meant your save games got corrupted. This was addressed with the 03/04 release, but a lot of faithful fans were lost due to this.

The Bottom Line
Get championship manger 03/04 the game that this was meant to be.

Windows · by Neepie Lantern (524) · 2004

Trivia

Awards

  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2003 - The Daily Mirror Award: Best of British

Analytics

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Related Games

Championship Manager 5
Released 2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Championship Manager 3
Released 1999 on Windows
Championship Manager 2006
Released 2006 on Windows, Macintosh
Championship Manager 2
Released 1995 on DOS, 1997 on Amiga
Championship Manager
Released 1992 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST
Championship Manager 2006
Released 2006 on PSP, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Championship Manager: Season 03/04
Released 2003 on Windows, 2004 on Macintosh
Championship Manager: Season 99/00
Released 1999 on Windows, Macintosh
Championship Manager: Season 01/02
Released 2001 on Windows, Macintosh, Xbox

Related Sites +

  • CM Gamer
    A fan site with everything about CM, including a large forum.
  • CM Sverige
    Swedish CM site.
  • SIGames
    Official CHampionship Manager page.
  • The Dugout
    One of the best CM fan sites with a lot of players, tactics and downloads.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 8910
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by kvitkanin.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Cabeza2000, Sciere, Kabushi, danowar, Patrick Bregger, piltdown_man.

Game added April 16, 2003. Last modified March 17, 2024.