Heimspiel: Handballmanager 2008

Heimspiel: Handballmanager 2008 is a managerial simulation of the sport handball where the player is responsible for the athletic and financial success of his team. It is practically the same game as Heimspiel: Eishockymanager 2007 and plays very similar to typical German soccer managers.

Through the menu bar on the left side of the screen the player reaches the menus where he sets all the options which influence the team's future. On the financial side he buys and sells players, searches for sponsors, expands the stadium and its surroundings, speculates with stocks or bets on the league's results. On the athletic side he sets the training, the lineup, the tactics, plans special appointments like team parties or looks after the youth teams.

Depending on his successes the player receives experience points which are used to improve his abilities, e.g. training. He also has the possibility to plan personal events, e.g. a press conference, to improve his reputation with management and fans. The matches are a basically presented with a text mode where all interesting match situations are describes in words. Optionally the player can also watch pre-calculated match scenes which get shown during key situations.

Besides the five difficulty levels the player can use additional options to make the game easier or harder, e.g. disable layoffs or granting unlimited funds. Unlike other managers the player don't has to employee assistants if he wishes to hand certain responsibilities, e.g. lineup or tactics, to the AI; he can access these functions for free. The game features 12 European leagues and a tutorial assists novice players.