Resurrection: Championship Manager 97/98

‘Resurrection‘ is a regular feature here at Resolution, where, every Friday, we take a look back at a game of old. This week, Sinan Kubba gets football-nostalgic over a management classic…

The Championship Manager 97/98 demo was my first experience of the series. CM97/98 was the third and final game to use the CM2 engine, and because of the previous two games’ success was much anticipated. For all the popularity, it was still astonishing to see a humble football management sim dominating the PC Zone issue that housed the disc with the game’s demo on it.

With curiosity piqued, I took said demo with me on my Christmas visit to family in South Wales. It was South Wales, what else was I going to do? So, the demo allowed for six months managing any English league side. As an Arsenal fan anxious over a young bespectacled Frenchman’s first full season as manager, I opted to offer my own stability to the Highbury hot seat.

Over two hours, which saw my rise to the top followed by a plummet faster than Jürgen Klinsmann in a light breeze, any lingering surprise at the hype was replaced by sheer joy and, more significantly, the roots of an addiction that would consume my teenage years – and a fair few of my adult ones too.

AN ABSOLUTE SCREAMER
When people talk of the Championship Manager addiction, they’re not talking about something that’s like any other gaming addiction. It’s not like spending the whole day on World of Warcraft or playing 100 Halo 3 matches in a row. That’s not the same as spending painstaking hours upon hours fretting about every one of the 20 stats of every last player in your squad. That’s not the same as being hypnotized by match after match being played out with no more visual reference than textual commentary that flashed whenever there was a goal. That’s not the same as realising, even at the end of yet another 30-hour session, that you’re still planning out the rest of your side’s season, be in your waking hours or in your spreadsheet-filled dreams. It wasn’t an addiction. It was a passion.

CM fans decry the claims of the games being little more than glorified spreadsheets barren of any aural or visual gloss, but that’s exactly what CM97/98 was. It’s just that glorified doesn’t do it justice. This iteration threw a whole heap load of extra tactical features into the mix, built upon the complex transfer system from the previous game, and provided international flair with the introduction of worldwide leagues. If only every spreadsheet could be this glorified.

Its best feature was not one you could put on the back of the box easily: it absolutely nailed the difficulty. CM97/98 was so enjoyably challenging, even with repeated playthroughs. Some fans will claim their 4-2-4 was unstoppable, that they never lost a match, but there was no such thing as guaranteed with CM 97/98. Sure, there were tricks of the trade. Some of these were hidden gems, close-guarded secrets to take to the grave.

Then there was Ibrahima Bakayoko. Everyone, even your football-hating aunt, knew about Ibrahima Bakayoko. Get this jewel from the Ivory Coast for about £10m from the start, slot him in the behind the strikers, sit back and watch the goals fly in. [Continues]

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