Here’s a football management sim with a twist – you travel back to the 1980s to man-manage Maradona and try to poach a 17-year-old Dennis Bergkamp.
Football in the 1980s was a curious thing, with sights and events marked by the sublime (perms, moustaches, mullets, tight shorts) and the heartbreaking (stadium disasters, hooliganism and racial abuse). Yet for most football fans, nothing shines brighter than fond, rose-tinted memories of past glories and club legends.
Keen to tap into everyone’s desire to recreate past glories, Square Enix have taken their Championship Manager football management series back to a time when power suits and a young Tom Cruise ruled the world. With CM 1980s Legends, players can choose between English, Spanish, Scottish and Italian club teams and begin their career in 1980, 1983 or 1986.
This is, of course, a fantastic idea. CM Legends’ 80s vibe is accentuated throughout, with a retro interface and even recreations of popular news and entertainment headlines at the time occasionally popping up as single frame images. Trust us, it’s a great feeling to beat Trapattoni’s Juventus with a Diego Maradona-led Napoli and having the game being followed by a quick snippet of the news that Crocodile Dundee is storming the box office.
Press conferences are fun, although all of our answers managed to annoy the media
Elsewhere, the sheer retro appeal is incredibly well-considered, with league wins amounting to just two points, managers only allowed only two players on the subs bench and the fact that every single cup competition was obsessed with two-legged finals.
Whichever season you choose, the app details the football world as it looked in that summer, with the 1986 season beginning with the news that English clubs have been banned from European competition following the Heysel Stadium disaster. The app’s authenticity is without doubt its selling point and the game’s biggest selling points – its 1980s database of players – is no disappointment.
Simply put, CM 1980s Legends transfer market makes users feel as if they have just stepped out of a time machine.
Befitting the name, bona-fide legends are playing out the end of their careers (Kenny Dalglish and Michel Platini in 1986), while highly promising youngsters (an 18-year-old Paolo Maldini, a 17-year-old Dennis Bergkamp) are waiting to become the household names and all-time superstars under your tutelage.
This is one football management title in which you don’t need to employ the world’s best scouts to find undiscovered talent; rather all you have to do is rack your brain and think of how starred at the 1990 World Cup or a few years later.
Another fun aspect of CM 1980 Legends is the surprisingly sensible transfer values of players, which quickly become second nature during your playtime. In my time at Napoli I decided to splash the cash on the world’s most expensive player, AC Milan’s Marco Van Basten, pushing the boat out with a stonking £2.9m bid. The Rossoneri quickly knocked back my offer, demanding £4.9m for the Dutchman, which I promptly refused. To think, that’s the sort of money that would buy you 14% of Andy Carroll these days.
Difficulty or lack thereof
Retro thrills aside, we should point out that one aspect of the app which didn’t quite add up for us is the game’s slightly botched transfer system, which makes winning leagues easier than it should. As you only need 13 players for each game, there’s nothing stopping you from selling off half your full squad (who will likely never play) and buying a superstar for each position.
For example, in my first season I romped to the Scudetto with my Napoli side, thanks mostly to my signings of Jurgen Klinsmann, Paolo Maldini, Thomas Häßler and Walter Zenga. Overall, players are just a little too easy to buy and sell, making a rebuilding of a squad a near-overnight success at times. Like a few other iDevice management titles (Game Dev Story included), once you start hitting your stride, the app doesn’t really offer enough depth to cause you any future setbacks.
While we won’t claim that CM 1980 Legends is a perfect title, it certainly provides a unique and fresh take on the football management genre, with a price that’s an absolute steal. Our advice? Download the app, employ hoofing tactics and sign Kevin Sheedy and Niall Quinn – you might just become the next Jack Charlton.
CM 1980s Legends is available to download from the Apple App Store for €2.39.
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