Even if you have never played a football management game in your life, Club Soccer can be loaded up and thoroughly understood within only half an hour of play. The game offers several very worthwhile features although most, if not all of them have been implemented elsewhere. But the beauty of Club Soccer is the ease of access to each feature.
Little self-explanatory icons illustrate the main menu. It's obvious what they do, but as you place the mouse pointer on each icon its function is highlighted at the bottom of the screen.
So much for front ends then. The actual mechanics of the game are very sound. You can either edit a league division of your own making or play in the pre-saved Third Division. There are loads of customization options like this throughout the game.
The manager can choose any team from the league. Each team offers a specific purpose for the manager to aim for, so when I first played as the manager of Doncaster Rovers, the aim of the team was to finish in fifth position at least. Having a plan keeps things in perspective and modifies your management behaviour accordingly.
So, for example, that the team had quite a few games left to play and you knew that the worst position they were going to finish in was eight. If the aim of the team at the beginning was to finish ninth or better, you could then embark on a luxury policy of channeling money into the youth squad in the expectation that there would be more of a chance of someone talented becoming available for the next season's play. It's a nice touch. And there plenty more in the game.
The search routine for seeking out a specific type of player for a specific price is a real boon. It saves loads of time messing about and it lets the player get on with what counts - the game.
There are so many nice little details packed away inside Club Soccer. that to list them all would sound like the blurb on the back of the box. Notable exceptions are the option to select the territories that individual players cover on the field of play, the ability to hire and fire staff such as the talent scout and the physiotherapist, and options to raise the gate price.
Suffice to say, Club Football is a tidy little package, full of details in a front end that saves you from information overload.
Overall, it's not a first-