MEDIUM, wash, spin dry, cool iron, do not bleach. Thats about the best way I know of managing a track suit. Others may beg to differ. Surely the good people at Again Again haven't sunk to the depths of producing a laundry simulator?
Not quite. What they have done is write a football management game. Now before you switch off your Amiga Computing to go and do something less boring, Track Suit Manager is different. Gone are the days of "You have no dosh - press 99 to restart" and mammoth negative loans. This is purely a game of two teams and 90 minutes, Brian.
You are an international team manager, and all you are interested in is winning the Nations Cup.
The loading screen shows a reasonably poor rendition of the box cover - a worried footballer on the right, and a manager who just happens to be wearing a tracksuit frantically yawning at him. Doesn't bode too well, does it?
The next bit is choosing the team. Stick to being England unless you want to type in at least 30 different players. You can view the entire number of available players and check their performance before you choose your squad.
Choosing the team is great. Commodore Amiga (Inc., (R), (C), TM, et al) gave you a mouse and a nice set of routines to handle it. Track Suit Manager has a menu system. What does it use - a joystick. Very logical.
The absence of any noise whatsoever, the total lack of graphics and a Save to Tape option smacks of a hurried conversion. I went to all the bother of getting a cassette deck wired up and the option printed. "This is not an option." Pah!
Once you've got your team chosen, you can watch matches, scout matches, arrange matches, arrange tours and even play a match if one comes up in your group. Watching a match involves trying to read scrolling commentary and keeping one eye on a white line representing the field position of the ball.
The speed of the match can be varied from a minute per second to about a minute per fifteen seconds. Playing a match is the same, except you can alter team tactics and substitute players.
Everything about the team and the players can be changed. Individual attacking styles, defence, marking, team formation - you name it, you can probably change it.
Somebody somewhere has spent a very long time on Track Suit Manager. Much thought went into its conception. Unfortunately, very little has gone into the Amiga version.
No use whatever has been made of the Amiga's nice little treats, apart from charging an Amiga price. SO what possibly can be said in its favour? If you/re a strategist, you won't get much out of it. An arcade fiend won't get anything out of it. Adventurers will probably wander off elsewhere. Who is going to buy it?
I'll tell you who - football fiends! If you can recite the Association rules backwards in Sanskrit for extra points you'll love it. But if you are not already sold on football, it won't convert you. Its presentation is, frankly, dire.