World Championship Boxing Manager logo

GOLIATH GAMES £19.95 * Mouse

After the runaway success of Tracksuit Manager, which put the player in the boots of a football club boss, comes Boxing Manager. Same ideas, new sport.

Your stable can cope with up to five boxers, so a day in the life of a manager starts in the office trying to fix up some fights for hyour boxers. There are two governing bodies in the game, the World Council of International Boxing and the Federation of World Boxing. All your boxers start off right at the bottom of the list of graded boxers and fights can only be arranged with boxers of a similar class.

Things to consider when fixing up a fight include just how much of the gate money you're prepared to take and which governing body you want to supervise the fight (because they each class boxers differently). Once a fight is arranged the best thing to do is check on the boxer and decide which are his strengths and weaknesses, then advise the trainer on what the boxer should be concentrating on. You can also call a scout to spy on the opponent and report back on his strengths and weaknesses.

Then the big day arrives and you can watch your boy in action. Two commentators tell you what's happening during the 10-round bout and at the en of every round you play second, administering the cold iron to bruises and the sponge to the face.

Pick your opponents well, keep your boxers happy and in tip-top condition and you may just produce a champion.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

The sound effects are fine - unnecessary, but fine (the cat in the hallway will get on your nerves sooner not later, though). The graphics are fine too, being rather well drawn. Looks and sounds better than you would expect for a management game.

LASTING INTEREST

It's not as deep as most football management games but it's still complex enough to keep you at it for a while.

JUDGEMENT

If you're a management game freak you may find it a little too shallow to have you up all night, but if you've never dipped your toes into the management scene this could be just the thing to get you hooked.



World Championship Boxing Manager logo

Ring frei für Goliath's neue Boxmanager-Simulation. Die zweite Veröffentlichung des jungen englischen Softwarehauses ist zwar kein Sieg durch KO, aber nach Punkten liegt sie ganz weit vorne in der Gunst der Schiedsrichter!

Nach einem beeindruckenden Vorspann kann sich der tatendurstige Jungmanager von seiner kessen Sekretärin per Karteikarte ein paar hoffnungsvolle Boxtalente zeigen lassen. Hat er einen davon ausgewählt, geht's an die Arbeit: Man muß sich überlegen, gegen welchen Gegner man als erstes antritt, und mit dessen Manager einen Kampf vereinbaren; außerdem braucht man das OK von einem der beiden Weltboxverbände (FWB/WCIB).

Während der eigene Schützling dann im Kraftraum schwitzt, kann man über die Höhe der Börse verhandeln, einen Spion zum Auskundschaften losschicken (wenn er erwischt wird, gibt's allerdings was auf die Nase!), für sportmedizinische Betreuung sorgen, und so manches mehr. Am "Tag X" sitzt man natürlich mit am Ring und versucht, durch geschicktes Variieren der Kampftaktik den Gegner in die Knie zu zwingen.

Das Game ist für eine Managersimulation ungewöhnlich gut präsentiert; die (teilweise sogar animierte) Grafik reicht schon fast an Cinemaware-Spiele heran, sie ist nur etwas gröber und nicht ganz so umfangreich.
Der Simulations-Charakter (Realismus!) kommt recht ordentlich 'rüber, die Boxer können sich z.B. beim Training verletzen oder Foul-schläge im Kampf austeilen.

Trotz der Komplexität des Spiels ist die Bedienung simpel und nur gelegentlich ein bißchen umständlich; abgesehen von der anfänglichen Namenseingabe wird alles mit der Maus erledigt. Auch die Statistiken sind logisch und übersichtlich aufgebaut.

Ein paar Schattenseiten hat das Ganze natürlich auch: so kann man nur einen Boxer managen, es gibt keine Musik, sondern nur wenige (erträgliche) Effekte und vor allem: Beim Kampf selbst ist man nur Zuschauer, eigentlich sogar nur Zuhörer, denn alles was es dabei auf dem Screen zu sehen gibt, sind zwei Journalisten, die das Geschehen kommentieren.

Für eine Managersimulation ist ein richtiger Action-Teil zwar nicht unbedingt erforderlich, aber lustiger wär's halt schon gewesen!

Trotz dieser kleinen Schönheitsfehler ist WCBM das derzeit wohl beste Boxspiel für den Amiga. Für die langanhaltende Motivation sorgen vor allem die sogenannten A.I. Gegner ("Artificial Intelligence"), was im Klartext bedeutet, daß über Sieg oder Niederlage nicht einfach durch Vergleich der Kampfwerte oder der Listenplazierung entschieden wird.

Es kommt vielmehr auch ganz entscheidend auf die richtige Taktik während des Fights an! Wer seinen Gegner z.B. dadurch überrascht, daß er es in den ersten Runden eher zurückhaltend angeht und dann plötzlich auf bedingungslosen Angriff umschaltet, hat schon fast gewonnen...

Dennoch: Bis zum ersten Titelgewinn ist der Weg weit, es ist bekanntlich noch kein Rocky vom Himmel gefallen. Wer sich also erstmal darauf einläßt, seinen Schützling ganz nach oben zu boxen, erhält eine Menge Unterhaltung für sein Geld! (mm)



World Championship Boxing Manager logo CU Screen Star

Goliath Games
Price: £19.95

For what is only Goliath's second product, World Championship Boxing Manager sets a standard of excellence that a lot of other companies would like to be seen to have.

The reason Goliath's games stand out head and shoulders above the rest is simply the amount of care and attention that goes into them. Take WCBM for a start. Doug Mathews, the man at the top of Goliath Towers, got himself a satellite dish and recorded every single boxing match on the relevant satellite sports channels, and then studied them carefully to try and understand how a boxing match works, right down to how many punches on average will land and how many will be dodged or blocked.

You take on the role of boxing promoter/manager, in charge of anything up to five boxers at any one time and by making all the relevant decisions you have to try and pick these boxers up from out of the gutter and take them to the lofty heights of a world championship in either the FWB league (Federation of World Boxing) or the WCIB (World Council of International Boxing).

But it doesn't end there. In fact, the game doesn't end at all. There is no set pattern to follow, other than to move up ranks by beating opponents placed higher than you. The more impressive you fight, the faster you move. For example, if a 100 ranked player takes on a 97 ranked fighter and only wins on points at the end of the ten rounds, they might move up two places. However, should this player knock out the opponent in the 2nd round, that's worth a certified leap of at least ten places.

The game works along the lines of Tracksuit Manager, in that all decisions are made through highlighting options on menus. The main difference is that now you are no longer faced with a screen of boxed off text.

Every screen has some bits animated, such as Goliath, the company cat, who makes a point of getting into as many screens as possible.

You check the weekly rankings to see who's above you. Then you have to look in your Filofax to find out how good a fighter this person is and who their manager is. When you've found a boxer you want one of your boxers to challenge, you then go to your phone and call up the required manager.
Set a date and a purse percentage. If they agree, you then have to get the fight approved by one of the boxing boards, and you're away.

The fight itself is possibly the best thing about the game. You have a running commentary during the fight, and the power punches rain down thick and fast while all your boxer can do is flail his arms hopelessly. It made me wince just to watch it.

You do have a little bit of say in the run of the game at the end of each round, when you have thirty seconds to try and patch your boxer up by applying a cold iron to the bruising or an adrenalin pad to the cuts, allocating different amounts to each. Then you can instruct the boxer on which style of boxing you think would be best for this particular round, whether that be taking it easy, jabbing to the head or moving out to going for the K.O. and fighting dirty. It's all here and it all works surprisingly well. The A.I. Routines used are some of the best I've ever seen, especially when it comes to generating the 'proper' reactions to different incidents.

There is a lot more I could go into. I could explain the subtleties of the game. Discovering all the little complexities is just part of the fun, and trying to master the fame is the rest. But don't worry, you never will. An incredible product, and a great start to the New Year.


64 UPDATE

Naturally the C64 version doesn't have the same graphics or animation as the Amiga version. What it does have, however, is the same gameplay, the same involvement and the same level of addictiveness.

The game is identical on both machines, containing all the same options and menus. However, a couple of things have been dropped, such as half a dozen phrases from the commentary, or the use of speech bubbles in favour of good old-fashioned boxes.

The screens are still laid out in the same way, i.e. you still see a picture of your office, only now it's more stylised.

GRAPHICS
SOUND
PLAYABILITY
LASTABILITY
OVERALL
65%
N/A
94%
93%
89%
 


World Championship Boxing Manager logo

Goliath Games, C64 £9.95 cassette, £12.95 disk; Amiga £19.95

Y ou don't need bulging biceps to earn a living out of boxing: as a manager you can rake in the cash while others take the punches. With a stable of up to five boxers you compete against 17 computer-controlled managers.

The main menu comprises a corridor with three doors leading to the physio (for fitness reports), the gymnasium (where fighters can train in five different ways), and your office.

The latter includes a filing cabinet containing your boxers' contracts, records, and rankings (area, national, and world for both the FWB and WCIB boxing boards). There's also a calendar for advancing the date, and a filofax with useful information such as fight dates, all 100 boxers' flight records, and detailed ability reports for each of your boxers.

The most important piece of office equipment is the telephone, used to contact other managers to arrange fights. A manager may turn down a fight offer if he thinks it's a mismatch, or if you greedily ask for too high a percentage of the purse. Also contacted by phone are two scouts (Limpy and Wimpy!) who can watch fights on your behalf or even spy on other fighters - however, once found out they may enjoy a long stay in hospital! If a fighter is unhappy with his present manager you may be able to poach him.

Of fight night (every Saturday) you can watch a blow-by-blow text commentary of any fight. If one of your boxers is involved you get to work in the corner. Between rounds you have thirty seconds to work on your fighter's injuries using such items as the water bottle, sponge, adrenalin, and cold iron. Tactical instructions (ranging from 'take it easy' to 'fight dirty') can also be given for the next round. Fights may be decided either by knockout, the referee stopping the contest (if a fighter has a bad cut), or on points.


Phil King Being a boxing manager seems like a cushy number to me; after all it's the poor fighter who has to take the punches. And the boxers aren't the only ones to get beaten up on your behalf - I felt guilty sending out scouts only for them to end up in hospital, time and time again. Anyway, for a strategy game there isn't that much to do - just picking fights and working in the corner. This is mildly amusing for a while, but with its severe lack of depth the game resembles a budget release. The Amiga version has a few graphical extras such as the curvaceous secretary, but disappointingly no graphical representation of the fight itself. So overall, the C64 version is better value for money, although still far too lightweight for the serious sports strategy fan.
Robin Hogg Goliath's Tracksuit Manager was one of the most realistic footy management games made, so I was hoping for a similar treatment of boxing. Unfortunately, Boxing Manager simply doesn't give you enough to do, and you never seem to have much influence over the success of your fighters. Also, the fights aren't exactly thrilling: the text commentary gives a good blow-by-blow account, but even a simple graphic display would have helped improve the big fight atmosphere. As it is, I'm afraid Boxing Manager won't make the count.