Pro Evolution Soccer: Management (PlayStation 2)

Pro Evolution Soccer: Management is a football management game from the developers of the long running Pro Evolution Soccer series. The main game is single player but there is a two player option to play a single game with a friend.

This game claims to give the player the chance to manage any of one hundred and sixteen clubs from six top European leagues. This is not a fully licensed title, so while in the English league Chelsea and Arsenal are present, other teams are Merseyside Red, Merseyside Blue, Man Red etc. instead of Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United. The full list of leagues and teams available is as follows:

• Serie A (Italy): Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Udinese, Sampdoria, Palermo, Messina, AS Roma, Livorno, Lazio, Lecce, Reggina, Siena, Chievo Verona, Fiorentina, Parma, Trevisio, Ascoli, Cluesusritchi
• Eredivisie (Netherlands): PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, AZ, Feyenoord, SC Heerenveen, FC Twente, Vitesse, Roda JC, RKC Waalwijk, Willem II, FC Utrecht, FC Groningen, NEC Nijmegen, ADO Den Hag, NAC Breda, RBC Roosendaal, Heracles Almedo, Sparta Rotterdam
• Liga Española (Spain): FC Barcelona, R. Madrid, Villarreal C.F., R. Betis, R.C.D. Espanyol, Sevilla F.C., Valencia C.F., R.C. Deportivo, Athletic Club, Malaga C.F., C. Athletico Madrid, R. Zaragoza, Getafe C. F., R. Sociedad, At. Osasuna, R. Racing C., R.C.D. Mallorca, Cadiz, Celta, Alaves
• England League: Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Red, Merseyside Blue, Merseyside Red, Middlebrook, Teeside, Man Blue, North East London, West Midlands Village, South East London Reds, West Midlands City, West London White, Tyneside, Lancashire, Pompy, West Midlands Stripes, Wearside, Lancashire Athletic, East London
• French League: Rhine, Pas de Calais, Azur, Bretagne, Bouches du Rhone, Somesterrine, Nord, Bourgogne, Ile de France, Franche-Comte, Alsace, Alpes Maritime, Garonne, Corse Sud, Aquitaine, Moselle, Loire Ocean, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Sarthe, Aube
• German League: Isar, Ruhr, Weser, Hauptstadt, Neckar, Rhein, Westfalen, Hanseaten, Autostadt, Niedersachsen, Karneval, Pfalz, Alm, Franken, Fohlen, Domstadt, Stahlstadt, Rhein-Main

There are two modes of play: Match Mode, where the player manages their team for a single match, and Season Mode, where the player’s team competes in both the league and various championships.

A season lasts from July 1st in one year through to June 30th of the following year. At the end of a season the manager may be offered a contract renewal with their existing club and/or they may be offered positions with other clubs. The player starts the season by accepting a job offer. As the season progresses, their reputation may rise or fall. If it rises, the player may be given the chance to move to a higher ranked club; if it falls, they may be asked to leave and have to seek employment with a lower club.

After accepting an offer, the new manager appoints additional staff, an assistant manager, and three scouts. The announcement of the new manager is then made and the season begins. The player has a budget assigned as a lump sum at the start of the season. Any revenue from increased ticket sales or prize money goes to the club and not into the manager’s budget; this and any leftover money determines how much cash the club has available for the next season.

During the season, the manager competes in the domestic league, the domestic cup and, depending on the club’s position in the previous season’s league, possibly the European Cup, European Super Cup and Konami Cup.

Players can be bought, sold, coached, and/or promoted from the youth team to the first team. The manager can request meetings with players, staff and the chairman. The manager also decides tactics for the squad and at an individual player level, selects the squad, and fine tunes the formation. Scouts give advice not just on new players but on the opposition.

All matches are played automatically based on the team as selected by the manager though of course there’s a pause menu which has the option to change the team tactics, camera angle, etc. during the game. The game is played in 3D with commentary and occasional close-ups.

Match Mode can be player vs. computer, player vs. player (this requires two controllers), or computer vs. computer. This mode gives the player(s) access to fifty-seven national squads and one hundred and thirty-eight league clubs which includes all the league clubs listed above plus others.
This mode also gives the player(s) access to eighteen ‘Environment’ parameters that affect the match. These include the standard season, weather, and time of day settings as well as choosing the referee, the motivation of the teams, which team the supporters cheer for and the ratio of home and away supporters. Some effects such as the type of ball and the ball trace effect used in replays have to be unlocked by achieving targets in the main game.

The game also has an edit mode in which the player’s appearance and names can be changed. There’s a lot of detail that can be tweaked to get a realistic likeness of a player or manager; there are over forty different settings, most of them facial, which include thirteen different nose shapes and twelve cheek types. Teams can be created and changed too, with the player having the power to edit strips, team emblems, logos, names and more.