Premier Manager® 2012

Presentation

Building to fever pitch

Becoming a football manager has never been easier, thanks to Premier Manager 2012 on PlayStation 3. Rather than travelling from the office to the training ground, and then to all the football stadiums around Europe for each match, everything you need is accessible through your wireless controller.

The well presented menus are clear and easy to understand, allowing you to quickly jump into tactical set-ups, training routines, statistics and more. All the team and player statistics from the 2011/12 English, Italian, Spanish, French, German and Scottish leagues are at your fingertips, so you can check on a promising youngster with ease, or track the form of your local rivals within seconds.

A slick home page keeps you up to date on the latest football related happenings in the world of Premier Manager 2012, while your team page allows you to see handy information such as which player in your squad has picked up the most bookings, who is your top scorer, which player is your best overall performer and other useful facts.

With everything presented using attractive colour coding, graphs and charts, keeping an eye on your team's performance and other areas of management, such as scouting assignments, is a walk in the park. And when it comes to the big kick-off, you have plenty of stats in your kitbag to make match-winning decisions. How you handle the consequences of your choices is entirely up to you...

Gameplay

Are you The Special One?

Think you can lead your favourite team to win some silverware? It's not as easy as Sir Alex Ferguson makes it look with Manchester United - you'll need guile, tactical smarts, the right players and a dash of luck. Why not give it a go in Premier Manager 2012?

Once you've picked your squad from a selection of top European leagues, you're given your season's expectations from the chairman. This can range from valiantly avoiding relegation to challenging for top honours. On top of this, there are other factors to take into account, such as keeping the wage bill manageable.

It's also a good idea to keep an eye on the most important part of your football empire - your players. Selecting 11 stars to do battle on the pitch each week may seem simple, however dropping others on the bench for too long can have a dramatic effect on their morale, even leading them to put in a transfer request.

Managing the personalities and fitness of all your players as well as making sure you win games is a huge task. Injuries can mount up, new signings can take weeks to settle into your squad and tactical errors can earn you scorn from both players and your chairman. Thankfully you have staff on hand to help, offering invaluable advice, taking care of physiotherapy, scouting talent and other aspects.

Can you take the pressure cooker atmosphere of football management? Or will you be just another dugout disappointment? Remember, there are no easy matches and your chairman expects glory - don't disappoint him...