Premier Manager 98. Even though the jewel case promises a "FULLY UPDATED VERSION OF THE CLASSIC PREMIER MANAGER 97," what we've actually got here is an almost exact duplicate of the not-so-bad Premier Manager 97. A few flaws are addressed, but this so-called update really consists of nothing more than an AI patch and a few minor additions to bolster game play.

The same options are present this time around. You start by selecting 'Manager League' or 'Pro-Manager League.' The pro circuit is a little more challenging, and there you're given a limited selection of Third Division clubs to choose from when starting off. On the 'Manager' setting, you take over any team you want, from any of the divisions. After this you pick what area you want to concentrate on. 'Trainer' just allows you to set rosters while all the money and contract matters are handled for you. 'Accountant' is the reverse of this, with everything running on automatic except the ledger. 'Manager' features automatic contract renewal, allowing you to concentrate on your line-up. 'Total' lets you take over the whole shebang. There's also a check-box here regarding player aging. Leave it off, and you can build a super-team of immortals.

Once you've got your squad picked and things ready to roll, you run the operations using the same interface from PM 97. As before, everything works quite well. You hire staff, set up tactics, schedule training sessions, scout players, run a youth team, set ticket prices, build stadium additions and improvements, in the same way as before. The transfer system is much improved, thankfully. There are three options to get games simmed. If you're in a rush, click on results and the final score will come up in a matter of moments.

If you've got a little more time you can watch textual commentary. Those really intrigued can either check out the highlights interspersed with text, or watch the entire game as it unfolds.

Match results are more realistic in PM 98. Where games that were fully watched tended to turn into ridiculously high-scoring affairs last year, this time around things are very down-to-earth. In the seasons that I've gone through, everything has been of the 3-2, 2-1, 1-0 variety, with a fair number of 0-0 games as well. This is greatly improved over PM 97. 

Rivals: Championship Manager series, Ultimate Soccer Manager series.

Star Rating: HHHII

Producer: Gremlin

Required Spec:

Windows 95/98/2000/NT

Pentium 150

8MB RAM

16bit Soundcard

2Mb RAM Graphics card

4x CD-ROM

200Mb Hard Drive space

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