New Star Manager
Title: New Star Manager
Developer: New Star Games
Publisher: Five Aces Publishing
Website: http://www.newstargames.com/en/text/releases/Releases/item/394/Releases-New-Star-Manager
Genre: Sports, RPG, Simulation, Strategy
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Audience: 3
Release Date: 31/01/2019
Price: £14.99 – Rapid Reviews UK was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.
What the Developers say
TOTAL CLUB CONTROL: Take ownership of every aspect of New Star FC, from constructing vital club facilities and managing the players’ training regimes to choosing the perfect sponsor and hiring or firing the backroom staff!
FULL SQUAD GAMEPLAY: Use every member of your team to set up and score pivotal goals with on-pitch gameplay using innovative controls. Change at any time between touch screen and Joy-Con controls in handheld mode, or use the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller!
REAL SOCCER TACTICS: Build your dream squad, choose your winning formation, make tactical substitutions, and even step into the locker room for some half-time motivation!
OFF-PITCH DRAMA: Handle volatile players and get their mind back in the game by monitoring their concerns, outbursts, and quirks. Keep the board off your back, navigate the hostile waters of the sporting press, and make sure the fans keep believing… while keeping a careful eye on the club’s finances!
GLOBAL FOOTBALL: Dive into realistic simulations of the world’s biggest leagues and cup competitions!
THE NEW STAR SOCCER EVOLUTION: Experience the newest instalment of the New Star series, whose pick-up-and-play sports titles have already been enjoyed by over 30 million players!
Introduction
I consider myself a football fan who knows a little bit about the game of football, and as I sit on my sofa, screaming at my team on TV, I’m a tactical genius. Unfortunately, this never seems to translate to football manager games. They’re either too detailed and convoluted for me, or despite giving it my best, I never end up doing well which results in me losing interest quite quickly.
When I found out that New Star games were releasing their Football Manager game on the Nintendo Switch, I was excited. Having played some of their games on mobile before, I knew that the game would be enjoyable. Read on for my Rapid Review of this football management game.
Looks and Sounds
New Star Manager does look good on the small screen of the Switch. It also holds up well on a bigger screen when in docked mode. The player models are great, and the menus and game aesthetics have been executed to a high standard.
I particularly enjoyed the way you can move around your training ground, stadium and other facilities. You can rotate the camera as well as zoom in and out.
The sound effects are quite simple, but they more than do the job of creating that match day atmosphere.
Gameplay and Replayability
NSM lets you play in a variety of ways. You can use the Joy-Cons, touch screen or the Pro Controller. Having the choice of ways to play allows you to find the way that suits you best. For me, it was a combination of the touch screen and Joy-Cons.
New Star Manager does a good job of easing you in gently. A large portion of the start of the game is a tutorial which holds your hand and teaches you the ropes.
It’s all about to kick off!
The pre-match screen presents you with your current squad. From here you can change tactics including your formation and starting line-up. You can also make use of any cards that you might have collected, for example, NRG boost cards.
During a match, you can keep an eye on your player’s ratings and energy level. You can also change the team’s work rate, focus and tactics. Until your team is on the attack and presented with a chance to score, you can follow the match progress in the shape of a ticker featuring key events of the game. You can change the speed at which this information is delivered.
Pass and move is the New Star groove…
When you have a chance to attack, it’s your time to take control of the match. Here you can pass the ball, set your teammates on runs, and shoot. When you shoot, you’re shown a bouncing ball, and the objective is to hit the ball with accuracy. If you make a balls-up of the shot, you get one chance to retry. What I will say is that after some practice, it does get quite easy to score. However, it never gets less satisfying when the net bulges.
As I mentioned previously, there’s plenty of depth to the game which will satisfy pro football manager fans. Post-match you are shown match stats and given feedback from your assistant manager.
Staffing
As you progress throughout your managerial career, you need to ensure that you have the right staff members on board. When negotiating a new contract with a member of staff, you are given a game of higher or lower to play. Beating this game will reduce the cost of the contract, losing the game will require you to pay the full demands of the staff member. This is an excellent feature as you can sometimes get a more experienced member of staff for less money.
There are many other minigames available including press conferences. As you can see from the screenshot below, you will notice that you need to know about your squad to answer the question correctly. There’s also a team talk minigame which tasks you with choosing various cliched statements. Avoiding the red comments will result in an energy/morale boost for your team.
You’re getting sacked in the morning!
To keep you on your toes, throughout the season you’re given targets by the dreaded Board of Directors. You can check your progress towards these targets at any time. Hitting these targets will result in winning the confidence of the board and rewards. Missing the targets will result in you getting your P45.
Conclusion
New Star Manager makes its welcomed debut to the console on the Nintendo Switch. There is enough in this game to satisfy the hardcore football manager. However, I believe that the target market for this game is the more casual football fan and I include myself in this bracket.
Given New Star Games’ roots in mobile games, New Star Manager and the Nintendo Switch make a good team. I’m off to try and win the league!
Rapid Reviews UK Rating
You can purchase New Star Manager for Nintendo Switch at the eShop on the following link, https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/New-Star-Manager-1503267.html
OPPO UK Launch
