BOXING MANAGER By: D & H Games Download: bm.zip When it comes to sport management games soccer is king. Most of the management games you will find on the Amstrad are based around football, but occasionally game companies tried something different and made games were other sports were simulated. Boxing Manager is one such example which sees you manage a water polo team. Okay I'm lying. It's a boxing game, the name pretty much gives it away.

When Boxing Manager loads up you are asked to enter your name and you know that this is one of those games which has a very BASIC feel to it. Still who cares? Many great games make do without flashy graphics.

The first thing you will do in the game is name your boxer. After that you'll have to choose what weight class he is in and what difficulty setting to use. Once that is done you are ready to begin the game proper. The main menu will present you with nine options which include going to a status screen and saving your game.

There isn't an awful lot to do in Boxing Manager. The first thing you should do is hire a trainer. There are four trainers to choose from and the more expensive the trainer the better they are. You'll want the best you can afford as it will mean that your boxer's attributes will increase faster. Speed is of the utmost importance in the fight game. You start at the bottom of the world rankings and have to claw your way to the top to earn a title shot. You can't take your time in doing so because boxers have a limited life span. Each time you enter the ring you'll lose IQ points making the aim of the game - become the champ before you become a vegetable.

Another thing you can do from the main menu is buy a gym. The cost in the short term is high, but in the long term it is a money saver as you won't have to pay fees to hire a gym everytime you fight.

Apart from that the only thing you can do is book a fight for your boxer. Don't expect to challenge for the title in your first fight. Only a few boxers ranked above you will be willing to take you on so you'll need to beat them and climb up the world ranking ladder before you can face more worthy opponents. You can challenge people ranked below you if you wish. They will be easier to beat and in money terms are better because they will give you a larger percentage of the gate receipts. Beating them however won't improve your world ranking.

After that is done you move onto the training screen if hired a trainer. You have a selection of training regimes which include weights, sparring, roadwork etc. Depending on what you choose to do your boxer's attributes (strength, stamina and skill) may increase. Better trainers will allow you to choose more training regimes before you move onto the big fight.

On fight night you can sit back and watch the show. The fight itself pretty much consists of two stick men hitting each other occasionally. Between rounds you can give your boxer advice which will determine the outcome of the match. For example if your winning on points, but are low on stamina you should tell you boxer to avoid getting hit. If your opponent is badly hurt you can tell your guy to go for a knockout.

After the fight ends you will be presented with the results of some other matches and return to the main menu to book your next fight.

Boxing Manager is alright at first, but there isn't much to do other than hire a trainer, train and then watch a fight. What is fun at first becomes dull very soon. You'll need more stamina than your average boxer if you plan to win enough boring fights to win the championship belt. Shame because the idea isn't a bad one, the game just needs more things to keep your interest. Maybe you should be allowed to manage more than one boxer or have a bigger say in negotiating how much money you earn per fight.

Another thing that doesn't help is the poor programming. The game has some bugs and typos (strength is not spelt strenth.) There is little sound and what there is includes stuff like terrible digitised speech which makes you wish that the gameplaying experience was a silent one. All in all Boxing Manager is a game which could have been a winner, but instead gets knocked out due to there not being enough for the player to do.

Rating: 43%