New Star Soccer for Mac

Become the next Cristiano Ronaldo

I'm a huge soccer fan although when it comes to gaming, I prefer hands-on games like Pro Evolution Soccer than a Football Manager-style game, such as New Star Soccer 4.

However, if you are a management game fan and you've completed Championship Manager several times over, winning the Champions League as Bristol City, then New Star Soccer may well appeal. Note, firstly, that to make it work, you'll have to drag the icon to your applications folder - you can't run it from the disk image.

The setup process in New Star Soccer is fairly lengthy. When you start the game, you're asked to select which countries and leagues you'd like to compete in. I chose to start off my player in FC Kabul in Afghanistan and on start-up, was informed that they'd offered me a trainee contract. The names of the clubs, players and even cup competitions are slightly altered for legal reasons so don't expect any realism there.

However, in terms of depth, New Star Soccer 4 is to be commended. You can configure everything from your hair color to your personality type (I chose 'Party Animal') all of which will affect your player's performances. The game is supposed to accurately re-create all the things that a professional player has to deal with on a daily basis. If your personal life suffers so will your performance, and the choices you make will ultimately determine your success.

Once you've configured everything correctly, you actually play the games yourself although the match gameplay is very poor. For a start, the computer does not select the nearest player to the ball to control automatically so you can end up just chasing around the pitch like a headless chicken trying to get the ball with the same player all match. The player controls are with the cursor keys and spacebar to shoot.

There's a lot more to New Star Soccer 4 than this and combined with a jazzy soundtrack throughout, it's a decent attempt at a comprehensive soccer management sim game.