‘Basketball Pro Management 2015’ Review (PC)
I don’t often play management games, if anything I prefer to play games I can jump in and out of fast (often rage quitting when I die too often). Management games need time and patience and a certain attention to detail, which I find I don’t often have. When I do find the time though to give them some attention and I’m in the right mood I can enjoy them, losing almost a day in a game like Civilization V proves that fact. That is why I found myself agreeing to take a look at Basketball Pro Management 2015 for the PC.
When you first load up the game it has a deceptively simple interface that at first seems almost too basic. After picking your team though and checking your messages as the new manager for your chosen team it does become clear that there is a lot to Basketball Pro Management 2015, you just have to hunt it down and play with it, and have the patience to find what you need. Give it time and you do start to reap the rewards, or annoy the fans and directors of your team who are ever watchful of the mistakes you make.
For the people who get lost in the sheer amount of stats available in these types of games Basketball Pro Management 2015, like many games of these types lets you hand over training schedules and formations to an assistant, this is what I chose to do. Working my way through the games my team played though I found it interesting to watch the game play out in 3D and help guide them through their games (as the manager that is meant to be my job). Sure the little players on the screen aren’t the most detailed, but this isn’t the point of a management game. The little moving people on the screen are just to give a basic representation of the simulation taking place and are there to give you an idea of the success the players are having in defence and attack.
Watching the players and then checking on the statistics for each quarter, it’s interesting to look at just which are struggling, and what substitutions are needed. Giving pep talks to the team is given importance and you do feel as the manager your work is making a difference, even if that difference is to demoralise your players and play a part in losing the game. It’s a learning process that is actually fun, if you can handle the amount of stats that are made available to you.
The fact is Basketball Pro Management 2015 is made for those people who love numbers, and there are a lot of them. You can control the shops at your stadium, whether the team has mascots and cheerleaders and you handle looking at potential transfers to your team. I’m sure basketball fans will enjoy the amount of detail that has been gone into in the game, though it should be noted as an unlicensed product you don’t get the official players and team names.
The overall presentation of Basketball Pro Management 2015 is in some ways where it lets itself down. There is an unpolished feel to the game and in some respect its basicness does shine through as a weakness, especially in the days of shiny graphics and next generation consoles. With management games though I do think the lack of shiny graphics can be looked past though as they should be of secondary importance when compared to the stats and as a casual player of management games I didn’t find the lack of shine that important.
Basketball Pro Management 2015 is a game that can grab the management genre fan and have them spend hours on it, but it is also one that could put some off. The player does have to hunt down many of the more detailed options for the game, and this is a weakness in the user interface really, but for the people who put the time into it there really is some fun to be had, especially if you play the game well and your team wins. Sometimes it’s nice to see a game that has a focus on the actual statistics behind sports, and there are many gamers out there who are fans of this style. I’m sure they’ll find some fun with Basketball Pro Management 2015 even with its weaknesses.
***½ 3.5/5
Basketball Pro Management 2015 is available on PC now.
