Lucky me, two football management games to review in as many weeks. Three contenders for the crown of 'best footy management sim' and only one winner. Each game takes a slightly different approach to giving us their taste of what life is like from the touchline and each has its benefits & weaknesses. Today we look at Codemasters' attempt; LMA Manager 2004.

The LMA Manager games have been seen to date by most as the best representation of managing a football team on your console, LMA Manager 2004 is the latest update to the solid game engine of its predecessors. There's all the usual options and setup procedures to go through, choosing your league, team and so on then you're sitting in the chair in control of the club of your choice. First impressions are fair, the layout and appearance is much more colourful than TCM 2004 but it's here that I find my first gripe with the game. You have a live news ticker at the top of the screen which should update you of the latest scores, news and job opportunities from around the globe but the text moves so fast it becomes blurred and near impossible to read, making the feature slightly redundant for those of us who do not have superhuman abilities to slow down time.

The L+R buttons scroll you between the section headings where you can carry out all your regular managerial duties such as training, tactics, player transfers and staff recruitment by flicking the right thumbstick left and right to cycle through the submenus. It's a little tricky to get used to initially and seems a little overcomplicated in comparison with the TCM 2004 and Championship Manager menu systems. While I was critical of the transfer features in TCM 2004, here we have a much better way of finding your dream player to add to your squad. There are many filtering options ranging from the obvious such as their position and on what side they prefer playing, to the much needed 'wage' category where you can really get the most from your money. For example, it's great to have the option to filter the highest skilled players for the cheapest price and least wage. It's pure sweatshop football and essential for those lower league challenges.

LMA 2004 plays host to numerous fine touches which are geared towards making your life easier but not taking your hand and over-patronising you like TCM 2004 occasionally leans towards doing. Tactics are handles with simple slide bars, slide to the left for a more defensive minded squad or to the right for all-out attacking play. Initially your best tactics are selected by default but you can set them to train new styles of play, improving your team’s ability to adapt to different situations. If this is too much for you, there are lots of preset tactics for you to choose from including classic all-time team tactics from real competitions and matches.

The match engine is the game's main selling point and it all runs very fluidly. Your options are limited to barking a few orders such as 'Defend!' and 'Long Ball!' but if you have an Xbox Communicator you can shout the orders in real-time, making you look really bloody stupid. Like a real football manager then. Fun for a short while but will become more of a gimmick in the long term, after all it's not hard to learn 6 or so button shortcuts. The matches are played out nicely and the AI is working very well, only on rare infrequent occasions do the players run away from the ball or perform some other act of stupidity. If you choose not to watch the match, for same reason it takes a couple of minutes to generate the results for your match which you could have watched the whole thing on fast-forward mode. Why it takes so long to generate the results from one game is beyond me and seems unnecessary. Also, instead of having one button to advance through the days and weeks like TCM 2004 does, you have to navigate through a menu and then press the X button. It's things like this that make you feel like LMA 2004 has something against you.

The number of players and their statistics are impressive but so is the database of pretty much all major football management game. LMA 2004 lacks a personal feel to it. There is surprisingly little player/manager interaction; they never seem to get in trouble with the papers or press and kick up no fuss whatsoever. Unlike TCM 2004, where each player has moods and likes/dislikes that not only affects him but the whole team around him, LMA 2004 has precious little to say on that subject. It seems like you're controlling a team of ever-obedient footballing zombies and doesn't help to immerse you into the game or care about how your players are performing.

Graphically the game is as you would expect it to be, functional but not over the top. After all, we are really dealing with an enhanced spreadsheet and numbers can only be made to look exciting up to a point. The match engine is nice enough but lacks the polish it should on the Xbox. It looks slightly 'PS2' with more jagged edges to the players than is necessary on our format. But it does the job well, there's just not enough flair to make things that little bit more exciting or involving.

Again, this isn't really the main point of the game but the sound included in the post match analysis provided by Gary Lineker is fine for the most part but falls into the same old problems of having the club/player names recorded in a totally different style of speaking than the general comments and sentences. It definitely stands out and makes the game feel much older than it actually is.

There is a lot to get into in LMA 2004, you can play the game on its regular difficulty or play on the hardest setting where, like the newer versions of Championship Manager, you have minimal knowledge of players not in your immediate playing area and you'll have to get the scouts out to know whether the player is a good buy or not. This makes the game much more challenging and ultimately more fun as you really feel like you've done something when you land that bargain after monitoring their playing progress. There is a two player option that does extend the life of the title but ultimately plays better if you're both playing in a different league for obvious reasons.

LMA 2004 is an enjoyable game but lacks the polish, style and depth of both Championship Manager and TCM 2004.There is a lot to get stuck into and play with tactics, player position and team orders but there is something missing. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something about the sublimeness of the Championship Manager games that you can spend a whole day not doing much but getting somewhere, and at the other end of the spectrum we have TCM 2004, quick-fix in-your-face football management. LMA falls somewhere in between, shouting to be heard above the popularity/brand of the other two. Don't take this as saying that it's a bad game, it's anything but, it's just that everything seems a little sterilised and impersonal. Seasoned videogame football managers will find plenty to like about LMA 2004 but there are a few niggling annoyances that should have been resolved. Still, the game remains an enjoyable short term fix that will undoubtedly have its loyal following but seems to play a little too lightweight after the other two football management games on Xbox.