First thing that managed to surprise me was the speed of the game: I installed it on a laptop computer that, according to the game, didn’t meet the minimal requirements (with a 1.8 processor as opposed to the required 2.0 one) so I was expecting a crappy performance from the game. However, Championship Manager 2010 did run very smoothly and not even once had I any performance problems. And this is always an important thing for such a game in which it sometimes takes ages to proceed. I also enjoyed the “time flowing” thing: you don’t have to actually wait and look at various information while time passes by, but you can do whatever things you wish to. It’s almost real time, to say so, and it’s quite a great implementation, something FM doesn’t achieve so well yet.
Another really impressive thing is the training area of the game, especially the set piece creator. However, even though you will have some great time creating zany or very tactically correct set pieces, players will have a tough time accomplishing what you’re asking for and I was enraged that about 60% of the short passes went through the receiving player, out of bounds. I know it wasn’t something the players had practiced, but it was just a simple pass, for God’s sake! But hopefully this little bug will be dealt with until the full CM10 is released and the set piece creator will really be great.
The 3D match engine is also a joy to watch. Compared to Football Manger, the engine in Championship Manager 2010 is a few good classes above, with smooth motion captured animations and lots of detail. However, as it usually happens, the match engine is also the biggest failure in the game since there are lots of minor bugs (like players going through one another, balls going through them and so on) as well as major bugs (especially when it comes to scoring own goals). The bugs, in the long run, are not very often encountered and they’re not really deal breakers, but they are certainly something that has to be fixed or else the buyers might get disappointed.
Another thing that got improved is the player base and knowledge: a really, really important factor in which FM is still the king, but starting this year Championship Manager is a lot closer. From the tens of players I have checked out from various divisions, both well known ones and lesser famous players, the data seemed accurate and I was really happy to see that. It is a really huge bonus!