Developer: InImages
Publisher: Ultimate Games
Platform: Switch, PC
Tested on: Switch
ESport Manager – Switch
Playing videogames with people you like is a great pastime to build comradery and to unwind after a hard day of work. Friends who play a lot in a group will most likely refer to themselves as a clan, and when the teamwork goes so well that you see your team winning most of the matches, the dream of entering an eSports League comes closer and closer. Now, if you want to simulate owning a team or being the leader of said clan, then you might think that Esport Manager is the game for you. Without beating around the bush, it isn’t, overall the experience is even more frustrating than having lousy teammates during a random pick in an online match.
Story
There isn’t much to the story of ESport Manager as you just create a team and have to lead them to the top. Seeing you get the complete freedom to create your group of five characters, there wasn’t a real place for bios or backgrounds. You just have to manage the team, be sure they win, stay well-fed and play your cards right to make it into the big leagues. Your ultimate goal is to become the best-ranked clan and defend your trophy at the top of the hill. This is all brought to you by simple text boxes that display after playing a match, you don’t have anyone who guides you and get no explanation of why or how you are doing it all. It is up to the player to figure out the mechanics behind Esport Manager and to keep the self fantasized story interesting. For this reason, gameplay becomes really bland after a few matches and there is just nothing to keep you there. No rivalry or trash talk between teams to spark the fight or sponsors choosing for other teams.
Graphics
ESport Manager has been inspired by games such as Roblox that have simple yet charismatic visuals. Graphics are done in a very simplistic way without many details to them but that is just what makes the overall experience something funny and enjoyable for all ages. Explosions from grenades make it rain blocks, you don’t really see bullets flying and there is no blood. For that reason, ESport Manager seems directed to kids, yet due to the complexity, it seems to be more for early teens.
Sound
ESports can be associated with the youth and for that reason, you might expect a pretty decent soundtrack. The music that is in-game is pretty catchy and will have you slowly nod with the beat out of appreciation. Music and effects can be adjusted in the menu but overall the music creates a good impression that battles are hectic and winning isn’t easy. Sound effects are really the most basic assets of gunfire and explosions. Sadly, there are no voiced narrations or players interacting with each other.
Gameplay
ESport Manager is a management game about creating a professional clan and leading them to the top. Not only can you manage your team during games and in their spare time, but you can also directly control them while in a match to give yourself an even better edge on your opponent. Certainly, this idea sounds pretty cool on paper, but in reality, the gameplay has been botched so hard that it becomes one big frustrating and boring mess.
To start out, you create and name a team with five players that each has a certain role in the clan. After that, you choose what kind of game you want to be professional at, shooter or Moba. The gameplay is practically identical to both versions as you don’t have that much input to give. You get to manage their spare time activities but this is limited to the sustaining of their food, constitution, and sleep. The only way to train your team is by playing ranked matches but when you lose, the overall happiness will plummet and you will have to spend some time making everyone happy again. This continuation of maintenance is, while it doesn’t take too much time, rather cumbersome and boring.
What makes the overall gameplay so brain-wrecking and frustrating is that the U.I. simply doesn’t work. Navigating through menus is hard, tricky and takes a Ph.D. in science to understand. Controls are not responsive and sometimes the game will freeze for a moment while loading. Some bugs plague the game as you will get stuck in a menu where the overlay does not allow you to close it so the only option is to lose your progress and to restart the game. In addition, when in direct control of a character, the movement is slow, inputs are barely doing anything and most of the time it takes a while before the game allows you back into control after dying, making you lose time and most likely causing you to lose the match. So it’s just better to wager the chances and let the A.I. sort things out.
If you win the ranked matches, you will get paid and you can upgrade your rooms to allow for social media and sponsors. It is unclear how to further unlock rewards from sponsors and social media as it takes a while and with the difficulty ramping up quite fast, it halts the gameplay as most upgrades are very expensive to buy and you barely get paid from winning matches.
As mentioned earlier, it somehow seems that the game is pointed towards early teens to help them realize their dreams of becoming an eSports hero. Yet with the horrendous controls and boring interaction, it won’t seem that any individual would want to invest their time into a half-baked game like this. The game is also available on the PC, where the mouse allows for good controlling of the game, yet on the Switch this is absent and just makes the whole game unplayable.
Conclusion
ESport Manager is a game that might work well on the PC but absolutely doesn’t play well on the Switch. The graphics are simple but decent and the music is good but if the game isn’t fun to play, it just isn’t worth your time. The concept is a nice one but the boring maintenance of your team in their free time without a real way to train and level characters make it more like a chore than a feature. Either try it on PC or just steer clear from this title that clearly needs to be put back into the oven.
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