Pro Cycling Manager: Season 2008

Title
Developer
Publisher
Genre
ESRB Rating
Demo Release Date
Full Release Date
Platforms
Official Website
Demo Download Size
Review Date

Pro Cycling Manager: Season 2008
Cyanide
Focus Home Interactive
Sports
Not Rated
22nd July 2008
19th June 2008 Buy Now
PC (Reviewed), PSP, Xbox 360
http://www.cycling-manager.com
760MB
1st August 2008

What did I think before playing?
"Hmm, a cycling game. I wonder how that would work? Maybe it is just like any other racer. Wait, this is a 'Manager'. If it is anything like 'Football Manager' I'm not going to like this one."

What is included?
A tutorial mode, a Tour de France stage and an indoor track race.

What did I think afterwards?
For what you get, this is a large download with an even bigger install footprint. After putting DirectX on your system, the installer also adds things such as VS components and .NET. What the hell are those for? Installing also requires a restart, annoyingly.
When I got around to playing the game, it had to be the most boring I have ever played. I started out with the three tutorials, which were utterly pointless. One of them made you sit there for tree minutes just to prompt you to do a right click. Track racing mode is ok, but is over very quickly in the three lap demo. The last mode to try was the Tour de France which let you play one stage. This was horrible, with a ton of buttons and controls on the screen for you to try and get your team to win, the vast majority of which are not explained in the tutorials.
The whole thing feels cheaply made with menus flashing past and the loading screen freezing, (what is the point in a loading spinner if it is being rendered on the same thread as the file loading, making it stall and seem as if the game has hung?)

Would I buy the full game?
No. Awful.

Demo Pros
You get to see the gameplay.

Demo Cons
The game is rubbish. The installer is nasty and the whole thing feels cheap and disposable.

Demo Rating 1 / 10

Thoughts after playing the full game?
If I play the full game I will put comments here about whether I feel the demo was representative of the final product and if I am happy with the purchase.

Sales Figures
If I can find sales information about a game after it has been released I'll add that here. It may be useful to track demos to sales performance.