Ceefax news pages<\/u><\/a>, Panini sticker albums, and team names defined by copyright avoidance.<\/p>\n Your desk initially feels like a lonely place, but it\u2019s an obsessive\u2019s dream, with all the outdated technology you\u2019d ever need. You have your BBC Micro-style PC for finances, team board for game management, a fax machine to make offers for players, a TV for tables and news \u2014 a well-researched and fun way to immerse you in the era \u2014 and your all-important sticker album to oversee your squad.<\/p>\n
Nutmeg<\/em>\u2019s tutorial quickly becomes intimidating \u2014 you\u2019re deluged with information, menus, and tooltips, while a vaguely threatening (and potentially Scottish?) man \u201cspeaks\u201d with you through the tannoy with the mumbled cadence of an adult in a Peanuts <\/em>animated special. That said, it actively says that you shouldn\u2019t worry about learning everything<\/em>; this is a game you need to get a feel for.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Behold your battle station.<\/span><\/p>\nSecret Mode<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
While I hoped I\u2019d head home to Hartlepool from the start, Nutmeg!<\/em> makes you work for these \u201cdelights\u201d. After warming up in the tutorial with an iconic Liverpool team, you\u2019re offered a handful of Fourth Division no-hopers \u2014 I had to choose between Halifax, Tranmere, York, and Hereford. The rest are unlocked with \u201ckit\u201d, which you gain from completing seasons. And so to Halifax I went, prioritising my West Yorkshire loyalties for my first tumultuous season at The Shay.<\/p>\nA game of numbers<\/h2>\n Seasons in Nutmeg! <\/em>typically take 90 minutes, with matches played in groups of five and mostly decided by chance based on formation and approach. However, you\u2019re also allowed to actively \u201cplay\u201d one game \u2014 it\u2019s your choice when you pick it.<\/p>\nSelecting your game is usually based on two motives: securing a guaranteed win in front of a home crowd and getting a sweet, sweet broadcast bonus, or aiming for a huge upset. The whole experience hinges on percentages: your chance of winning with a formation, the ability to win a challenge on the field, or the chance to train your squad more effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Training cards are combined and shuffled before each battle.<\/span><\/p>\nSecret Mode<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
The core card-game mechanic is entirely about risk vs. reward. You open decks of cards, combining complementary ones to build stronger cards, and add them to your deck. If you score, you get any played cards back; otherwise, you lose them. You get random card resupplies via a tactical deck, but that\u2019s entirely based on luck.<\/p>\n
Every played game feels like a fight \u2014 a tough one at that \u2014 but the little wins rack up. It also shapes your longer-term strategy, especially as you\u2019re a fledgling bottom-half squad that constantly has to go up against bigger boys. Do you angle for a draw behind a powerhouse keeper, or stack the deck with offensive cards and hope for the best?<\/p>\n\n\n
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But, is 72% enough?<\/span><\/p>\nSecret Mode<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
All the while, you have to balance the morale of underplayed or overpromised players, watch for injuries, train your stars, shore up your team\u2019s depth, sell the dead weight, and keep a firm eye on fitness. That\u2019s just the team management; you won\u2019t get far without investing in merchandise and your stadium, or keeping the fans and boardroom happy. You also need your own backroom staff. Hiring is a bit like Theme Hospital<\/em>: picking people based on wage as well as skill, and occasionally sacrificing the better employee to simply access scouting, recruiting, or sponsorship opportunities.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s all too much<\/h2>\n As you learn the intricacies of your role \u2014 patience is a virtue \u2014 the game opens up more abilities and options, and you soon become a lone wolf with seemingly unlimited power to rule or ruin your club. Sadly, the interface often doesn\u2019t help you make the best decisions, as you endlessly bounce between menus. You can have an unrivaled memory, but you\u2019ll probably want a notepad.<\/p>\n
Everything feels paginated in one way or another, and it\u2019s slow to move between each section. Maybe its creators are going for a more old-school aesthetic, but it makes like man management and training unnecessarily complicated \u2014 the information you need is buried elsewhere. I still couldn\u2019t figure out a way to change my starting 11\u2019s formation between games, unless it\u2019s ahead of a card battle, so I occasionally found my third-string forward playing centreback.<\/p>\n\nIt just needs a little more polish based on user feedback \u2014 Nutmeg!<\/em> has already changed so much since the demo, and a few quick links on certain screens should make the experience a little more user-friendly.<\/p>\n(If I can quickly put my anorak on, Nutmeg! <\/em>highlights its respect for the past, like the number of substitutes you can have, which increases in line with historical rule changes \u2014 yet it\u2019s three points for a win in your first season (1980-81), even though this wasn\u2019t introduced until the 81-82 season.)<\/p>\nUnique and irresistible<\/h2>\n After two seasons, I finally saved up enough kit to buy my way into Hartlepool United\u2019s manager role, but I didn\u2019t go. It only takes a season to feel like you\u2019ve shaped your squad, with a plan of action for years to come. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s impressive, given the genuine lack of humanity on show \u2014 you never see a ball being kicked, and your players don\u2019t even have faces \u2014 but Nutmeg!<\/em> is a lot of fun and really pulls you in, even if it\u2019s just for half an hour here, or an afternoon there. It doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously, but it will satisfy players who do (and, inevitably, will). Most importantly, you can walk away from it whenever you want, making it the perfect option for that time-starved audience it\u2019s clearly angled at.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Nutmeg!’ is the best soccer management sim alternative for people who don’t – or daren’t – have the time for ‘Football Manager’. Secret Mode Being a fan of lower-league football is tough, cheering on often piss-poor teams in freezing, sideways rain, only to see your team lose 1-0 to an 89th-minute deflection. Being a small-club<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brand-spotlights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}