GAMEPLAY
From the main screen you can access every other part of the game, and most usually you’ll be given cues in the form of e-mails to keep you abreast of what’s going on. You’ll spend a lot of time in other screens but always return here and the ease of navigation around PRM2 is to be commended. It looks like Cyanide have taken a big leaf out of web designers books and made the front end of the game almost work as if you were browsing the net. Hotlinks jump you from one page to another, so pulling up a player’s stats, jumping to their training schedule and then to the main training schedule are all very easily done. Navigating around such varied screens as contract negotiations, facility upgrades, fitness report and injury lists is intuitive and simple. Further, the control and adjustment of each is easy with a sensible and un-cluttered layout that provides you with a wealth of information but doesn’t overload you.
And speaking of detail… phew! There was me, quite happy in my world of running the Saracens when up pops an e-mail telling me that Henry Tuilagi was suffering from depression! So I have a flick over to the Injury Management page to decide what to do with him… and while I’m there, I find Graham Rowntree has gone and hurt his knee in training. So I send him off for an MRI scan and decided to rest him for a couple of days, I need him for the match. All of this is just in the Injury Management system, which is a new addition to the game for this version and further adds to its depths.
But you’re not just limited to this, there’s an absolute bucket load of things that require your attention. Everything from upgrading your facilities, which can benefit the players, the team as a whole or fans or new, young players through to every conceivable aspect of squad management is yours to command. You can set a training regime for each individual player on the rosta, choosing to focus on improving certain abilities or specific areas of fitness. You can manage a player’s overall welfare through proper resting, contract negotiations and bonuses. You can sort out sponsorship deals for the club, give post match interviews and try and poach promising players from other clubs. If you’re particularly nasty, you could give a whining player the boot, putting them up for transfer…. In fact, short of getting your captain to bunk off with a princess, there’s not much here you can’t do.