Hattrick www.hattrick.org Review

Good Points
Simple rules, but challenging to play. not too difficult, but success has to be worked for. Once you're up and running it's very addictive. It Doesn't require constant attention, you only need to login once a week if you want. It's free!
The game goes on forever. Just keep going to improve your team and get into a higher league.
Excellent community spirit to help you with the game or just to chat.

Bad Points
It can be difficult at the beginning to grasp all the detail and know where to start. But there are literally thousands of people on hand to offer advice in the forums.

General Comments
Hattrick is an online football management simulation that costs nothing except the time that you will invest in it as you get drawn into this addictive game. Found at www.hattrick.org, it currently has hundreds of thousands of players from all over the world aiming to make their team the best in their country.

You control various aspects of the club from which staff to employ to the training regime and of course picking the team and formation to play on match day. Manage your youth team development carefully and you could have a future international in your squad, or build up your stadium to get more income as your team becomes more successful. It's all there.

The game is based on weekly events, with a season lasting 16 weeks. Each week sees your team play up to 2 matches, with a league and a cup to play for. In each country, a pyramid system of leagues exists, with each league made up of 8 teams, all controlled by other players. The top team at the end of each season is either automatically promoted or has to play-off depending on how successful they have been.

But the real clincher for this game is the community that has grown, with conferences and federations where Hattrick players can go and discuss anything they like. Players are always willing to help each other and especially provide advice to new players. A whole range of websites have sprung up to complement Hattrick, some offering statistics, others providing hints on how the game actually works and how to get the most out of your team.

For some, the text based interaction may not be exciting enough, but the interface more than gets the job done. So once you're past the initial familiarisation, you'll be hooked and playing it for years to come!