From my hours count you can see how I actually love this game (and I bought 12 and 13 versions...).

And this is really sad for me to say this: DON'T BUY THIS GAME.

Or don't buy it again...

The problem isn't if this is the best cycling simulation game (for what it's worth, it's also the only...), but if this game is worth is price.

The answer is NO.

For the last 4 years the game is remaneid actually pretty the same: some new graphic, some new features and some solved bugs.

And today?
- The new features are often broken or bugged, you often have to buy the NEW YEAR version to have them working, because the patches are often very modest and don't change much of the gameplay.
- The sim engine (3D race and fast sim, there was only a most advanced fast sim, and this was so bugged they decided to remove it rather than improve it...) hasn't changed a lot, quality talking. Same bug, and some modest new features.
- The game engine is the ALWAYS THE SAME, and have the same bugs.

Bugs? During season preparation, I usually go forward and save every 2 or 3 minutes, because, the game crash.
How often it crash?
During a season?
From 20 to 40 times.

I'm not kidding, and I'm talking of TOTAL CRASHES.

This is frankly unacceptable, in my opinion.
And all the three last games of this series crashes for the same bugs.
They've never be addressed.

Now, as I said, I really like this game, I will continue to play it, but no, I WILL NOT BUY THE NEXT YEAR VERSION.

Because it's pointless, I don't pay 4 times a bunch of euros (many, because this is sold like a AAA game) for have ALWAYS THE SAME STUPID PROBLEMS AND NOTHING NEW.

Be aware...

I have enjoyed the sport of cycling since I was a little kid, so when I saw this game I was really excited, but after playing this game for a while, I have come across so many issues i just cant recommend it to anyone. Here is a fairly detailed list of major issues I personaly have with the game.

1. It crashes a lot, I cant click on anyting during the loading screen or it will crash for sure. Nothing I care about much though.

2. This Issue hurts me deep inside the most. When ever you tell a rider to accelerate, if he is stuck behind someone, his energy stats will start going down(like what is suppose to happen if he is free to accelerate), but he wont be going any faster. So you are going the same pace as ther person next to you, but using up all your energy.

3. One small issues is you cant sim the rest of the race once all of your people are done, and many when there is an early mountain there are many stragglers and it takes forever for the stage to end. The worst offender I have found is a rider named Schwarzman.

4. During Sprints for the finish, you can only exactly set up your people the last coupel of K's to go. In real cycling they spend many more K's organizing themselves. This will many times lead to losing some leadout men or wear them out unnessarly. Between this and people blocking themselves in sprinting seems to have a lot of luck to it.

5. Breakaways. if you try to personaly chase a breakaway down at the beginning of the game it is nearly impossible at some points even though its your entire 8 person team hunting down 2 people. I understand It should tire them out a bit, but it doesnt feel right at all. Once your in a break away sometimes its peaceful and everything seems somewhat normal. But other times the riders your with in the break will just keep attacking until your rider (who could even have way better stats then everyone else) gets too tired to do anything. This is either on or off, they either cooperate (which happens every time if your not in the break) or selfdestruct. The biggest issue i have is teams that have people in the break, chasing the break down by sending riders to the front of the peleton. It doesnt make sense and seems like something easy to code and fix.

6. The game mechanics at time make me want to pull my hair out. I understand you probably dont want to be able to tell exactly where your riders should be at all times, but many times its just impossible to even keep them in the general area. If a rider from another team(or your own team) decides to slow down right in front of you and your unlucky, you could have just lost 30 positions and have just blown the stage. In real life many riders swing off to the side so they dont get in the way of other people, in this game they just screw over 3 or 4 people every time they slow down. Its impossible to follow an attack and draft even a little bit. You just have to spen the same energy they did most of the time no matter what you do. The energy gel is stupid. It is a one time item each of your riders have and after a delay they ride better for a minute or so. In real life riders are constantly eating and the feature really doesnt feel fun to do and does not feel rewarding. They need to add feeding stations on the top of mountains near the end of the stages that have them.

7. I disprove of most of the career mode features. They way sponcers tell you what races to focus on and base your results only on what they are looking for. You might be able to change these but i havent seem an option. Its complicated and unengaging. Training sucks. You train to basicly improve your stats temperarly, or so that you have less likely of a chance your riders wont get a massive penelty (random numbers appear next to your riders in the race, and if it happens to be negative they will not do well at all) during key races, which in its self i consider a stupid feature because most all riders during key races rarly have a bad day, and they dont spend that many days training in those specific location. (also doesnt take into consideration you trained there last year, a real rider would not forget everything). The equipment is what i have the least to complain about, but for the most part you get what you get, and the computer auto assings the best combo of grear most times, so there isnt much to do, its just there. I most enjoy picking my scheduel, which when you do there are a few unique multi stage races, and then the rest are single stage races that have reused maps, so your doing the same races multiple times in one season. Most of the decision making is already done for you and its usualy on par, but if you want to make sure your riders are peaking at the right time and doing it correctly, it is near impossible without writing a multiple pages in a notebook to keep track of everything and make an informed decision. The major theme of the career mode features is complicated in the wrong ways, already done most likely better then you can set up, doesnt translate over to what happens in real life at all, ... sucks....

8. It seems like they made the maps and graphics to look good in certain screens shots, but in actual game if your paying attention they are not that great.

9. The online part of this game is a joke. I have personaly found it unplayable, harsh penelties for leaving/crashing out of a game, and best of all its pay to win...

10. Alright, so we have an incomplete game. That means they are going to patch atleast some of the problems right? No. It seems they only make updates so that the game will run on any system they claim it will work on, and thats it. Instead of making real patches, they just push all their updates to the next game that you have to buy all over again, and unless you wait 6 months your paying AAA price. And in order to sell the new game, they need a bunch of new features to adverise so they make money, so they do that instead of fixing all the problems everyone actually cares about. I have not found a good/complete guide or tutorial for this game that doesnt just highlight the new crappy features.

honestly I would rather have the game play out like this. The first half of the race is simed. You can tell your riders weither they should try and get in a breakaway (possibly make a skill out of this. The higher your breakaway skill is the more likely you will be in it). Then post a list of the riders in the break away. then say how much your team should work on the front or how close you want the break away to be when your done siming. Then start the race half way through. This is just one of my ideas(not even that fleshed out), Also something they will never do. Just an idea...

A bag game engine, terrible AI, stupid career mode features, bugs, crashes, alright? graphics. Thats about it. Sadly if your anything like me you love the idea way too much so you buy it regarless and play this game way too much...

On the PCM website you can see the neglect for the game. All the dev blog posts are before or right around the launch of the game, the nothing. Nothing of FB or Twitter. After looking around a bit, it just feels dead. Littel initial thought followed by nothing.

Please tell these people to hire me as an intern so someone making the game will know how cycling really works and atleast try and fix the game breaking problems. I looked to apply but could not find where to submit an application(i didnt look to hard though, so i could be wrong). If I had a few years to waste and all the art done I would totally make a similar game on my own.

If someone knows a way for my voice to really be heard by the people making this game, let me know please.

Improved since last year? Ohh yes :D

- The menus are much better now.
- Riders orders in races have improved alot.
- You can even set the riders to auto so they follow a strategy that you can setup before and under the race. (sprint for mountain/sprints/stage victory or defend leaders jersey etc.)
- Realistic equiptment sponsors thats allow you to determin the R&D in their frame and wheels!! Riding them in races will speed up the testing process, like in real life :D
- Price money is back in a minor scale.

Generally I have the last couple of year been alittle disapointed in the improvements of PCM and the pricing for that upgrade wasnt worth it, but I can tell you, this year it is.

You have done a great job this year Cyanside! :-)

9/10

Note: The general gameplay is much as you know it, but I think all the small improvements they made in this years edition, makes it proberly one of the most realistic and best PCM I have ever played..

Note: Played them all :-)


UPDATED 28/6 2014 ----------------------------- BELOW ----------------------------------

Now the time have come to liste some of the bad stuff I have experienced lately.
- Click on rider with the mouse in races, does not always work. Sometimes you have to use the keyboard back/forward key or use multiple clicks around, before it works..
- Making a train with your sprinter in the last position, is a pain in the ass. Its always the sprinter that gets dropped and none of the other riders in the train.. Wierd..
- No more race-reports after a simulated race. Did the riders do, what I ordered them too? I have no idea.. Only a result list to look at.
- Few rider crashes. No point in keeping your leader in the front of the pack, if mass crashes never happens/exits.

Now some good stuff.
- Stable game. Only got a failure a couple of time when loading a stage.. Nothing serius, as the game was loaded back in no time and game remembered the line-up for the race. (Remember to update drivers)
- Breakaways have a fair chance of getting a stage win.

As I wrote in the "first review", I still recommend the 2014 edition of PCM, but I must change the rating to 8/10 untill the "mouse clicking" / "sprinter train" mentioned above is fixed, hopefully in a patch in the near future.

Making an update to the review since I've been able to play the game more and see more details.

Below are my general feelings about the game.

Positive:
* Graphics are improved and quite good.
* Gameplay is nice.
* Different skill levels to make it easier for casual gamers.

Negative:
* Game crashes alot (Like around every second race - this is also reported by others)
* Major bug at August 2015 which makes the game crash. According to developer this means you have to start a new career once the bug fix is implemented in order to proceed. The bug fix has not been implemented yet( Ref: http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumPCM/viewtopic.php?f=123&t=16550)
* The loading of races are really slow, even on quite decent computers.
* The sorting of players lacks several options to find the correct riders. For example tring to find the best riders without a contract at a certain age is from what I see really difficult to do.
* A bit difficult to find things like training, training progress etc until you are used to the game.
* For the games current state and in general, 39.99 EUR is very expensive.

Minor negative things:
* If you change screen resolution you have to manually exit the game, and then start up. Quite annoying when trying to find the correct resolution as this takes alot of time.
* The change of volume from minimum to maximum is done by holding down a minus button for a long long long time. This must be done for each of the 3 volume options from 100-0. It does not speed up while holding down the button. Instead of adding a slider and a mute button, it's only possible by holding down these buttons 1 by 1.

Conclusion:
I'de recommend the game if you are a hardcore cycling fan and can survive crashes and some annoyence. However if you haven't played any of the games before it might be worthwhile first to buy an earlier patched up version. In it's current state the game now is not in my opinion all completed. Still it's great fun to play the game when it's working. It might be worthwhile to buy an older cheaper version first to see if you like the game before you pay 39.99 EUR.

I haven't played this series since PCM 2009, while I hardly remember some of the features from PCM2009, I can say with confidence that PCM 2014 has a few items that can draw the player into the game - but there are other items that will draw you away. For one let's highlight the positive mechanics that I found in the game:

Beautiful graphics
Relatively clean interface and menu
Somewhat of a comprehensive tutorial
Great in game commands
R&D feature was a step in the right direction

Some negatives:

Cluttered inbox, you'll get mail from a bunch of miscellaneous events that don't impact or pretain to your current game which I would just simply classify as spam
(Something minor which can be easily fixed by zero'ing off the "announcer/commentator under sound options) But the announcer sounds cheesy as hell, I don't even think ESPN announcers sound that bad.
If you haven't played PCM before, the tutorial might not be enough to properly introduce the game to you. There are many screens on the UI (not as bad as football manager!), it wil take some time to get used to it all.
A few minor graphical glitches during the race that don't impact the quality of the game (cars driving through the race formation, racers "ghosting" through each other)

It's hard to say what exactly needs patching as of right now, my first race was fine and I didn't encounter anything wild that needs to be addressed immediately. I would recommend this game to someone who is interested in cycling or management of cycling teams. would buy again 10/10.

in its current state (version 1.1.0.1), it is not worth buying. ive only had a few hours of playtime, had several crashes, and have run into multiple bugs, one of them being that im completely locked out of multiplayer.
asking for support on their official forums if you dont speak french is also a completely pointless pursuit, since their staff does not speak enough english to provide assistance. case in point, i was told to "Please send your PCM14 to the technical support for investigation: support[at]focus-home.com", i still havent figured out if they want me to send them the client files, or whatever. on top of that, i was told this by a staffmember in their own technical support forums, which is where you're supposed to go for technical support.
there's several other gamebreaking issues i havent run into yet since i havent kept the game from crashing long enough.
buyer beware, do not buy this game yet, unless you really love cycling, and for everyone else. check the latest patch, if it hasnt been updated from 1.1.0.1. its unplayable.

NO

Usually i don't get emotional and write comments, reviews , etc... this is my first review.
But this game is a mess. And it's 40 euros.

Why?

1. It crashes . A lot : in menus , or before the 3D race, or... after the race. Take a pick.

2. Where is the SAVE button ?!? Because i think i need it , when the game is randomly crashing in menus / career mode. I've spend 45 minutes setting my team races , traing , etc... and boom . Crash to desktop. Did it save ? Well .. not everything. Do it again. Crash to desktop , in menus. Do it again. I have started a career 3 hours ago, and i didnt play one 3D race. NOT a single one, because i keep setting up stuff that gets lost during crashes.

3. Menus / Lists / Relational Lists : NOT user friendly. Do you want to see one rider objectives related to the squad objectives and/or sponsors objectives? Well...you can't ! Write it down, use a paper and a pen... or do a print screen , etc.
Do you want to set a sponsor objective to a specific rider , because you know...training depends on objectives...well, look it up in a drop down list. What's that race name ? You wrote it down , yes ?! Good... because the drop down list has some other filters, sucker ! Like UCI codes. What code does this race have ? You didnt write it down ?! Go back...

And more , and more like this.

IMHO , do not buy this game until it is properly patched and with UI redesigned . Go have some fun with 40 euros , dont buy this mess

At the current state I can't recommend this game, because it is full of bugs. When you go to play it as a management game, there are many points in the game which don't work properly. It seems that it is just developed and never been tested before. I played only two full seasons and came to a point where it was impossible to go on, because of a bug.

I had something to submit which was impossible to submit (endless loop with no way out). And I'm not the kind of person who stops playing as the first bug occurs. There were many before (small and big ones) and I went on playing.

I hope the next patches (if some come) will bring solutions and maybe the game is worth its money. Especially on Steam are so many alpha and pre alpha games which have far less bugs than this piece of ♥♥♥♥.

Here are the people who would like this game: those who adore European cycling industry and have a favorite rider and those who enjoy large-scale, ultri-micromanagement spreadsheet games.

This is like Madden's franchise mode... on crack.

Compared to last year, so far I've noticed that the problems with buildings spawning on roads seem to be resolved. Also, the graphical user interface has been upgraded, though sometimes the words end up hidden behind the buttons.

I really wish this game had multiple simulators -- a lightweight, a middleweight, and this heavyweight version. I have little interest in R&D and appeasing sponsors on a daily basis.

This is a simulation game where every day takes 10-15 minutes to check all the numbers and then move on to the next day. But all told, I still like it. But then again, I'm a big ol' nerd.

I feel PCM has grown quite a lot since the original game, and I especially feel like this latest version has made leaps in terms of sponsors and equipment. The only problem is still the lack of change over the years, the stages and races should not be the same each year, in my opinion.