The greatest Management Sim franchise gets just that little bit better. (Football Manager 2009 (PC))

Member Name: Grummy

Product:	Football Manager 2009 (PC)
Date:	12/08/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: As wonderfully involving as ever, everything is a little bit better.

Disadvantages: Only for football fans with the patience required to learn how to play.

Football Manager 2009 is the latest yearly update of a series of games that has been running for 17 years, and is without question the most addictive of the series yet!

A brief history of Football Manager. It started life as a series called Championship, made by the Collyer Brothers, in 1992 for home computers. Initially it received mixed reviews as whilst it had a good core game, other management sims available at the time, such as Premier Manager were considered prettier to look at and had better features. It is an interesting turn of events that from those humble beginnings, this game is now the premier Football manager franchise and has not lost its core gameplay.

This series stayed with the name Championship Manager until 2004 when, due to a split with then publisher, Eidos, The naming rights to were retained by Eidos, however the source code (the core game engine) was retained by the developing company, Sports interactive. At this time, Sports interactive announced the series would continue under the new name, Football Manager, and Eidos went on to release further (now much less popular) games under the Championship Manager name.


The core gameplay that at first brought such mixed reactions when Championship Manager was released in 1992 has been the basis for the success of this franchise. The game has never been one which set out to tantalize you with music or sound effects or pretty graphics. It's brilliance, which is what has made the Franchise into the premier Manager sim, is in how it makes you as a player feel as close to the reality of being a true football manager you could possibly be without ever leaving your home. The attention to detail has always been second to none, teams numbering in the tens of thousands from across the world, players numbering in their hundreds of thousands, and all available for you to interact with as you deemed necessary.

This series is a testament to how attention to detail and going that extra mile can make all the difference. other Manager sims have allowed teh player to control the team, buy players, select the squad and progress through seasons, there were never any that went that little bit further to immerse the player into the game. Yes you can buy your players and pick your teams, but all the little touches add an air of authenticity other management sims never matched. Premier Manager for example would give you simple options of what to do, if you needed to buy a player, you just needed to match his demands, and that was that. In this series, more thought is put into things. Is this a team the player likes? Hates? What is the status of the team? What role are you offering the player? Can you match his wage demands? If not can you tempt him with other options, higher signing on fee or better bonuses?

That is just one example, and in truth, the description can't do justice. For the whole series it is the attention to detail and putting every important decision in you hands, supported by the little things, messages form your chairmen or the media, regular updates about the progress of your club, all these things add up to make a wonderfully comprehensive game that all football fans should experience for themselves.

As for Football Manager 2009, why is this the best yet? Well, in a nutshell, its is just like the previous titles but every single piece is just a little bit better. The options available to you in all facets of the game are more polished and more comprehensive, and yet also more intuitive.
There is also a new 3d view. In previous games all you saw on match day was dots moving around a simplistic representation of a football pitch, now you can sit back and watch your players run around in a 3d view. Whilst that just sounds like a cheap gimmick, it is more than that. Yes it is nice to be able to watch, especially if you can see your team playing well, but it also helps you to see better than ever where your team is going wrong. Before now, all you could do is rely on the player ratings and the occasional match commentary. Now, you can see where things are going wrong and change them during the match, which is a huge improvement over previous installments.

I could, if I chose, sit here and literally talk all night about this series and this game in particular, there is just that much going on. But I won't, instead I'll sum it up. If you love football, and want to experience being a manager, this is the only game you need buy as no other management sim can hold a candle to it. However, this s a game only for football fans, and then only fans with the patience to learn how to play the game, as the learning curve is quite steep. If you either don't like football or don't have the patience to learn, then give this series a miss as a whole, otherwise, this is the game for you.

Summary: If you have the time and incolination, play this game and you'll never look back.