Most football fans are aware of the game known as Football Manager. Since 2005 every year around Christmas a new edition is brought out with the latest updates and brand new football transfers all done as well.

~~ Installation ~~

When you get the game you can either update your older version or you can simply install the game as new. You have inside the game a pass phrase or key which is only used for your particular game. Once entered the game will then be installed either via steam or as an update to your previous game.

The game has got no problems with the code you enter or updating the game it is just how long it takes for this process to work. I had to wait around 10 minutes for the installation to be complete and for the game to load up for me.

I have a very quick computer so this took a lot of time and effort so if you are downloading this game to your computer my advice would be make sure you have something else to do whilst it does this download.

~~ Starting ~~

The game begins with you putting in details about yourself which can be used throughout the game so you need to get this information correct. An example is one question asks who your favourite football side is and if you choose Man City and then on the game as a manager you pick Man Utd to manage the game tends to bring up the fact you're a Man City supporter so be careful.

You then get to pick what leagues and countries you wish to have as a way to find new players, coaches and seek out information. The more leagues you choose the slower your game becomes because it will require more memory and time to search through those countries.

You can choose from so many countries such as Portugal, Germany, France, Brazil and more. You pick the league in those countries you wish to use as a source of information. Once you have done this it is time to begin the game which will then take about 5 minutes to prepare for you.

~~ The Game ~~

Imagine you are a manager of a football club but you have the final say as to when they play friendlies and who against and what tactics they use and even how the wages are sorted out you are in control in all aspects of this.

The game begins with you as a novice new manager with little say in terms of respect and you have to try and guide your football team you have chosen to manage to the targets given to you by the board of directors. You are then given targets to reach which might be to win the title in that division or just to secure a mid-table position and if you achieve these targets you usually remain in charge of the club.

As you prepare to begin your journey you are then ready to face not only your staff and the media but your players as well. Your staff are going to help you throughout the game and without them to be fair you will fail at the job you have.

You then need to prepare everything in the team you have acquired and taken over and this might be new tactics or recruiting new players within a budget given to you by your board and you need to work out also what you wish your scouts to do whilst you are playing the game as well.

~~ Transfers, Wages and Recruiting ~~

This new version of the game has actually done really well in regards to changing the whole budget you are given. In previous games I think it was so easy to get your football team into debt but this game has allowed you to actually invest wisely.

You can either search for a player you wish to purchase and this is done by entering their name into the search box or searching for a particular football club. You select the player and you can do a report on how good they are or you can put in a bid for them.

Your told there value and also how much it might take to purchase a player. You put in the bid and when it is accepted you then offer contracts. Contracts are confusing because so many extras are added all the time but it is hard now it seems to actually go into debt because the game lets you know the full extent of your money so you can work out how much you think a player is worth in wages.

You then have to wait for a player to decide if he wishes to join you or not and if he does then you have a new player which could boost sales in your replica football kits and keep those board of directors very happy.

~~ Tactics, Scouts and Media ~~

During the game you will encounter the media all the time and it is a problem for me because I wish you could turn it off somehow because the media can cause you so much harm in terms of how your players perform and how you strike friendships.

Before each game and after a game you're asked to attend a press conference or you can send your assistant manager to do them. The problem is if you send the assistant manager he could criticise your performances as manager which will make the board unhappy.

I tend to visit all the press conferences myself but it takes a lot of time up for the same questions to appear every single game and it annoys me because the game can take forever to play in the first place without all this hassle.

I think the scouting is clever in this game as you can send your scouts everywhere to look for particular criteria such as age or price range and they return a few weeks later in the game with a list of potential targets for you to buy. They usually give excellent advice when it comes to the information on the player such as their ability and how likely they are to succeed in your team.

The scouting is done by you and you get to say where they go and how they compile reports and you add any particular favourite players to a shortlist you can view at any time to see how those players have progressed over a period of months.

The tactics are somewhat difficult to work out and this is because you can train your side in all sorts of formations and ideas but it is down to them it seems on the day of a game to how they perform. You have plenty of trainers such as goalkeeping coaches who are there to help train them but you sometimes see little improvement in terms of their overall potential every show up. I would have hoped by now after many years they would have made the tactics system much better.

~~ Match Day ~~

On a match day the game can take forever to process information. You are given so many options as to how you want to view information about the match you're playing. You begin by picking the team you wish to put out and giving those tactics and a team talk.

Once you have done that you then have options such as the speed to which the match is played. Usually I put the speed to the top speed so it does not take forever and usually each match takes around 5 minutes to complete.

You can view highlights in the game such as goals or serious incidents and this is done on a 3D pitch format which opens up and shows your team scoring but it is not real at all in any way it is just a simulation of what happened. Your given commentary throughout as to how the game is going.

However, this new version of the game has allowed for new ideas and one of those is you can shout instructions during a game such as Use the Flanks and your commands are sent to the team directly. You are also given information by another coach who will comment on player's fitness levels and how the team are playing so you can instantly make adjustments.

During the game you can control every aspect such as who is taking corners, penalties and even free kicks. The game during match day is full of information now as well such as how well the team is performing and other scores from the various other fixtures taking place at the same time.
I love the way they have improved the match day game play and overall it has made the game much easier and more realistic to play as well.

~~ Problems ~~

This game is not without faults and one was mentioned above and this is tactics and training. You can train a side in a particular formation but that is as far as it goes. You do not get to really experiment with new ideas from new continents. We all see how various countries like to play football and in Italy it is very defensive and in Spain it is expansive and stylish yet you can never choose those options.

You also have to witness the problems with the overall cost of players which again is not realistic enough still after many years. A few years ago one player left his club for £80m pounds which is insane yet on this game the highest valued player seems to be around £39.5m and it is not really realistic in my eyes.

Football expenditure is soaring each year so the game needs to be more realistic in this area urgently.
The final issue is that if you are someone who likes the game play to be faster than thing again. With all the new methods and screens they have introduced into the game it has got tough to work out where you are and by the time you have solved all those issues you will find a few hours have passed.

~~ Final Thoughts and Game Play ~~

The game has been updated to make the whole 'match day' experience better and for transfers to be easier so you can work within a budget. However, the problem is that the game is still one of those which are taking far too long to play.

You have achievements in the game you can reach such as milestones which is a nice idea they introduced a year ago and have kept that going but they haven't allowed you to make the game any quicker.
Each year people request various new features and some are added and the majority of new ideas are just a few minor adjustments to the game they currently have. I think the money you pay for players is not reflected accurately to the real life transfers we see in football.

I think the game needs to also work out what things they can leave out so the game runs quicker. An example to how long the game takes to play is that 10 games took me nearly 2 hours to play because I had to try and negotiate transfers, new contracts and solve my problems with the scouts.

I think if you are someone who is new to this game and wants to invest then do it because the game can be enjoyable but be warned it will take forever to complete an entire season.

One final note is that you can now take on challenges such as taking an injured football side to the title and these are found at the start of the game before you begin a career. This is a new concept and is actually pretty good.

My game rating is around 7 out of 10 it would be higher but they still need to solve some major issues mentioned above.

~~ System Requirements ~~

PC REQUIREMENTS

* OS: Windows XP/Vista/W7/W8
* Processor: XP: 1.6GHz or Faster. Vista/W7/W8: 2.2GHz or Faster
* Memory: XP/Vista/W7/W8: 1.0GB RAM
* Graphics: 128MB *Supported Chipsets : (see below)
* DirectX®: 9.0c
* Hard Drive: 2GB
* Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible