Football Manager 2007 (PC)

...consider to be the best football management game that there is available. You may wonder why I refer to Championship Manager here given that Championship Manager games continue to be released alongside Football Manager, however up until and including Championship Manager 03/04, Sports Interactive were the team behind the Championship Manager series, however after a split between Sports Interactive and Eidos whereby Sports Interactive signed a deal ...
...top 6 flights of English football - this being the Premiership, Championship, League One, League Two, Conference, and Conference North/South. This is a great selection I feel as many of the clubs in the Conference North/South are only semi-professional so to include clubs of such low stature is a bold move, and in including these leagues you therefore have the choice of some 160 English clubs alone to manage. If English football is not your thing ... more

Having been a fan of the series for some time, dating back to the early days of Championship Manager 2 which was released some 10 years ago now, every time a new edition is released - I am quick to get out there and bag myself a copy of what I would consider to be the best football management game that there is available. You may wonder why I refer to Championship Manager here given that Championship Manager games continue to be released alongside Football Manager, however up until and including Championship Manager 03/04, Sports Interactive were the team behind the Championship Manager series, however after a split between Sports Interactive and Eidos whereby Sports Interactive signed a deal with Sega - Sports Interactive kept the base code, the game database and programming of the game, bringing this with them to Sega whilst Eidos kept the name Championship Manager and its interface and so continue to release games under this name. As ever, when I found out about the new game from Sports Interactive I counted up my pennies and one not so fine November day was out my door and on my way to get the latest instalment of my favourite game, and I was not to be disappointed.

- Team Choice -

Domestically, you can choose any club from the top 6 flights of English football - this being the Premiership, Championship, League One, League Two, Conference, and Conference North/South. This is a great selection I feel as many of the clubs in the Conference North/South are only semi-professional so to include clubs of such low stature is a bold move, and in including these leagues you therefore have the choice of some 160 English clubs alone to manage. If English football is not your thing however then you will find that you also have the choice of managing a team from a vast range of other countries totalling 50 in all, with over a hundred leagues to choose clubs from including teams from the top flights of Spanish, French and Italian football to name but a few.

- Gameplay -

If you've played any of the games in recent years then you'll find that the gameplay is much of the same, however with a smarter and easier to navigate interface. You pick your squad from the team page, selecting in what positions you want your players to start the game in and with the press of the space bar you 'Proceed to match' where of course you get the option of 'yes' or 'no' just in case you tapped the space bar by mistake and want to go back and alter the squad that you have chosen, or not chosen as the case may be. If you've chosen any players that are unavailable due to injury/suspension, or any that are away on International duties, then the game will let you know and inform you that this player can not be named in the match day squad. Football Manager always has been and continues to be a pick up and play game where hours of trawling through instruction manuals are not required for you to enjoy your experience as a football manager.

One of the things that made the early titles such as Championship Manager 2 and Championship Manager 97/98 so good were the quick loading times, however in recent years the games that have been released have not shown this and in fact the loading has been far too slow for comfort in my opinion. This year Sports Interactive seem to have got it spot on however as quick loading speeds are back and in such, the game has been made infinitely more enjoyable. You will no longer find such large waits between games which were present in recent editions, and not have to wait for what previously seemed like an eternity for the game to save.

Football Manager 2006 saw the introduction of half time and full time team talks - a welcome addition to the game as if your team were playing well you could praise the team at half time and tell them to keep it up, or in the same respect if your team were playing badly you could tell them so and hope that they would turn things around and come out a changed side for the second half. This was a popular addition to the game which also gave you extra influence over the outcome of the match and your teams performance in the game. This time round, Sports Interactive have improved upon this feature and in addition to half time and full time team talks, it is also possible to give the team instructions before the game begins such as 'Tell the players they can win this game', 'Wish the team luck for the match ahead', or even 'Tell the players to relax and the result will take care of itself.' Obviously it is important to get the pre-match team talk right in order to set the mood as otherwise you could be in for an embarrassment on the sidelines as you watch your side slump to a defeat.

While in the past scouts have been fairly poor, they will now give a fairly detailed account of your next opposition in the game and how they performed in their previous game. Players to look out for will be highlighted by the scouts and they will try to give you a good idea of what sort of formation the opposition are likely to play so that you can make the best tactical decisions you feel possible. In addition to this, when scouting potential signings you will be informed of whether or not the player is better than your current crop of players, in what position the player would be most useful and whether they have any interest in signing. These are all useful things to know so this is a great inclusion for this years edition of the game I feel.

A final extra element to the gameplay this time round is the brand new introduction of feeder clubs. Here you can affiliate yourself with a bigger club in order to benefit from their youth academy/reserve squad in bringing in players from their line up in order to bolster your side, or can be a parent club to a smaller side so that you can send your players off that are surplus to requirements so that they can gain valuable first team experience and hopefully return a better player. This new addition to the game was decided as it was the most requested feature of some time on the Sports Interactive website so the developers thought it was about time the fans of the series got what they wanted. This is a great addition to the game I feel as it adds realism and is a good way of making sure that young talent in the squad is not wasted and players are able to flourish regardless of whether or not they find themselves to be included in the first team plans.

The great thing about Football Manager is the ability to manage teams for as many or as few seasons as you like. You may want to start a fresh game every couple of seasons, of you may choose to play on for twenty plus seasons. It is really up to you as to how long you want the game to go on for, and there is really nothing stopping you from playing the game well into 3006/3007 season if you so wish (although that could take you a while). You play as yourself rather than a currently existing manager and so you are allowed to build up your own preferred tactical style and your reputation will develop in the game due to your own individual merit which is always rewarding to see when off your own back your reputation as a manager spreads worldwide and you start getting offered international management chances in all corners of the globe. A great element of the game is the ability to have as many managers as you like meaning that you can battle it out against family members such as siblings and parents - there's nothing greater than the thrill of beating your Dad's side away from home. Obviously if you're going to do this you will both need to sit at the computer at the same time so it could get frustrating if the other person is not around, however you could always start up a separate game in which you play alone in addition to this to save the frustration and potential withdrawal symptoms. In a similar respect, you can pit your managerial skills against friends online and happily knock them out of contention for the title. This requires you all to be connected to the internet at the same time and while in the past problems of dodgy internet connections may have been a cause for concern, in this day and age where most households have a broadband connection, this is a good feature if you prearrange times to play against your friends and can be a fun alternative to playing the game alone.

The game can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be - you can choose to take management of a club hotly tipped for relegation and try to steer them to a title or cup win, or you can have it easy and take charge of one of the Premiership giants such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool and have world class players and large sums of money at your disposal. Beware though - whatever club you take charge of, when you begin the game you are a novice manager that has yet to build up a reputation, so if you do choose to take on one of the Premiership giants then don't be shocked when the players doubt your abilities and fail to play to fulfil their potential and do not play to the best of their abilities. In my experience it is best to start at a low division club and build up your reputation as you progress, moving on to managing high profile clubs once you have made a name for yourself as a manager within the game.

- Sound -

This is an area in which I feel the game has always been fairly lacking. Although while playing you get the faint cheer of the crowd which will of course get louder whenever there is a goal - they could do so much more with the sound which they have over the years not chosen to. The game would definitely benefit from player specific chants, and well researched crowd vocals whereby you could hear your favourite football teams chants being shouted at every home game. Obviously this would take some doing to add such a vast sound database to the game, however with the realism of the game having been enhanced by various other additions for this '07 version of the game, I really don't think that it's asking too much of Sports Interactive to improve the in game sound which has been of a similarly poor standard for a good 10 years now.

- Graphics -

With the look of the game having been kept the same for several years now, a change was needed here and in the change that has been made - the game is far more professional looking. When you play the game for as many hours as I do per week then it really does make a difference to have the game looking so much more visually pleasing. Aesthetically it would seem, the game has advanced just as much as it has with gameplay. The beauty of this game I feel lies in the fact that high definition, high price graphics cards are not needed in order to enjoy this game for what it is as the graphics are fairly basic in that you have your basic interface, and aside from the birds eye view game highlights that you can choose to be or not to be witness to - graphics card power does not come into the equation. Even the most basic of computers should be able to run this one provided that they have sufficient RAM (256MB), Direct X 9.0 installed, and are running Windows 2000/XP.

- Controls -

In order to play Football Manager 2007 you will need the advanced controls of both a keyboard and a mouse. You could probably use a controller if you so wish, for example if you are the proud owner of an Xbox 360 then you may wish to use the controller from that to play this game - however it is far easier to navigate if you just use your simple, trusty mouse and keyboard. The game is not difficult to control, it is all laid out clearly for you in order to make your playing experience a pleasant one so you're unlikely to have any major controlling mishaps. For the most part you will find that all you will need to do is click the mouse in order to bring up the menu which you require, and the space bar in order to begin games on match day/pause the game mid match if ever you require a loo break.

- Longevity -

Given that the game is not even a month old at the moment, it is hard to say how long you will be playing this one for, however I was playing 'Football Manager 2006' right up until I got this one so considering that the new version is in my opinion a lot better, I think it's safe to say that the longevity of this one is a good 12 months if you're a fan of the series or in fact if you're new to the game and have an active interest in football. Obviously you're not going to be playing the game for 12 months non-stop, however it is one of those games that once you start playing you will find yourself with difficulties putting it back down again. I've been playing Football Manager 2007 non-stop since I bought it and am yet to give myself a break from the game, so although the break will inevitably have to come if I'm to ever want to leave the house again, it could be a long time coming yet.

- Final Thoughts -

Some will complain that the games weakness lies in the fact that you can not actually play as and control the individual movements of your team, however I feel that this is an unfair criticism of the game as it is a management game through and through and as a general rule - participation in play is not a factor of management. Although in theory the prospect of watching a series of circles knock a smaller circle around a pitch may not sound like great entertainment, in practice Football Manager is a great game and still stands to me to be the best game of it's kind. While there are countless others out there that are trying to make their pledge to be the best in the business, the guys at Sports Interactive continue to perform release after release and have once again done themselves proud with this one. At just £24.99, the game is well worth checking out and should not leave you feeling disappointed with your new purchase. If anything, Football Manager 2007 will be better value for money than anything you have ever blown your hard earned cash on before as you are likely to get countless hours of entertainment out of this release, and should be playing it well into next October when the next installment in the series becomes available. 

...less