Football manager 2008, i throughly enjoyed this game. I feel that it gives you a good choice of players and countries and clubs to manage and look at. It had almost up to date information, it was missing some of the latest players but beggars cant be choosers. The game allows to to make transfers, i feel that the clubs dont sell the players as easily as they normally would.
- What's New? -
When comparing this game to Football Manager 2007 and it's predecessors; there are a number of key changes that have been brought in for this latest edition of the game which I love so dearly. Before I purchased the game, the one which stood out to me most notably was the addition of 'FaceGen Technology'. This new addition for the game means that players generated by the computer are given faces, faces which with time age before your eyes, and frequently undergo changes of hairstyle. It's amusing to watch as your favourite youngster gets rid of his trademark floppy fringe and opts instead for a ridiculous frizzy style which makes him look completely alien. On the downside - it can be a bit of a nightmare when you look to your youth team to find the in-form player with the spiky hair, only to find that no such player exists any more and that the player in question in fact is now a skinhead. Another addition to the game I feel is massively successful is that of the element of a collective win bonus. At the beginning of the season you are given the option to set how much you wish to pay the squad at the end of the season should they manage to win the league/cup etc. You can give either a 'high','low', or 'normal' win bonus which could influence your teams performance in the cups they enter or the final position in the league. If players have the added incentive of a 'high bonus' come the end of the
season, then perhaps they will go that extra mile throughout the season in order to secure the teams promotion to the next division and to net themselves a tidy profit in the process.
Although somewhat insignificant, the In-game all-time best eleven feature that has been implemented for this latest edition of the game was another area that pleased me greatly. For each and every club on the game, you can now look at the eleven players deemed to be the best in their positions that have played at the club, something which as the seasons progress can be interesting to see as you can judge as to whether they are a team in their prime, or a squad on the decline with predominantly a 'Best Eleven' of players whom have now moved on to bigger and better things. A number of existing elements of the game have been given improvements this time around including in International Management, in the notes that can be made on players, and also in the ability to see the confidence that the fans and the directors have in you over the management job you are providing. As an international manager, it is now possible to attend games in which players in the international squad will be performing in so that you can view their progress to make informed decisions about what squad is best to pick for your next international game. An excellent 'notebook' feature allows you to easily view and track any notes you have made on players, laying all notes out neatly on the page making it easy to view and keep a track of what you have commented on players. This is a useful feature I feel as each season when players come up to the youth team, the youth manager makes comments on whom they believe has the most potential of the players becoming a part of the youth squad - so making notes allows you to easily access and track those players and view as to whether or not they are proving themselves to be potential stars of the future. My favourite update however has to be that made to the 'Confidence' sector of the game. There is now the ability to view what the fans thought of each and every game that has taken place, the transfers that you have bought in to the club, the financial situation, and also how the fans deem your progress in the league and in each of the cups that you take part in each season. It is great to canvas supporters opinion, and is really quite pleasing to see when you look to this page and take note that the fans are pleased in every aspect of your management.
- Sound - This is an area that has once more been ignored as far as updates are concerned, and in my opinion is a definite development area for the furthering of the series. Although during matches you get the cheering of the crowds, and the celebrations when a goal is scored - still the people at Sports Interactive refuse to further personalise the sounds so that they are club specific, and regardless of what team you manage - the sound always remains the same. To implement a system whereby you could hear fans singing club specific chants would be fantastic. Although it would require going to each and every teams ground included in the game and making a recording of fans singing their hearts out, something which would be somewhat of a mammoth task - I feel that in the long run it would be worth it and would increase my in-game enjoyment no end.
Another potential sound update could be to have computer generated player chants so that whilst playing games, fans could be heard cheering the names of the best performing players in the squad. On the flip side to that, fans could also be heard booing players when their form is poor, or booing players of the opposing team. This would add so much more depth and realism to the game, and although I spend far too much of my time playing the game already and clearly could not love it much more so - I feel this would be a massively beneficial update.
- Graphics -
Aesthetically the game has undergone somewhat of a makeover for this seasons edition. The game looks more professional than ever, and the colour changes that have been made to the games 'skin' is in my opinion fantastic. Although it could perhaps be argued that the game would benefit from having 3D highlights, bad 3D highlights would detract from the games exceptional quality, so perhaps to refrain from implementing this change for a few more years would be a wise move. That said, I'd definitely love to see my teams goals in full 3D glory - and the sooner Sports Interactive make this addition to the game, the better really. Each in-game month, there is a 'Goal of the Month' accolade awarded, with the top three goals from the previous month named and listed. The ability to see these goals in their full glory would without a shadow of a doubt be superbly pleasing. Given the lack of graphical complexity, this therefore means that you don't need to have the latest of computers in order to enjoy this fantastic football management sim. You will however need to have at least 750MB of hard drive space available, 256MB of RAM, a 1.2GHz processor, and must be using either Windows XP or Vista as an operating system. In this day and age this is not a massive ask and most laptops and computers will meet this criteria.
In Conclusion
Football Manager 2008 is bigger and most certainly better than ever, and I would reccomend this game to anyone. Even if you've never played any of the games in the series before, you will find the game easy to play and there will be no requirement for sifting through masses of manuals in order to work everything out. Not only is it the best football management game out on the market, but it is also in my opinion the greatest computer game ever to have been released. There is just a massively addictive quality about Football Manager; a game I.Everyone boosts that the could become the England boss and this game gives them a chance to see if the can or not.
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The best selling, most realistic and critically acclaimed football management simulation ... more
is back.Football Manager 2008, the latest instalment of Sports Interactive's legendary series, lets you prove you could do better than the men in charge. With the ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Advantages: Incredibly realistic, Almost limitless play value, Best football manager game of it's time Disadvantages: For the most part it is a game for football fans only
Aug 31st, 2008
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