Internet access is going to be a bit limited for a while, so sorry if I miss returning a rate. Feel ...
Internet access is going to be a bit limited for a while, so sorry if I miss returning a rate. Feel free to let me know if I missed you, I'll be sure to catch up on reads when I can. Thanks.
Member since:23.11.2008
Reviews:22
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Many years ago, somewhere around 1996, I bought a computer magazine. This wasn't something I was prone to doing, but I'd just got a new PC and I liked the look of a couple of things on the free cover disc. I soon got bored of these freebies and installed a couple of the demo games. I couldn't tell you what any of these games were, except for one..... Championship Manager 2.
Since that life defining moment I have spent many hours in front of computer screens attached to that game and those that followed it. I've suffered the frustrations of having a great winning streak, signing lots of good players and progressing well in the cups only to press the 'Continue' button and see the whole application crash. It's very disheartening, but the annoyance can return you to your friends and loved ones for a few days whilst you recover. You eventually learn to save the game more regularly.
I've sat there and laughed as the comments on the game introduction screen gave me useful life advice, like 'Don't forget to feed the cat' or more recently something about turning your underwear inside out to save on laundry. The more hours you played, the more desperate sounding these messages sounded as they demonstrated my level of addiction.
Many arguments have stemmed from the fact that a meal has been lovingly prepared but coincides with the middle of an important league match, or the phone rings, or maybe someone just wants to have a conversation with you. Nobody seemed to understand how important this game is.
Of course I am not alone in my addiction. Many people all over the world have dedicated precious hours, days and weeks to their attempts at virtual glory. So there must be something good about this game series right?
Some History ========== I didn't see the first Championship Manager, but
it was written by two brothers, Paul and Oliver Collyer. Legend has it that they did this in their bedroom. They followed it with Championship Manager '93, but I don't recall liking that one too much.
With CM2, the game became much more likeable. But to anyone who hadn't played it, they couldn't understand why. All you were doing was sitting there looking at screens of lists. Even the matches consisted of lists, with a bar flashing some text commentary at you. Pictures of each ground you played at were displayed as a background to each match, a touch I particularly liked. The level of detail involved in forming a team, training them, hiring staff, sorting contracts, was incredibly engrossing. I know, you're thinking it's really boring! Apparently there was even audio commentary, but I didn't have speakers to enjoy this.
CM3 came along adding more international leagues and expanding the player databases. This version lasted longer than the previous versions, covering the 99/00, 00/01 and 01/02 seasons.
CM4 brought with it some major changes. The most noticeable being that you now had some little dots running around on screen kicking another little black and white dot around. It meant that you didn't have to use your imagination quite so much and it worked well. Sadly the software didn't work quite so well, this is where I started to get so many annoying game crashes. Patches were released from time to time to fix these features (and update the player database), but I found that there were still problems. The second season 03/04 release had far fewer problems, but the issues I'd had were almost enough to put me off playing forever.
Now you may be thinking, 'Why is he talking about Championship Manager when the game is called Football Manager?' In 2004 the creators of the game, the Collyer brothers, split with their publisher Eidos. Eidos however retained ownership of the brand and continued releasing games under the name 'Championship Manager'. I bought the first of these, it wasn't so good, which was a shame as it did look like a lot of work went into it. So the series was essentially renamed, rebranded and published by Sega under the new name of 'Football Manager', continuing to be written by SI games, the company the Collyer brothers had created.
Football Manager 2005 came along with, as you would expect, even more features. More press interaction, better match engine, more player options and pre/post match summaries being just a few of them.
2006 and 2007 versions advanced a little and introduced XBOX and PSP versions. I tried these and they're just not as good as the PC versions as so much had to be left out and the control method wasn't as intuitive. 2008 added yet more features.
2009 brings us up to date, finally that's what I'm going to review! (Sorry for the extra long intro)
The Game ======= Well if you've played the others and enjoyed them, I think you'll certainly love this one.
FM 2009 is not for the casual gamer, or for someone who likes frantically pressing buttons directing the on screen action. It takes time to to pick the right staff, select the right players, negotiate contracts, organise training, setup loans with feeder clubs and develop your reputation. There are many levels at which you can play the game. For instance I don't tend to be so hands on, I let my assistant manager handle most things, I just buy/sell the player, select the match tactics and handle substitutions.
When you first play the game you setup your manager profile and select a club to manage (or if you're brave you can start jobless and spend ages in the job centre page). Once you start at a club you are left to roam as you wish, I always checkout the staff and fire the ones that don't look so useful, replacing them with some more suited to the team I will build. Then you can head off into the transfer market. You can attempt to buy and loan players, poach those that are nearing the end of their contract or, as I like to do when I'm managing in the lower leagues, pick up some released and unattached players for free.
You can fine tune the coaching system, but I just leave that to the assistant manager. When it comes to match time you'll be told what the odds are for the teams, a bit of history and some details about the weather, team history, injuries, you may even be asked to attend a press conference (you can of course just send your assistant). You can then pick your squad, set some tactics and give a motivating team talk. Then fingers crossed as you send your players out.
The match engine has evolved a lot in this version of the game. It now features a 3D pitch where you can watch the players running around. You have lots of control over how much of the game you see, the level of highlights and the speed at which the game will be played. I like things to be quite fast so I set it to have quite a few highlights for some excitement, but then to whizz through the dull moments. With so many games in a season I like to get through my games quite fast.
At any point in the game you can make substitutions based on player performance or injury. You can pop up little screens giving you information on team performance to help you.
Half time gives you the chance to make more changes and give another team talk. After the game you'll see a match summary and you might be off to the press conference again.
There is a huge level of detail in this version of the game and I'm sure I've only discovered half of it. Player interaction has been greatly enhanced, you can now tell an overworked player that he will be rested for a couple of games, so he might not get so upset when he isn't picked.
Conclusion ======== In summary I have to say that I'm loving this new version, I've not hit any bugs in the software and it is taking up so much of my spare time again that I'm glad my girlfriend is very busy with her study at the moment so she doesn't think I'm just ignoring her. Another nice feature of this version is that it integrates with the STEAM game network, so you can now play it without the CD being in place. I found that quite annoying in previous version if playing on a tiny laptop with no drive or if I just left the disc somewhere.
If FIFA and PES are the football games that you love to play then this may be a bit slow for you. If online play is your thing then there is now Football Manager Live, but this is a separate game and I have not tried it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Football Manager 2009's match engine has seen more testing than ever before having been ... more
extensively beta tested in Football Manager Live for the past year.The famous Football Manager match engine can now be viewed in full 3D with motion captured anim...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
A new dimension of football management.-3D Match Mode: Featuring an all new 3D graphic ... more
engine, enhanced AI, and for the first time, live substitutions and real-time tactical changes-Internet Live Ticker: An all new text mode with up to 3,000 different ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
Advantages: 3D match engine, all players in the world are available, better than LMA manager Disadvantages: Sometimes strange results like team in 1st place being beaten by team in 24th
Advantages: Realistic, great in-depth on players and teams, great gameplay and good graphics, very easy to use Disadvantages: Crashes occasionally, runs slowly on computers with small memory and power.
Feb 20th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
