16.1.2008

In the past i'd only played Championship Manager games, but that was short lived when I soon got bored of them. Thankfully, a few years on, I decided to have a butchers of the reviews for the latest versions, and after hearing this series was better than the original CM, I forked out and it arrived promptly (in good old Amazon style).I just want you to know also that this is an unbiased review - I haven't played the series for years, so basically what I've seen so far is fair enough for me, and i'm not going to slate things just because of what they should be like.The installation was fine - thankfully it didn't require a system reboot, so hooray to that, you can play the game straight away!Also with PC games,everyone's performance is going to differ based on their systems spec. For the record, i'm on Windows XP M.C, 1 gig of free ram, and a 3.2 GHZ intel celeron D, resulting in a fairly speedy performace I have to say, and the loading times are perfectly fine.Upon first playing this, you're asked to create a simple profile - what languages you can speak as a manager (I blagged a bit, so in this little world, I can speak English and Spanish! I wish...) You can also upload a picture of yourself from My Documents if you want, but this is a pointless feature in all essence, nice idea though.And so the season starts after picking your favoured club, of which it can be any that exsists in reality. I chose Man United, and immediately got emails from Carlos Quieroz, the Assistant Manager, welcoming me and telling me a young youth player had grazed his knee in training!After some pre-season preperations, you led into the matches by simplicity. The game, if you like, moves in stages, so that during the days when nothings happening, you just skip it. This is done with the 'continue' button which skips ahead time till a new newspaper report or email comes through. Or of course a match ahead!At first, the season may be a little off-putting, as its simply preparation for the season ahead. Rest assured however, as the season kicks in, so does the realism, as you yourself can pick out the draws for cups (still randomised though), can interact with other players from other clubs and maybe declare your interest, or even just say what a threat he is! I think also, as a manager in the Premier League primarily, the focus on getting as many points as possible is incredibly great, and the match-day feel is so alive in this game.The world is your oyster on your home screen. You can search the database for any player, look at the endless stats for you own players, and you can even ask any higher-archie of the club (ie, someone with status) what they think about their department, or a player. Some of these opinions are funny, some accurate, some... well flattering!"Carlos Querioz thinks Mikael Silvestre is a superb Talent. He believes he can spur Manchester United on to many title challenges."And then, the more accurate..."Carlos Querioz thinks Christiano Ronaldo is a fast and effective player who looks very dangerous""Needless to say, I put Silvestre in the 'Appoint interest for other clubs' catergory, to which Portsmouth bought him for a measley 2.6 million!And then you have clever feedback from the board; a security rating measuring your popularity, which most of the time seems very flattering again. So with regards to the CPU giving its own opinions based on your desicions, things have really moved on and I sometimes just chuckle to myself when you think how intelligent it is - really neat area of the game! Though like your staff's comments, even the board can expect a bit too much..."The board are dissapointed that you lost 0-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and expect a full recovery". That was with practically 50/50 possession too!But when matchday comes, you'll probably like me have tonnes of great ideas, but don't know how to change them! Luckily, after a few days getting used to, adjusting your tactics and setting individual players targets becomes natural. At first, it is time consuming, depending how seriously to take it, but unlike others i'm in no rush to play hundreds of games, so I take my time and fine tune the team. Just touching the surface, you can adjust the amount of time your players spend defending/attacking, creating through balls, where they cross, how they cross, who crosses, who recieves, who the marksmen are, who your main men are... and plenty more!And so match day comes, and i'm really impressed with how it all works. Though the description says its a 2-D engine, its still from a birds eye view of the pitch, but just means you can see the ball move up and down in height. The players move across the pitch in lifelike directions too, from the subs having a wander around, to the players just dawdling around when the balls out of play. Making tactical changes and substitutions could have been slightly more direct rather than opening up another tab, but its clever because while the games playing, you can still access all the other features, from other scores in the football world, to your emails. The goals scored are particularly life life like, as is the build up and movement - all impressive.A great emphasis of this game also relies on bringing up youth talent, which is encouraging (seeming as it hardly happens these days). Scouts will bring reports, tell you who's impressed them in training, and bring the news headlines of who's on fire (in form terms...). When you think their ready, simply set them to 'First Team' squad status, and put them on the bench, ready for expierience! And if that's not enough, you can ask the player to use an older first team player to give them advice/help, and see them as a role model. To which of course, they never refuse!Looks wise, the menus and layout of the game are top-notch, and very Apple Mac like. I've used Mac's for years in various environments, so instantly recognised the clean fonts and colours. Anyone who slates the look of these menu's obviously needs glasses!On that note, I've been very quite surprised at the amount of negative reviews here. I can't say i've encountered any major bugs, issues, errors or problems, and i've just played this as normal with a clean install. The bug i've encountered in one during matchday, where during the game, sometimes the match will break-up for a small time, though this doesn't really bother me. Looking at some of the other reviews, this is a page full of obsessive gamers who want perfection. I for one don't take games a serious as this, and for this price, couldn't care if it has bugs. What I should also point out is that on the net, free updates and fixes ''are'' available, so why complain?I'd just like to point out too that I downloaded a 105mb patch (I know, what a monster!) which has improved the performance of the game even more, and I now have not a single problem with it.So in summary, this is an excellent game that goes as in depth as possible, from your clubs profits in cash, to scouting reports on hundreds of youth players, to declaring your anger at a player for not pulling his weight around! Indeed, it will have its moments of in-accuracy, but these are only by moral. How can a computer be expected to know whether a club should or should not bid for a player? I say this because this afternoon while playing, Arsenal made their 'interest known' in Ronaldo. They have the money (in my game anyway) so theirs nothing tell it that United simply wouldn't sell him in real life - thats my job!But I can say now that this is one of my best buys for a long time. The options are endless, the layout is nice and clean, and the loading times are superb. Now, wish me luck for the league title! Unfortunately, I told the board I intended to win it... lets hops I keep that promise, or its 'game' over for me!

1.10.2007

Bigger, smoother and more in-depth than ever, Football Manager 2008 is packed full of so much newness it could well take a lifetime to discover every new feature. So we asked Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at SI Games, to take us through some of the changes you'll want to hear about most...Transfer Center - A new way of managing all current transfer and loan bids for your club, both incoming and outgoing, making it easier to compare bids and reject or accept them.Finance Revamp - Sports Interactive have updated the finance area of Football Manager 2008 to better reflect the ever-changing modern football world. More information is available to the manager too, including, but not limited to,corporate matchday income, season ticket news, investment funds, improved sponsorships, collective win bonuses and the ability to move around funds from the wage budget and transfer budget (and vice versa) at any point to help you in your quest for the ideal squad.International Management - The international management gameplay has been completely revamped for Football Manager 2008, including, but not limited to, media improvements, international retirements, player interaction, international scouting, improved national pool selection, captain selection and a separation of international and club morale for players.Match Flow - The largest change to matchdays in a Sports Interactive game since the introduction of the 2D match engine. Match flow brings more atmosphere to matchdays with match previews, team talks, opposition player instructions, the match itself, half time and post match now seamlessly following on from one another. There's no more pausing to make tactical changes and you'll find a mini-radar pitch whilst making those tactical changes to keep you in touch with what's going on in the match.Confidence - You can now easily tell what your board and supporters think about your performance in the game through the new confidence section. This gives you feedback not just on your current progress in competitions, but also your financial management and signings.Easier to Use - A much cleaner skin, a brand new advisor system to help you through various areas of the game, a new notes and notebook system, better button positioning for simpler navigation and an updated tutorial and manual. Also, coach reports to make taking over a new team easier and a new calendar system - which lists all important dates throughout the season - help to make Football Manager 2008 the easiest Sports Interactive game to use yet.Fan Days - The board can now arrange fan days to boost ailing attendances, or for matches that are likely to attract a low crowd, with a long-term affect to attendances if all goes well.Awards Overhaul - A full overhaul of the awards system inside the game, which is not only more accurate but also includes new awards, such as the European golden boot and a 'best eleven', which shows the all-time (in-game) best XI for all teams and nations.Match Engine Improvements - A greatly improved match engine, once again utilizing the footballing brain of Ray Houghton and other tools used by real-life managers, to make the most accurate simulation of football in a computer game even more like-life than ever before. Oh, and the ability to change the pitch dimensions at the start of the season to suit your style of play better.Expanded Media - More media and feedback than ever before, plus more detail in existing media, and a new competition news section to find out what major things are going on in all league competitions.Regenerated Player Photos - All in-game regenerated players now have pictures using FaceGen technology to give each player more personality. This gives the ability for players to be seen to mature and grow-up looks-wise in front of your eyes as the game is going on.Speedyfastier - Saving and loading is now significantly faster, with network gaming quicker and smoother to play, as well as tactical changes and match reports being faster than ever before

22.10.2007

For anyone who has played the Football Manager series this is a definitive purchase and for those looking for a football manager game there really is nothing better.For those new to the series the match engine is in 2D and most of what you will be doing will be receiving messages from various staff, looking at attributes and playing with sliders for your tactics. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. This game can run on almost anything, the game is quick and many leagues can be loaded. Further more the 2D screen makes it far easier to track down problems in your tactic and correct it. Also if you give it a chance I am sure you will be jumping off your seat when your number 9 punts the ball from 20 yardsinto the back of the net.I would say that FM2008 is a little harder than previous titles however just like previous titles a bit of persistence will go a long way. Furthermore the SI forums are a good place for tactical questions and general answers to queries about the game.Now a bit about the bugs. The problems I have noticed are as follows...Non-league teams have all there players greyed out. (A big problem if you wish to manage around the conference level)There are some "hmmmm" moments as a striker who is 10 yards offside puts the ball into your net and the linesman lets it stand. Furthermore once in a blue moon a shot which looks like is going over will hit the back of the net. These are all small match engine bugs.Mac Installation problems. If you own a previous SI game then you will need to remove or rename the 'Sports Interactive' folder, otherwise the game is installed with iffy permissions and it will not run.There are several others however these bugs are far from game breaking. If things are going well you will ignore them.. if things aren't you may find them annoying. However SI have a good history with supporting the FM franchise so I am sure they will fix this up soon.There are many many enhancements but the 4 game changing ones are the following.Confidence - After each game you will be told how the fans felt about it. At the end of the month the board will give you feedback on your performance and it is far more detailed than ever before. If you have a few bad games you will feel the heat from the supporters very quickly. This is a departure from previous games where a run of defeats only led to unrest if your team was seriously under performing.Pitch Size - At the start of the season you can define your pitch size. Why is this important? Well it allows you to dictate the type of play. A small pitch will mean there is very little space and the game will be congested. A bigger pitch has loads of space, play will be more fluid and as a result more goals will probably be scored.News System - The news system has been completely revamped. Now you will receive only new on your club. You can then view the division screen to see news from your division. This means you will be receiving perhaps one or 2 messages a day instead of 8-10 from previous games.Budget Adjustment - You can now budget adjust your way to safety, what does this mean? If your wage will is too high you can sacrifice some of your transfer funds mid season to raise your wage budget. This works both ways. So if you see a 13 million striker that you "need" you can generate much of the transfer funds by cutting your wage budget. Its neat.I gave this game 5 stars because despite the handful of bugs it is still best football manager game to grace the PC.In short the game is very fun to play, the new features which have added a new dimension to the game. Confidence is perhaps the biggest change since they brought in the 2d engine. Its addictive, its fun, its hard, its everything you want football manager to be.If you have a previous FM game BUY THIS NOW.If you want the best football management game out there right now BUY THIS NOWIf you know nothing about football AVOID

28.6.2008

Ive played this game since the 1st champ manager way back in the day, and i must say even tho there are a few glitches, this version game is great!To all of u who are crying about how " hard the game is" dry your eyes! Playing in the Premier league in your 1st season is gonna be hard, so dont expect to win the league in yer 1st or 2nd season, cos it aint gonna happen unless yer really jammy!It takes at least one season to get your team playing to your tactics and formation, look at what the assistant manager tells u about how the team are " gelling" ( the more they gel the better they will play....duh) ...u dont sign one just for training purposes u know!I know there are a few glitches,always happens in FM games, try downloading the patch, they dont make them for nothing u know!I know some scores can be madness, but just think when your team is trouncing someone 7-0, their manager must think the same as u !30-50 yards, flukes.........happens in real life, just think Paul Robinson a couple of seasons back ! And i bet when your player scores a 40 yard fluke, bet u dont complain!!!Also the same goes for dissallowed goals, yeah can be frustrating....but again bet u dont complain when the oposition gets a goal chalked off!Tactics, now i know some people are having problems......i dont know why....i use 2 formations in the whole game, no more.....one certain "custom" formation ( as this formation was taken out this version for some reason) for the lower leagues and another one for premier leagues as they all tend to use a different formation from lower league clubs.I know the newsflashes are kinda the same, i personally dont bother with them unless i have to!Team talks are boring, but if u use the correct ones at the relevant times then you will have no probs on beating teams, whilst thinking what the other manager might be telling his players!Oh yeah, to all those who are complaining about being a few goals up in the last 10 mins then lose, have a look at the tactics and look up time wasting....not nice, but effective ( especially against higher league clubs)I could write a book on how to play this game, its so easy until u get to the premier leagues but there again i know how to play against them teams, it just needs a bit of thought, thats all!Im playing with one of the worst league teams in the game ... East Stirling, and i can get them promoted in one season, do it all the time and ive never used the editor, as i think that is cheating!Oh yeah, for all u moaners, the developers have even included hints and tips whilst loading periods occur....read em.....thats why they are there!If u moan at the slightest thing, dont come on here and moan....just dont play the game, for all of those who love the game......keep playing and good luck!

15.10.2007

I've been a football managerial game fan for since CM 1998. After CM 4 I've stuck to CM 00/01 & 01/02 mainly due to CM4 being hugely disappointing.We love these games because we love football and it's the nearest thing to being involved in football that some people will get.The game of football has evolved greatly and in order to be realistic the games have had to evolve to match. So, yes, there are plenty of clauses to negotiate in contracts because that's what happens. Traning routines have to be set up because Mr Wenger came to English football and brought these routines with him. In real game you have a gameplan to follow - squash the opponents strength then apply your own So, no,

29.8.2008

I've been playing these games since they introduced the 2D match engine back in CM4 (don't get confused - the real Championship Manager of old is made by Sports Interactive and it's this one).FM2008 does seem much harder than previous games and it's been more of a gargantuan task to take the mighty Stockport County to European glory. Sometimes you get the impression that the AI just won't let you win certain games, no matter what tactics you try (and it's best to pay attention to detailed tactics and save your own versions, rather than relying on the presets).Then there's the inexplicable 8-1 drubbings as your meticulously constructed team mysteriously fail to show up.

9.10.2007

I dont agree with the reviewer below me saying oh its too hard to win matches, constant strategies dont work etc etc. Of course using the same strategy and same players in every game doesnt work, its a fact of life. It's being realistic that teams dont win the title 8 seasons in a row, thats not happened it football within my memory, so FM wouldnt be very realistic if it was that easy to win the title. It's good that its a challenge, the fact that the game is a challenge is why i have still found it interesting to be devloping a team in 2014 on 07 which still doesnt win every comp it enters, which allows me to bring through the youngsters that you claim cant be brought through eg Alex Pato is a 40 goal a season man,

14.11.2007

That's the pattern that Sports Interactive seem to be taking with the Football Manager series. The more recent the game, the more realistic it gets. The way that manifests itself in this game, as you may have read elsewhere, is that it's really hard. I've been playing for about two weeks and haven't been able to pick up on any tactics that lead to a good run of form, and whilst the internet abounds with killer tactics for all the other versions, there don't seem to be any for this one around yet, and that's almost a month after it's come out.There are lots of other nice little additions - budget adjusting has always been something that I've craved as I built up huge transfer surpluses without being able to offer anyone big wages.

23.5.2008

Interesting to see the wide range of views on this game. Correct it is VERY difficult and extremely challenging. I have taken Exeter City from the Conference into League 2 (well done City for doing it in practice!). However can I get them any further!!If you drop onto the plethora of websites that help, such as footballmanagerportal.co.uk, you will soon establish this is a sophisticated and complex game, due to the extensive advice available - hence why so many of us saddo budding managers are continuing to struggle!However, the fact I keep coming back for more, even though I find that one defeat leads to a near season run of disasterous results, I feel there must be a way of beating the game.

10.10.2007

Ive been a fan of the football manager series since CM 4 and each year it has never failed to keep up with my expectations, which are usually high and has also never failed to destroy my social life. Starting the game with a hopeless team in the third division and going through the highs and lows of eventually (after about 10 seasons!) winning the premiership, actually feels like an achievement. Most manager sims never give you feeling because their either far too easy or so impossibly hard that you end up giving up, but football manager has always had the prefect balance of game play, a huge database and A.I difficulty.

9.8.2008

I ordered this product on the evening on the 7th of August. Although the product qualified for Super Saver Delivery, I only wanted to purchase this item, so delivery was free. For just £1.69 I could have First Class Delivery. Today, on the 9th of August, I received the game, and so was very happy at this.I had seen other reviews from people on here who complained about bugs. I played the game (Version 8.0.0 from the disk) for about 30 minutes and did not come across any bugs what so ever.I know that there is a more recent version available. Two in fact; 8.0.1 and 8.0.2. I have to say I was annoyed, as other users would be,

25.10.2008

Before I start this might only apply to someone who would Manage Manchester United. Yes football manager is a good game, but it has its flaws such as:Arsenal will never lose when you play them e.g. I was winning 3-0 i drew 3-3.Your transfer budget starts as 10-12 million. (most good palyers are worth that much so you can only buy one decent player).All your players no matter how bad they are want to play 90 minutes of football a week.you usually have to bid five million more than someones value to have your offer accepted.its a 25-75 chance that you will have a good season if its a bad one you'll be fired six months into the season.Liverpool always produce an amazing display and score impossible

2.1.2008

I finished buying german football manager products a few years ago. In my opinion there is only one serious manager on the market: Football Manager from the UK.You will be soon addicted when playing this game. It is very realistic and I am wondering how it is possible to process so much facts and happening, results... First it looks funny - only some points on the screen trying to catch the ball. But soon you comprehend - that is more realistic than any other game!On the other side - only to see scales, schedule plans and charts is not that optimal. I could also strangle the interviewer from the newspapers - always the same questions before the game. I don't give interviews any longer.And you need really much time to handle this game.

23.7.2008

hello ThereRight, Id be the First Person To amdit that i have not been playin these games all my life, n fact I didnt Know About this game till I picked Up 2oo6 manager, And I Thought That it was inctredible..much like real life, and it was a great fun game..So I tried the 2007 game and felt the same way, So I was Eager when This game was advertised, Bought it..and im still playin it to this day..All Iver got to say to the 1 star Reviewers..GET A GRIP YOU SORE LOSERS!!!!Ive read all theyre reviews..and All they keep banging on about is, how its got bugs, how they cannot win, and how the game is really rubbish. Well, How about this? dont cry over your losses, pick yourself and move on,

25.7.2008

the people who seem to have problems with this game tend to be starting out with the big teams and complaining because they're not winning everything. i always thought the point of the (original) championship manager/football manager series was that you start somewhere near the bottom and work your way up, in theory gaining respect from fans and players as you progress, enabling your decisions to have more of an impact and buying yourself more time when things aren't going to plan.i think this is the way to get the most out of the game rather than treating it as a quick 1 season, winning everything there is to win, and i have always believed the game is created with this in mind,

Football Manager 2008 (PC) - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail