When your favourite football team is going through a rough time, you usually throw all the blame on your team's manager, by saying all kinds of stuff that he should, or shouldn't have done. You start to act as though you have all it takes to manage a team. The time has come to prove your point, with this year's Football Manager 2009. This article will review the PC version of the game that separates football fans from football managers.

I'm going to start by clarifying that Football Manager 2009, unlike other football games such as Fifa or Pro Evolution Soccer, is a football management simulator, and it's one of the best in its kind. Sports Interactive, the developers of this game have been developing these series of games since 1994, where back then the game was known as Championship Manager. Every instalment of the series brought significant upgrades to the overall structure of the game which got its fans excited each year. As a result of this, this year's instalment is a remarkably polished game, even though it uses the same game engine of Football Manager 2008.

Installation:

Football Manager features new methods of installation this year. For the first time in the series' history, Football Manager 2009 features the recently popular DRM security. Some may like it while others will hate it, but what's certain is that we have got to live with it. Sports Interactive claimes that it's just a countermeasure against piracy, even though they also said that they are aware that it would still not solve the problem. With this DRM system, the game can be installed on 5 different machines. Each installation is referred to as a license seat. When you uninstall the game, you automatically free up a license seat.

For those who like alternatives, the game can be also installed through Steam by linking itself to your desired Steam Account. By using Steam the game will update automatically as soon as a patch is released.

Furthermore, after installing the game and choosing to start a new game, the user will need to choose the weight of the database that he/she wants the game to install on. You can choose from the options; small, medium or large database. A larger database would contain more players and teams from the football world, but it would require a more capable PC (in terms of processing power).

Game Play:

Football Manager 2009's game play has remained faithful to overall formula of this series, though some improvements are worth mentioning.

The first feature that meets the eye (literally, it's printed on the front box art!), is the 3D match view. Yes, finally for the first time, players can watch their team playing in a 3D perspective. This is well appreciated as other games in the genre have been boasting this feature for quite some time. The game still gives you the option to use the traditional 2D view of the match, and if you're using an old PC or Laptop especially with integrated graphics then you have no choice.

Media Relations have also improved in this instalment. News, stories and press releases are more detailed and this adds to the realism of the football world you're playing in. Moreover, the player can now attend press conferences, in which one should be careful on which answer to choose when replying as your answers affect the relationships with your team and staff, and the journalists will remember what you answered for future press conferences as well.

The player transfer system has been redesigned as well to make the transfer market and the process of buying and selling players much more realistic. Transfer rumours are an addition as well. You can now be able to see what speculations are happening in the market.

Finally another important feature to mention is the expanded power of your assistant manager. He can now provide pre-match and in-match feedback as well as hints about the opposition and tactics. Therefore for the first time you can have a clear idea on what adjustments you would have to do to your team.

Graphics:

This is the first time that one can comment on the graphics of Football Manager, because of the introduction of the 3D match view. Unfortunately, the comments aren't quite positive. Let me start by saying that the 3D match graphics resemble the graphics we used to watch on an Amiga Platform and they are very glitchy as well. They take some time getting used to, but at least they are watchable. I know this is the first time that the developers made such an engine, but since this was a feature that this year's game was being marketed upon, I really expected much better.

I would also like to point out that Football Manager 2009 now features Wide Screen Support. Better late than never, as they say.

Sound:

The Game features no in-game sound at all except for the crowd's cheering while watching a match in the 3D view. On second thought, I'd rather refer to the crowd's cheering as just noise. Yes it's that bad, so your best option would be to play some of your own music while playing this game.

Online Mode:

Each year Football Manager's online mode leaves much to be desired. This year is no exception. Basically to play online one player needs to host a server and give the server's IP to another player so that he could join in the football season as another manager on a different team. Unfortunately though getting a server IP is not easy, especially when none of your friends own the game. Therefore I can't go into further details about this game play mode

The Verdict:

It is unfair to calculate an average score based on the various sectors of this review. What the game lacks in graphics, sound and online features is paid back in its well detailed and immersful campaign. If you enjoy playing football management simulators, this game would get a solid 90% score as Sound and Graphics are not what people look forward to when purchasing such a game. Without doubt, this game is one of the most in-depth football management simulator currently on the market.

Some Vids on Football Manager 09:

http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/football-manager-2009-trailer-released.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E0tmzwrxoY

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I hope you've enjoyed my second review of games which featured Football Manager 2009. See you in my next review Laughing

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Fusion, NoobFeed