Many games have been labelled as the digital version of crack cocaine, games like Everquest, World of Warcraft and the Civilization series being chief amongst the serial time-wasters. But none of these have had to rely on a glorified excel spreadsheet to glue the player?s eye to the screen, even as topless women eating hotdogs on top of monster trucks saunter in the background.
Football Manager however, manages to pull it off with the barest of bells and whistles. All the demons of hell could spawn on this mortal earth and my eyes will still be watching a circle pass a yellow dot to another circle. Why are my eyes glued to the screen? Depth.
This game throws a heck of a lot of stats at you, everything from which foot a player prefers to a score out of 20, telling us how aggressive a certain player is. You can design training schedules for your players down to the smallest detail, and play with countless formations. In a world where visual realism has been the mantra for many game developers, the Football Manager series builds a world where stats are king. Yet, it manages to give the player the ultimate manager experience, short of Roman Abramovich throwing piles of money at you.
More than being a statistician?s wet dream, it manages to capture the world of football and make the player participate in it in ways that we just can?t by yelling at the television screen while covered in Doritos. It does this by giving the chance to interact with the sports media, engage in the dirty dealing of the transfer window, and placating players by giving them a bigger goal bonus or giving them the Fergie treatment when they haven?t scored in 10 games.
In short, it gets you so close to the world of football that you can snort the touchline Robbie Fowler style.
As I sit here in my tattered Juventus top, I?m itching to get back to the game. I want to see that young player making giant strides score his first senior goal, and trade that overrated defender to an unsuspecting Roma. But, as you?ve probably figured out by now, I came to the game as a football fan, but what about those who pick up the game without being a fan?
For example, what if I gave a copy to one of my yank friends in the northern hemisphere? Would they be able to comprehend the behemoth on their screen, or be flabbergasted by the game? The question I?m asking, is does the Football Manager experience stand up on its own? (Without assuming the player has knowledge of the bosman trade, or the catenaccio)
If you trace the development of the series, you?ll note that a lot of effort has gone into streamlining the experience while adding new elements, to make the game a lot more accessible to a new generation of fans. Something tells me however, that the Football Manager servers won?t be crammed with players yelling ?Let?s play us some soccerball!? any time soon.
As well as these changes have been implemented, the game still remains nigh on impenetrable and incomprehensible for those not acquainted with the genius of Garrincha or Van Basten. It just doesn?t stand on it?s own a simulator game.
The true test of any simulation game is whether it can be played by someone who isn?t particularly interested in the area being presented. Football Manager fails at this in a big way. Players, will not, spend hours trawling through a manual to find out why David Beckham doesn?t play well as a left-full back. They will not spend days trying to figure out why they can?t win games playing a 6-3-1, or why their players keep on picking up injuries while playing at breakneck speed.
So the strength, therefore, must lie in the simulation engine, but in the experience it gives players. Sure, the game is a glorified excel spreadsheet, but the true experience of the game doesn?t lie with all the stats and endless simulations, but with the rush it gives fans.
So, Football Manager is what any game should aspire to be. Games should aspire to not focus the player on graphics, water effects or gameplay mechanics, but the experience that the sum of its parts provides.
In this day and age of endless hype, it?s nice to see a game where its strength can not be defined by any one feature, but by the utterly immersive experience it provides for fans.
Recommendation: Buy it (if you know anything about soccerball)
Football Manager however, manages to pull it off with the barest of bells and whistles. All the demons of hell could spawn on this mortal earth and my eyes will still be watching a circle pass a yellow dot to another circle. Why are my eyes glued to the screen? Depth.
This game throws a heck of a lot of stats at you, everything from which foot a player prefers to a score out of 20, telling us how aggressive a certain player is. You can design training schedules for your players down to the smallest detail, and play with countless formations. In a world where visual realism has been the mantra for many game developers, the Football Manager series builds a world where stats are king. Yet, it manages to give the player the ultimate manager experience, short of Roman Abramovich throwing piles of money at you.
More than being a statistician?s wet dream, it manages to capture the world of football and make the player participate in it in ways that we just can?t by yelling at the television screen while covered in Doritos. It does this by giving the chance to interact with the sports media, engage in the dirty dealing of the transfer window, and placating players by giving them a bigger goal bonus or giving them the Fergie treatment when they haven?t scored in 10 games.
In short, it gets you so close to the world of football that you can snort the touchline Robbie Fowler style.
As I sit here in my tattered Juventus top, I?m itching to get back to the game. I want to see that young player making giant strides score his first senior goal, and trade that overrated defender to an unsuspecting Roma. But, as you?ve probably figured out by now, I came to the game as a football fan, but what about those who pick up the game without being a fan?
For example, what if I gave a copy to one of my yank friends in the northern hemisphere? Would they be able to comprehend the behemoth on their screen, or be flabbergasted by the game? The question I?m asking, is does the Football Manager experience stand up on its own? (Without assuming the player has knowledge of the bosman trade, or the catenaccio)
If you trace the development of the series, you?ll note that a lot of effort has gone into streamlining the experience while adding new elements, to make the game a lot more accessible to a new generation of fans. Something tells me however, that the Football Manager servers won?t be crammed with players yelling ?Let?s play us some soccerball!? any time soon.
As well as these changes have been implemented, the game still remains nigh on impenetrable and incomprehensible for those not acquainted with the genius of Garrincha or Van Basten. It just doesn?t stand on it?s own a simulator game.
The true test of any simulation game is whether it can be played by someone who isn?t particularly interested in the area being presented. Football Manager fails at this in a big way. Players, will not, spend hours trawling through a manual to find out why David Beckham doesn?t play well as a left-full back. They will not spend days trying to figure out why they can?t win games playing a 6-3-1, or why their players keep on picking up injuries while playing at breakneck speed.
So the strength, therefore, must lie in the simulation engine, but in the experience it gives players. Sure, the game is a glorified excel spreadsheet, but the true experience of the game doesn?t lie with all the stats and endless simulations, but with the rush it gives fans.
So, Football Manager is what any game should aspire to be. Games should aspire to not focus the player on graphics, water effects or gameplay mechanics, but the experience that the sum of its parts provides.
In this day and age of endless hype, it?s nice to see a game where its strength can not be defined by any one feature, but by the utterly immersive experience it provides for fans.
Recommendation: Buy it (if you know anything about soccerball)
