Stop! Before all you goblin-fanciers blankly flick past this review in search of mystical worlds, take a minute to gaze in wonder at the surrounding screenshots. For years you have dismissed Football Manager as a glorified spreadsheet. Even the introduction of an overhead 2D match engine couldn't sway you from pixie boots and leprechauns. But look now, there are actual human footballers with shirts and hair and skin, some of which even relate to their real-life counterparts.
Yes, the king of football management sims has finally stepped into the '80s with the advent of a 3D match engine, adding a further facet to what is arguably the deepest role-playing game ever made. That role is the thankless job of a football team manager, and until this year the feckless overpaid players in your charge existed only in your mind, or as a series of dots on an overhead view of a pitch.
Now finally made flesh, it's like going through the looking glass, and in gaming terms is a revelation akin to the advent of colour television. Pah, the naysayers will scoff, 3D football management games have been around for decades, the vast majority of them looking considerably better than these rancid Amiga-standard graphics.
The difference of course is that all other football management games are dog shit, the fancy 3D graphics doing little more than papering over the cracks of a paper-thin match engine and a fundamentally flawed management model.
In FM 2009, the point is that the players are doing exactly what the dots were doing in previous versions of the game; it's just the circles have been made flesh through a bit of motion capture courtesy of Sega Japan's Virtua Striker development team. So while purists may fear that the series has sold out, rest assured that the integrity of the match engine has in no way been compromised. And besides, bluff old traditionalists can still use the 2D view. In fact, if your laptop is more than a few years old, you'll have no choice.
With the concept behind the leap into 3D hopefully established, what is the experience actually like? Much as we love the game, let's not pretend that it's like watching Match of the Day. Rudimentary at best, the graphics occupy the middle ground between the original Football Manager on the Spectrum, and the latest version of FIFA.
While remaining watchable, it's not without its quirks, with players getting tangled up in each other and passing the time with the odd spot of moonwalking. In general, it takes some getting used to, particularly when the action freezes in order to advance the clock. In the previous text commentary or 2D modes, it wasn't particularly noticeable, but seeing footballers suspended in mid-air while the game zips forward to the next highlight does tend to make you think it's broken.
Either way, the action can be watched from a variety of vantage points, from the main stand to behind the corner flag, or even an overhead Sensible Soccer view. And when in full-screen TV mode, a variety of so-called widgets can be displayed, showing player ratings and so on, although it gets a bit cluttered with more than two or three open at once.
While it's tempting to think that with all the attention on the 3D engine the rest of the game has been neglected, as ever the tireless drones at Sports Interactive have been ceaselessly building upon perfection, with such evolutions as increased Assistant Manager feedback, more media involvement, and an overhauled transfer system.
And as ever, it's the same life-sapping experience it has always been. As the nights draw in and clinical depression due to a lack of socialisation rears its ugly head, it's reassuring to know that there's a place you can go where your actions mean something and people know your name, even if it is just some pretend footballers with the wrong coloured hair.
There's an argument that says living in this dismal country is only made bearable by the televised sporting calendar, and the annual release of FM almost falls into this category, providing a swathe of green for men to stare at for hours on end while the rest of the world gets on with allegedly important stuff.
Even without the 3D engine, Football Manager 2009 is still fully deserving of its classic rating, providing a staggeringly comprehensive simulation of the complex world of management. We predict a few patches before the match engine is fully functioning, but even in its current state, it tangibly enhances the experience.
Steve Hill
// Overview
Verdict
3D is the new 2D
Uppers
New 3D match engine Hugely absorbing Massive database Highly authentic
I bought this game yesterday, and rather than it being a straight install, play off disc retail game, it informed me that it needed to be installed with Steam. I went ahead, thinking that that would be very convenient and went through the terms. It didn't ask me for my Steam User and Password. I found this strange, but continued. Turns out that my brother's friend had logged into the computer a few days previous and played Call of Duty 4, a game I don't own, but he does. He had it set to 'Log in Automatically.'
Long story short, the installer didn't ask me to enter my Steam ID and password and as a result of this, the game registered to my brother's friend's account, with no way for me to recover it. I have a Steam Ticket- but you should all know that that is a futile, long, slow and inaccurate process that isn't likely to get results. So I am now gameless, unable to play a game I BOUGHT thanks to DRM. Don't fall into the same trap, make sure you're logged into the Steam ID you want to use before running the installer. I'm very unhappy because it's a game I've been very excited about, and don't see why I should have to buy it again over genuine human error.
Just a shame Sega/SI cocked up the release date so badly!
If you bought it yesterday Sega and SI's DRM authentication crashed and it took people anywhere from 3hrs to 12 hrs to get past the security and play the game.
Quite surprising for SI to think there would not be thousands wanting to play it all at once.
But still after 3 hrs I got it installed and it plays rather nicely, although I dont use the 3d engine, still prefer my old style dot's (reminds me of old spectrum management games!)
Took me around 8 hours yesterday from putting the disc in,to actually playing it.The wait was well worth it though.
Fantastic game as always.The game just feels so natural now.At Celtic you could be beating by anyone but now the teams just feel right.There is no Aberdeen humping Celtic or Hamilton spanking Rangers.The results are much more believable now.
What else are Sega going to do? This must be one of the most pirated games on their books, every year you can pick a copy up online within days of release.
And yet again it was available a day after release for pirates, showing that this DRM shite was pointless and in the end it came back to bite them in the arse with honest gamers unable to play the game. PC gaming is going down the pan and it's partly because of these stupid, pointless attempts to cut down on piracy. Hopefully SEGA have learnt their lesson and will just stick to good old fashion serial keys next time around otherwise they risk further pissing off a very loyal fanbase them have amassed over the years...
It`s nice to know that sega care about their customers by treating them all like thugs .....And people wonder why consoles enjoy such sucess :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Not particularly interested in this game and never was. Sorry to hear about the DRM hell to the OP. Thanks for the heads-up though; Sega just got bumped up to the front of the line of companies about to get black listed along with EA, Ubisoft, Sony and possibly T2. If Creative Assembly's "Empire: Total War" comes with the same crap then my currently most anticipated title - one that I've been a loyal follower of since Total War: Shogun - will be one I won't buy. Man! That thought grates something awful!
Yeah..love the new match engine. 3D drama now rather than imaginery. However..major problems exist in the transfer search engine areas. For instance, SI have seen fit to go backwards in their World Transfers listing. Scrolling down to "Free transfers", and then losing your place because of some re-sort while you check out a free agent's profile, gets up your nose fellas !! The more recent FM2007 and 09 had it "nearly" right, when you could deselect what you didn't want to display what you did. What this needed was an ability to set these settings permanently for efficient transfer gazing. But SI have trashed all this ! And why do I, as manager, get only 20% return from selling players ?
New 3D match engine
