User Reviews
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 The Best Yet? |  4.0
0 comments |
by  Mitch
| Jun 19, 2008 |
THE GOOD:
- International Management. Improved, updated system gives you more control over your country.
- Fresh, clean look from the new colour scheme and skin.
- FaceGen - the creation of regenerated players' faces.
THE BAD:
- Horrible, glitchy match engine(pre patch).
- Transfer market - asking prices too high and your selling prices too low.
- Media. Pre match questions are too repetitive and always spring predictable reactions.
SUMMARY:
Football Manager 2008. The newest in the long running CM/FM series, the fourth since the Eidos/Sports Interactive split. A quick recap of my thoughts on previous games: FM05 - a fantastic game, played it for hours on end, I think this game defined SI were superior to Eidos. FM06 - the greatest FM game. It topped FM05 and I think I had near as much enjoyment from this game as I did from earlier versions (when it was Championship Manager). After this game, I expected huge things from FM07. FM07 - Unfortunately, this game was a humoungous dissapointment to me. It was glitchy, full of bugs, I found no enjoyment in it and it felt dull playing it. I could only stick to it for about an hour a day at most.
Football Manager 2008 however, was a turnaround. I think it's brought back some of the great things in the series. The international management, to start, is brilliant. I often find myself choosing a nation ahead of a club! With the option of choosing a captain and further player interaction, it can make you feel as if you're really in control of said nation. I can't stress how much I enjoy national management this year around.
Secondly, the new skin and colour scheme(a gallery of screenshots can be found here). The red and silvery look freshens your computer monitor up, and for some strange reason, makes you want to play for longer. A dark, dull, green screen can seem very unappealing when compared with this new look.
Also, I have to say how much I like FaceGen. It literally does what it says on the tin, which is generating faces for regenerated players. At first, I must admit, I didn't like the look of it from the first screenshot I saw(|), but during the game, you might find it grows on you. I actually find that it picks up characteristics of how players might look from their home nations and creates them according to that. A lot of South American players, for example, look very much like Carlos Tevez, Juan Riquelme, Ronaldinho etc. where as a typical British player will be modelled on those such as Barry Ferguson, John Terry, Steven Gerrard etc.. Aside from creating some interesting faces for you to see, this addition holds no real point, but nevertheless, I'm glad it's been added.
However, with every good point, there's a bad one. I've picked up three major ones I disliked mainly. I'll begin with the match engine(pre patch). It was what made me want to return my copy of the game when I first got it. Players leaving the pitch, your players throwing possession away or even your goalkeeper not turning up! There were many bugs, they just made the game that could have been great, terrible. If you haven't got it already, download the 8.0.1 Patch as it will make your game considerably better.
Onto the transfer market, it's also hard to buy or sell players unless you're prepared to overpay or slash your asking price. For example, player x worth £50m must be offered for around £20m if you want to sell him. It can be terrible when you're in a financial mess and you desperately need the money. Another example, for buying this time, I try to buy player y for £10m, which is double his asking price, and my offer is negotiated to something like £16m with clauses! Although, everyone gets those spontaneous buys and offers which are fantastic, no doubt about it, the main system of the transfer market overshadows this and is quite annoying. However, the worst part about it is when your chairman accepts an offer on the club's behalf. As a Man United manager, you know you don't want to sell Cristiano Ronaldo for less than about £70m, if you want to sell him at all. But the chairman goes and accepts an offer for about £30m on him. Some of these can be very, very annoying, especially when it's for your star players, but then again, it can come into your advantage when you're buying a player, although this is rare.
Lastly, I'll mention the media. With a promise of an update to the media this year, I was, at the least, disappointed. I was looking forward to a lot more than some altered questions, which had the same effect as they did last year when you answered them. The player interaction, unexpectedly, can also be terrible. Each thing you say usually gets the same reaction for every player, I would love to see some different questions and answers and reactions in FM09.
But don't get me wrong, FM08 is a fantastic game and a must buy for anyone who's even the slightest football fan in the world. Still not living up to the standards of FM06, it is a big improvement on FM07. If FM09 is any part better than this game, then it'll be fantastic. To describe the game in a few words, Id say "FM08 a great game, which could have been better". |
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| Football Manager 2008 |  5.0
0 comments |
by  kEaNo10
from Norwich, , Norfolk | May 29, 2008 |
THE GOOD:
~ Nice, clean looking new skin that's much easier on the eye.
~ Heap loads of new and improved features, including International management.
~ The shear addictiveness of this game. I can play it for hours on end.THE BAD:
~ Pre-Patch Match engine had many bugs.
~ Transfer market needs to be changed, players asking prices are too high.
~ Still no full licensing, so downloaded graphics are needed. SUMMARY:
My first thoughts on the game were a bit mixed. I was confused by the many different new features the game contained. But after I got the feel for the game, I started to like it more and more. I got the idea of the new features, and started to discover more about the game. There are many new aspects to the game. Internation management is one of the improved features of the game, you are now given more control over your nation, which makes the game feel more real than ever.
The game also has a new and improved skin. It gives the game a fresh, bright look, which is much easier on the eye than the old green. It can also make you want to play for longer. I believe that a dull skin, makes the game dull. Of course, it's still possible for you to download your own skin if you wish. A couple of good websites for Football manager graphics are: Soritoutsi.net, and FMGlive.com, both contain skins, facepack, etc etc.
This game is the biggest challenge of the FM series so far. No longer can you create one tactic and use it throughout the season. This game requires you to have a set of working tactics, each matching your type of opponent, therefore making it more fun, as you have to be creative and use your brain.
You also have to adapt your tactics to the style of league you play in. For example, in Italy they play a long ball game, so you would have to adapt to that. You also have to find a formation that matched your players, e.g, if your wingers aren't the best at crossing, it would be better to play a narrow game. It's all these technical things that you have to put thought into that make the game more fun than ever.
Club management is also improved. You are now allowed more interaction with your board, so you know exactly how well you're doing or how well you aren't. A new budget adjustment feature has also been introduced, which changes your transfer budget depending on your level of ambition. You can also then go into the boardroom and change your wage and transfer budgets, although that's if you have enough funds.
A couple of moans. Pre-Patch, the match engine has many bugs. There were far too many red cards and dubious goals etc, and there was a problem with opponents scoring from corners nearly every time they got one. My other moan is the transfer market, where players asking prices are sky high, so you have to pay at least 3 times a player's value to have a chance of buying him. But when it comes to selling, you have to drop below the asking price before any clubs will become interested. Moan over.
Something else I would like to talk about is the improved scouting network. You are now less restricted when it comes to scouting, enabling you to find better players, which can feel quite rewarding. especially when you find some 16 year old uber regen.
So, to conclude, this game is a must buy for any football fan. It gives an in-depth realistic feel of what it would be like to manage a football team, and the increased difficulty leaves you thinking. The game has an addictiveness factor about it, one that makes you want to play all day, without losing interest. Overall a real improvement, and I am looking forward to FM 09. Well done SI  |
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| A step in the right direction? |  4.4
0 comments |
by  Underated
from London, Watford, Middlesex, England | Apr 3, 2008 |
THE GOOD:
- The feeling of managing your favourite club
- The new & improved skin
- The addictive gameplay
THE BAD:
- The match engine on the original version of the game
- The amount of money players are sold for
- Very time-consuming
SUMMARY:
Without a doubt SI have come back and once again produced by far the best management simulation going, but is it a step in the right direction? In my honest opinion, I think it is. The new game is much more advanced and detailed than ever before, letting you control every single aspect of the club ranging from financial control to scouting specific competitions or regions.
One thing that really let Football Manager down upon release was it's original match engine. The match engine was full of bugs and was hardly enjoyable to play as it would have you pulling your hair out. These bugs included your players disappearing from the pitch, running into invisible walls and having about 5 goals disallowed per game. Shortly after release, the 8.0.1 patch came around which was a vast improvement. Although there were still some bugs that needed to be ironed out, the 8.0.1 patch made the game more enjoyable. The main problem was the shot to goal ratio. You could have 36 shots but still lose 1-0 to Derby who only had 2 shots, it just didn't make sense. Fair enough, this happens in real life once in a blue moon, but it happened far to frequently on the game. Late February came along and brought with it the 8.0.2 patch. I have to say, this patch is excellent. The match engine has been thoroughly reconstructed and is now much more accurate. The shot to goal ratio has been improved dramatically and the game is back to it's expected sense of realism.
One delightful thing about this game, is the new skin. SI have made a really good job of this one. It's lighter than previous skins, and it doesn't make the game appear as gloomy as it did before. The skin is easy on the eyes and the menu's and tool bars are easy to navigate. My only criticism of the new skin, is the colour of player and staff attributes. They are all different shades of blue and it's harder to distinguish the different colours. This can be easily changed, however, so it's not too much of a problem.
One thing that has been a major let down this year, is the amount of money clubs want for players. In real life, players such as Stuart Downing and Dimitar Berbatov are likely to move clubs for around 8-15M. On the game you're constantly looking at 30M+ for players of that calibre, which is not only unrealistic but gives players with a small budget a very narrow shortlist.
My final point to make about the game is about how addicting and time consuming it can be. If you're into football games, and the managing side of things you will be hooked onto this game when you first start playing it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's more of a warning!
All in all, I think the game is very, very enjoyable to play and it still has me hooked for hours trying to build up that one team. So if you want to take a small club to Champions League glory, win the treble with Manchester United or take England to world cup glory, this is the game for you! |
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| Fantastic Football Manager |  4.1
0 comments |
by  The Power
from Stafford, , England | Apr 1, 2008 |
THE GOOD:
Good gameplay
Nice new skin to give it a little change
Wider range of players to scout forTHE BAD:
Very addictive
The original patch was terrible
Media questions are a very repetitive thingSUMMARY:
I have to say, when I first bought the game I was very disappointed. There were a lot of bugs in the game with the most obvious being that your players to do close down and this allowing to let the opposition have a pop at goal.
When the first patch came out I was pleased as it had cleared all apparent bugs that I could see. I actually managed to get a good game going and playing regularly. However, I found it very difficult because in this game you have to think a lot more about the tactics you play against different opponents and also individual tactics for players. This patch was however on a whole very good.
When the January patch came out this made Football Manager 2008 the best I have played in the Football Manager series. All of the bugs to my mind have been fixed yet there has been a new one that has been made. Neoseeker members have called it the corner bug where is you stick a really good header of the ball to challenge the goalkeeper, and set your corner takers to aim in the 6-yard-box then you are almost certain to score. I have seen people get 40+ goals from a defender doing this. The game play is brilliant and provides a variety of different aspects and things you can do which is new to the 2008 edition. You can set opposition instructions e.g. set your strikers to close down the opposition defenders quickly therefore increasing the chance or their defense making a mistake and having you through on goal.
The new skin, I have to say well done to SI for this. Some people I know do not like the skin but I think it is a good skin because it is a very neural looking one. A nice lighter background and calmer shade of white makes the game for pleasant play.
Regarding the Media questions, I just personally think they have a change on them once in a while. They are always the same questions with the same answers, I would just like a little bit of variety to them.
Scouting players have become more fun because there are fewer to my knowledge of gems in the game, therefore making it harder and you have to scout more, this makes for a more realistic and enjoyable game.
Addictiveness is very high, I have played the game all of the time and I struggle to come off it sometimes. I hope my exams are not going to suffer because of this.
On reflection I am really pleased with the game, not the original patch but after the other patches came out then I think this has been a very successful game. It has made me want to buy the next one should it come out. Very good game overall. |
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| Building upon previous success |  3.2
0 comments |
by  ViNCeNZo
from , , Holland | Dec 17, 2007 |
THE GOOD:
SI updated the match engine, which makes the game a lot harder, people have to put more effort in the tactical part of the game now.
There are dozens of good add-ons.
THE BAD:
Basically this is not a new game, but merely FM2007 with a lot of add-ons.
Some of the improvements that are made are actually annoying in the long runs.
When the game was released it was just one big bug-fest and people who actually bought it on the day of release had to wait quite a while before they could play a bug-free game.SUMMARY:
SI have been most successful in the past years when it comes to Football Manager. Every game has been an improvement and kept people glued to the screen for literally days. It still is that way although I heard people complaining that they had a hard time getting into it. Personally I think that "not getting into it" is a consequence of the improved match engine. The game has become to hard. You cannot raise money, buy the best players and sit back while your team keeps kicking butt. Tactics need to fit your players qualities, and the Computer AI finds ways around your tactic, so you need to be tweaking them a lot. Of course, having better players still gives you an advantage, but it does not end there. A fine improvement for the tactical geniuses, a bit of a bugger for the financial masters.
I'm not going to whine about the horrible game skin. As soon as the game was released, millions of half-decent skins popped up from everywhere which would give everybody the opportunity to play the game in a setting that fits their needs. A really bad thing about this year's version is the amount of bugs we were confronted with. It's a shame that SI chose to release the game when it obviously wasn't finished. It took SI a full month to get the patch up that cleaned the game of all the bugs. On top, we were to be confronted with a beta patch at first. Come on! It's better to postpone the games release then giving us an awful hideous creature that is just soaked with bugs.
I have been a huge fan of FM since the release of Championship Manager 92-93 and will continue to be one in the coming years.
The gameplay, however is fantastic now the bugs have been solved and all the nice add-ons are very nice to see. Although I have seen people that are actually quite far in the game getting annoyed by meeting previous players over and over again. A new addition of this years version was, if you meet a player that has actually played for, the press goes kind of wild and starts suggesting how things worked out between you and the player and you have the possibility to either highlight his talent, or fire him down. However, every single time you meet the player, the same questions seem to pop up, I can imagine it gets kind of boring when you meet the same player four times a season.
All in all, the game is good. In my opinion, it's basically a pimped version of FM2007, with the best thing in it the improvement of the game engine. So should you buy it? I'd say yes, but I really belong to the tactical bunch that plays the game. Do you just want to buy good players and win everything you can? Stick to FM2007 then. |
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| Addiction, Immersion, Awesome! |  4.6
0 comments |
by  RobtheGooner
from Loughborough, , England | Dec 9, 2007 |
This game is a must buy for any football fanatic! Even if you're not the biggest fan of football this game could still be worth a look if you like management sims due to the in depth and total control you have over everything.
The game works very much like every other game in the series. You start out as a rookie manager with no experience, either at a club or nation of your choice, or unemployed. Your goal is to lead that team to win as many competitions as possible!
You will have a variety of tools at your disposal to maximise your chances of success. These are your tactics, your training, your finances, your transfer and wage budgets, your staff and your players!
You have to get the most out of your players by setting training schedules that focus on improving their weakest areas or improving and honing their strongest areas.
You can choose from a pretty much unlimited set of tactics to use. The formation is up to you, and there's a variety of slider bars to play with in order to get your team playing how you want them to. You tell them how you want them to play, and if they're good enough, they will carry out your orders! Whether you want to be direct or use short passing, play a quick game or a slow build up, defend deep or defend high and play on the counter attack is completely up to you. You can also assign a playmaker and a target man for your team. All play will generally go through a playmaker, while other players will always look to play the ball up to a target man. This barely scratches the surface of how in depth the tactics are.
The database in the game is huge with hundreds of thousands of players, all ranked in incredible detail down to every last attribute. They have technical stats (passing, heading etc), mental stats (influence, determination etc), and physical stats (pace, stamina etc). These are all ranked out of 20. Therefore there is an incredible range of diverse players to choose from, all costing very different amounts of money! If you're a rich team you'll be able to buy pretty much whoever you want for your team, whereas smaller clubs will have to settle for who they can afford.
The players in the game act very much like their real-life counterparts, this is down to the fact that their stats are very realistic, and also down to the fact that they have their very own "preferred moves". For example Cesc Fabregas has "dictates tempo" in his preferred moves, while Ronaldinho has "tries tricks". This makes them behave much like they do on the pitch in real life.
The scouting system in the game is very good. You can send your scouts out to different countries, regions and competitions to find the best talents for your team. You can also ask for scout reports on specific players, your scout will then pinpoint their strengths, weaknesses, current ability (compared to your best player in the same position) and their potential ability. They will also say if they think you should sign the player. Scouts can be wrong though, so you have to make sure you have good ones!
The matches themselves are brilliant. The 2d pitch returns again and it really is a superb way to watch the match. The top down view lets you see all the action, and also makes it easy to see where your tactics are working, or not. You can then use what you see to tweak your tactics, or motivate your players through the team talks. The commentary for the match is in text form, and builds the suspense well. There have been moments where I have literally jumped out of my seat shouting when one of my players scored an important goal, and other momented where I felt like punching my fist through the screen when my players fail to deliver in an important game.
This game is fantastic, and I hope this short review goes some way to convincing you to buy it. However, to get the most out of this game, you should definitely download the patch which fixes quite a lot of bugs in the game which can really spoil it for you. The skin also takes a while to get used to and is not the best. You can also download new skins though so it is not too much of a problem. |
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| Football Manager 2008- The Devilish_Red2 review |  3.5
0 comments |
by  devilish_red2
from Harrogate, , | Nov 25, 2007 |
THE GOOD:
as addictive as ever
new fresh look
greatly detailed with thousands of players to sign, clubs to join and staff to steal
confidence section is a great additionTHE BAD:
international management- there was meant to be a complete overhaul but adding your assistant recommending games to watch and a separate happiness indicator for internationals is not what i call an overhaul.
bugs. the game can be unplayable at times. defenders don't close down, vidic can't out jump defoe and the amount of chances missed is unbelievable.
the media. it is supposed to be expanded but there is little more in the way of things to say to the press.
as addictive as everSUMMARY:
On the day it came out we were all rushing off to game or waiting impatiently for the postman to deliver it. But was it worth? I'd have to say yes, but it's a close call.
the new skin is much better then the previous one but due to the fact you can download skins this is neither here nor there. Layout however is improved and it is much easier to navigate round all the endless amounts of information that absorb you.
as ever there is a huge amount of information and the usual stat changes are made. you can view anything from information regarding the year Hapoel Tel.Aviv was founded to AFC's Wimbledons stadium capacity.
the best new feature is the confidence section. at the click of a button you can found out that the fans don't think francis jeffers is a good acquisition for arsenal but they are pleased with Toure's performances. This system really lets you understand where you need to improve to please the board and how your making the beloved fans happy.
As said in The Bad section- the bugs are atrocious. Rather then me going over what i said there I will tell you that know you can download the patch which fixes these bugs. hooray! you can find the link in the forum header of the fm2008 forum. I also said that International Management is still disappointing. It is still very much a job that doesn't at all compete with the thrills and spills of club management.
I was very disappointed when I discovered that the media was the same. Thus is one of the biggest part of being a football manager yet there is still no press conferences and the responses you are given to questions asked are still the same, five, mandatory responses that we got on last years version. I also felt that team talks should of been improved, which they weren't. The only purposeful thing that could count as "expanded media" is the fact that you only get information regarding your club in your inbox and information regarding other clubs in your league is in a separate news section, which is a nice addition but not what we were hoping for
Overrall it's a very good game. But this is not a complete overhaul of the game that people hoped for. Some say that the game is not worth £25 pounds as it is little more then a stat update. I, however, think that the small things they've added in, like squad bonuses and pitch sizes make this game one of the most realistic, absorbing and fun that SI have made.
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| Ronaldo_7's FM08 Review |  4.5
0 comments |
by  RoNaLdO
from , , | Nov 17, 2007 |
THE GOOD:
- A sleek, white new skin gives the game a fresh, cleaner look.
- Inceridibly detailed with thousands of players and clubs at your disposal.
- Easier to use with smoother, quicker gameplay.
THE BAD:
- Highly addictive.
- The pre-match media questions can sometimes get quite repetitive.
SUMMARY:
In the latest installment of the best manager simulation game on the market a variety of new features have been introduced to make the game even more realistic and detailed than previous installments. Some of these features include-
- Confidence- You can now find out about what the board and fans alike think of your performance as manager, this will go right down to their opinions on individual signings and match performances. They will also let you know their expectations which if not achieved will see you out the door.
- Finances- You can have more control and flexibility than ever over your finances. This will allow you to make adjustments to your wage and transfer budgets allowing you more freedom in the transfer market.
- Easier to use- A new layout for the game allows for easier and more flowing gameplay. The adviser system provides you with assistance with everything you need which will benefit players who are new to the series.
- Fan days- You will now be able to host fan days at your club to boost attendances and fanbases. This is particularly useful for smaller clubs who are looking to move up in the world.
- Facegen- A new feature that will create human like faces for regenerated players, these faces will age and show different expressions depending on how the player is feeling.
There are also other minor new features like the calender which shows you all the important dates for a particular month, there is now a transfer centre which allows you to monitor all the in's and out's involving your club.
In this years game there is a larger emphasise on the importance of tactics and you will have to vary them for home and away games. You will have to work at this until you perfect it, but when your tactics work out you will have a great sense of achievement and from then on you will be hooked.
In my opinion the only major let down is, as I mentioned, the media questions, they can get quite repetitive when you play the game for a large amount of time and with a very limited number of responses they may start to bore you.
In what is more of a tweaked version of the last game than a huge overhaul Fotball Manager 2008 is a great game, which will have you playing for hours and I would highly recommend it to any football fan. |
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forums
4.16/5.0
