My Opinion on FM2009
Posted in Articles, Guides | On November 18th, 2008 | By Kazzy
Football Manager 2009’s release with it’s new 3D Match Engine has certainly got people talking. Lots of people really do not like the new engine at all while others see the promise and quality in it. It’s other new touches are also worth a mention. Press conferences, changes to the tactical side of the game, improved assistant manager role…. What do I think? Read on and see…
This year’s new features, especially the 3D Match Engine, could well determine the Football Manager series’ standing within the Football Management Simulation genre. Many other management simulations such as FIFA Manager and LMA Manager have boasted 3D Match Engines in the past but have failed to convert the technological advantage into a fully-fledged market leader. SI, on the other hand, have sacrificed such frivolities in terms of gut-wrenching, eye-popping detail.
The one thing that has set the FM series apart is the sheer depth that it goes into and it’s worked pretty well thus far so why change? Perhaps the market has changed such that it is now necessary to try and implement as many new features as possible? Could it be that SEGA’s influence has given the game developers the confidence to build a 3D match engine? Maybe SI merely see it as the natural path of evolution for the game, text-based to 2D into 3D? Regardless of the thinking behind it, the proof of the pudding is always in the tasting. Many people have already voiced their concerns about the Match Engine, believe it has been implemented too early and that some serious flaws still exist in it. I believe that those people need only pick up a copy of CM4 and compare it with FM08. CM4 was the birth of the 2D match engine; while great, it was not a patch on FM2008’s. The 3D Match Engine, much like a good malt whisky, will mature with age and grow into a more refined, smoother running piece.
The other big new feature was the inclusion of press conferences. Like many of you, I played the demo and felt the freedom of speech almost liberating. The opportunity to properly interact with the press, telling that annoying reporter what you really think of the rival manager… it all seemed like such a brilliant inclusion. Having played the game for a couple of days, I can tell you the novelty wears thin quite quickly. At first, I attended all the pre-game press conferences. After a couple, I noticed the theme of questioning was always very similar and that the game would pre-determine which question it would feature in the news reel, meaning a lot of the time, your actual comments never make it onto the news. Quite irksome after a while but I dare not send my assistant, just in case he says the wrong thing and ends up throwing the team’s morale into the proverbial lavatory. Ultimately, a nice gimmick but it does wear thin pretty quickly.
One inclusion I am massively in favour of is the Coach’s Feedback panel on the game screen. It allows you to see what your assistant thinks and, more importantly, crucial alterations to your tactics that can swing a game in your favour. I always found the assistant manager a bit redundant on matchdays other than team talks so that inclusion gets a massive thumbs up from me.
A final negative is one a lot of the tacticians among us will have picked up already, the demise of the curved arrows. No longer can you make your winger cut inside to hassle that shaky centre-back and gone is the possibility of a regular 4-4-2 with your central midfielders curving their runs to form the diamond shape. A big loss in the tactics area and certainly a reduction in the functionality.
However, I’d like to end on a positive note. When all is said and done, FM is not a polished item (that’s what the patches are for, har-de-har) and will continue to be tweaked but look at it this way… it could be much worse….
It could be Championship Manager….
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