Review: Football Manager 2008 (360)

It's not easy reviewing something that is essentially a spreadsheet. Very much a PC franchise, the last Football Manager Gamestyle played (the 2006 version) did a respectable job of transferring it onto consoles. Unfortunately, the latest iteration has taken a bit of a step backwards.

In FM2006, they at least tried to implement a mouse-like cursor system. You could use the d-pad to flick through the options, but it was much easier to just use the cursor. Sports Interactive obviously didn’t consider this important and have thrown it out of this version, instead making you flick through each option rather slowly. They've also added a number of options to the LB and RB buttons making it more complex than your average RTS. It doesn't help that the navigation is sluggish and more often than not the analogue control will stick making a horrible beeping noise as it flies past the option you want. In addition, you even have options mapped to the trigger buttons, which will make you thankful that there is an in-game tutorial section to help you through.

What the Football Manager series has always had is an overwhelming amount of options, and 2008 is no different. Veterans of the series will take hours before their first match as they finely tune their newly-acquired team. They'll create new tactics, bring in some new talent and take a closer look at their squad selection. New-comers may take a more gung-ho approach, skipping transfers and the like, flying straight into the first friendly. An approach like this, more often than not against tough opposition, can lead to disaster. Gamestyle's first season in charge of the mighty Stoke City saw us locked in a touch relegation battle, a far cry from their recent real life success. It has a steep learning curve, but even when we were losing terribly, we still couldn't stop playing. For football fans, this is like crack cocaine.

It's disappointing that we have yet to be treated to fully 3D match recreation, but perhaps this is really a blessing in disguise. It's amazing that even though all you see on screen are circles pushing a ball around the framerate can still dip considerably when the referee blows his whistle. Perhaps that goes to show how much data is stored on the disc. The only real problem with the way the matches are played is sometimes you're asked to comment to the local newspaper about something that happened during the match, whether it be a referee's decision or a controversial goal. Choosing to watch the incident again doesn't help because you’re not actually shown anything apart from a few circles dancing around, making it a complete guessing game as to what to actually say. When asked about a controversial penalty, we answered that it was never a penalty and found ourselves quickly reprimanded by the FA because this was obviously the wrong choice.

There isn't really much else to say about Football Manager 2008. There's an added Xbox Live mode that lets you pit your team against others around the world, but really we preferred to stick to the single-player, being the reclusive anoraks that we are. If you have a PC that can play this game then buy that version; it's safe to say the 360 controller really is no replacement for a mouse. If you prefer console play, however, then prepare to be addicted 'til the next year's edition.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver