Game Reviews

Football Manager 2011 (FM) is released this Friday in Europe and tentatively dated the 16 of November in the US. A Football Management ‘simulator’ you are put in charge of basically any club of your choice in a ridiculously realistic setting. Playing Football Manager can often be like taking a degree in football, you learn the rules of each league, the transfer rules regarding ‘Bosman’s’ and the compensation clauses in signing youth players and also you will learn to love, hate and covet players you may never have heard of.

For the uninitiated playing FM can be a daunting task, the sheer level of depth in the game could easily turn someone off, it is not a ‘pick-up-and-play’ game. However, if you are a fan of football it will reward you for those first tough hours as your team get’s demolished by all and sundry because you haven’t prepared accurately. Your players may not develop because you haven’t the right coaches. Players will become disaffected because they aren’t getting playing time and you told them they were indispensable and the board may sack you because you’ve led the club on the road to financial ruin. It is the level of depth though that makes the game so rewarding.

For football lovers it is the ultimate in fantasy football, you can take charge of one of the European greats and tinker with systems and tactics to your heart’s content or you can scrimp and save and try to turn your local team into world beaters. It is all possible but it takes a lot of hard work. Yes, work, the game takes on the role of a second job, one where your mistakes will cause you to squirm in your seat and your successes feel euphoric. It may sound that I’m eulogising but that’s because I am, Football Manager is one of the greatest games in the world about the greatest game in the world.