Football Manager 2010 Review [PC]

29 Oct 2009 at 16:39:54 by Peter Parrish
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

Confession time: I've been somewhat estranged from the Sports Interactive series of management titles. We've been apart for so long in fact, that the last one I played for any prolonged period was almost certainly Championship Manager 01/02 - released long before the split with Eidos and the loss of the "Championship Manager" name. Even the most half-hearted follower of management sims knows what happened after that. The re-christened Football Manager stayed top of the pile, while the Championship Manager brand drifted into a few difficult years in the wilderness. Oh yes, and FIFA Manager occasionally popped up on the sidelines looking pretty.

However, now seems like a great time to be re-exploring Sports Interactive's work. Their 3D match engine is making its second appearance here, meaning there's been ample time for any early issues to be ironed out and improvements made. There's talk, too, of a new user interface - something which diehards will presumably have to get used to, but which returning players like myself can simply dive straight into. Finally, with Championship Manager 2010 showing some interesting touches and signs of life, there's the hope that Sports Interactive will have shaken off any lingering complacency from a recent lack of competition and given their all to this latest incarnation.

It certainly seems as though some effort is being made to ease new players into the game with this release. A handy guidance feature is (optionally) available to give run-downs on the overall function of pages, or to help out with specifics like how to sign a new player or re-jig some tactics. The 'backroom advice' area, despite sounding like an uneasy meeting with the mafia, is another useful addition for managers who need a hand. In here, the assistant manager and coaches will offer their opinions on various matters - from who they feel should be taking corners for the team, to whether the opposition in the next fixture are likely to have a height advantage. It's entirely up to the player how much of this advice he chooses to heed (or even look at), but as a quick guide to things which need immediate attention, it's great to have. SI should be congratulated for trying to give new players a sporting chance of getting into the game.

Of course, there is still a fearsome amount of depth on offer here. Realistically, anybody approaching this game needs to at least have an understanding of the basic way in which football management titles have evolved over the last few years. Namely; towards information overload. As the data storage and number crunching abilities of PC processors have increased, so too have the amounts of data and statistics in management sims. As a result the genre has become increasingly self-contained, appealing predominantly to players already familiar with the mechanics of these titles. Looking at the sheer number of menus, stats, information and options available in FM 2010, you have to wonder if these games are now simply too far away from ever being accessible to the completely uninitiated.

That said, further efforts to streamline the experience have been made with the tactics interface, which now allows the quick creation of tactics in text-based footballing terminology (purists need not worry, 'classic' mode still exists too.) With the new system it's possible to, for instance, directly assign a wide midfielder the role of an attacking winger, rather than having to move a bunch of sliders around to approximate that effect. Instead of fiddling about with individual positional details, you have the ability to simply assign an overall 'rigid' or 'expressive' philosophy to give your players the general idea. Now yes, it's likely that these textual terms will simply be moving multiple sliders around underneath the surface, but it's a positive step forwards. It provides a smoother level of access for players (new and old) who want to set up tactics with the everyday language they would use to describe the sport. Essentially, it seems to offer the best of both worlds - the chance to set up an overall tactic base, followed by some 'advanced' slider-tweaking in order to make the most of specific player skills.

In a broader sense, this option to use a more language-based interface marks an important step away from bare statistics and numerical values - something which the management genre has desperately needed. It's true that numbers will always be controlling the action somewhere underneath the hood, but football management games are one of the few genres (alongside RPGs) to wear their statistics on their sleeves, and this has always felt totally at odds with how the sport is discussed in real life. Supporters have never watched their new signing dash about the pitch and remarked 'he's got pace of at least 18, that lad.'

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