FM09 Review: Initial Impressions of the Demo
Average Rating: 5/10 Hits: 560 Submitted: Nov 29, 2008
Recently, Americans have made their voices heard by electing an historically significant president on the platform of change. While being a much more trivial matter in comparison, Sports Interactive have also spent this past year developing the newest edition of Football Manager with the same ideologies in mind. An oft-heard criticism of FM08 was that it wasn’t a dramatic leap from the functionality and playability of FM07. Which is valid in many ways, and with the cult-like fanaticism of the FM community for the most innovative features year after year, SI Towers had an uphill climb to top themselves once again. The unprecedented inclusion of a 3D match engine view (with 2D “TV mode”) as well as increased media interaction, an over-hauled transfer system, updated league & nationality modules and a plethora of appreciated small bells & whistles, it is without question a much greater gap than we experienced this time last year. Was the FM community really ready for this change that they so clamoured for last edition?
Taking a look back into Football Manager’s (then called Championship Manager) past, we can recall how much controversy there was when the game took a shift to a 2D match engine from the accustomed commentary-based play. We have also seen a growing movement of the game these past few years that steers it away from its arcade-like click fest of the past and into the realm of a truly realistic simulation experience of real world football. The expectations as a whole of Sports Interactive has never been this high in releasing a product that suits both the casual and hardcore player, both the old-time CM gamers of the past and the newly exposed users in the present, as well as the recognized worldwide demographic represented in the game’s sales figures.
As with any demo release by a game developer, it can be understood that there would be a few minor bugs and niggling flaws. While this may not excuse them outright, Sports Interactive have always been very user-friendly in their approach by releasing timely patch fixes for their titles and basing their changes heavily on the feedback of the gaming community. Looking over at their official forums, it would almost seem as if the sky is falling with the amount of new threads opened criticizing these initial faults. I would have to implore that vocal demographic to remain as temperamental and constructive in their responses, but I know how frustrating it must be to wait in anticipation for the game only to be disappointed with some of the issues highly apparent upon first play. Those who would be pinned as “moaners” though, do provide a valuable asset to the developers and with FM09 being connected with the Steam platform, most users purchasing this game around the world will be able to readily update their copy like never before and benefit from this feedback.
Taking a bit here and there from all points on the spectrum, let’s look at first impressions from several FM-Britain forum members and their initial experiences with the game. (most of which can be viewed in our FM2009 Demo thread)
posted by Levo:
The two major additions to the game this year, the 3D match engine I am pretty impressed with as I have been from the pictures I have seen it. I can’t really comment on it from a technical point of view, as my expertise in the analysis are lacking. But it looks and plays well to me and I love the widgets, just a pain in the arse having too many on at a time as it does block your view of the pitch.
I am much happier with the way the media engine works, I have had 3 press conferences and the questions have been varied and well done into the game, I just hope that it doesn’t turn into repetitive questions. Also some great little smaller additions to the game make it much slicker to play, I think it has been done well this year.
posted by Keith:
As you know, I don’t like to talk tactics, but I will say this version does seem to be more logical - when I try stuff, my ‘guesstimates’ for the settings I need to do what I want seem to be at least close to what I intended - I can see what’s going on, and why, a lot easier. The 3d also helps enormously in this. Already, I’d go as far as to say that the only people who don’t use it (if they can) are Luddites who aren’t getting the full experience. I’m hooked. I’ve even watched 2 matches in full in real-time. Yeah, that was a bit boring, but it was also well cool too.
Feedback all round is improved beyond all recognition. Being able to see a player’s motivation on the fly and be able to have my assman’s opinion on the match at any time and his suggestions for tactical changes is a brilliant step towards more realism - and it seems to avoid the complete ‘hand-holding’ scenario we feared (I’ve ignored his suggestions to good effect/lack of disastrous effect a number of times already, so what he suggests isn’t necessarily the only or best way to win/not lose), so I’m very cool with these new features (and you have to ask for them so they can easily be ignored if you wanted). There is a little bit of hand holding, especially with that advisor thing, but with the new features this year I can imagine the game being utterly daunting to a newcomer to FM… so I can live with that.
It’s not perfect; I hope they tweak the 3d a little more to get rid of those little hesitations - although I am extremely impressed with how well it works now. It’s definitely got that ‘I’ll press continue just one more time’ thing going. Yep - a thumbs up from me.
posted by Dale C:
I’m starting to see the benefits of the changes to forward arrows, theoretically. It would also explain why my team was completely inept using an FM08 set up, I will certainly be interested to see some of the findings on here and hopefully an updated base set to build upon for those of us that don’t have the time to do the research/analysis side.
I’m ashamed to say I think it’s time they introduced a difficulty slider, I really don’t have the patience these days to play the game with such a stringent, analytical mindset. I just want to blast through the season like the good old days. There just isn’t enough there to get me hooked though and I still feel the game has lost a lot of its soul, however I will give the full version a proper going over before making a final judgement.
posted by wwfan:
As I mentioned previously, FM09 will be extremely difficult at first, especially as the default tactics don’t help. I would think something better will be included in the release day patch. And, although I can’t play the 3d worth a damn, the 2d ME is gorgeous when you sort out what you are doing. The football is absolutely stunning.
posted by JP:
Finally SI provide us with a choice of skins, something I’ve wanted for a long time. It doesn’t matter that they’re essentially the same skin recoloured, the fact that the game ships with more than one is enough. Had FM08 been packaged in this way I think there would have been a lot less wailing and gnashing of teeth last October. One thing that does disappointment me though is that I was hoping for a skin which more closely resembled the FM-Live skin. Ah well, not to worry…
Tactically, the game feels like it makes more sense; sure the inability to place arrows is going to take some getting used to but the fact that you can now get your team to play attractive (reasonably realistic) football is a great step in the right direction. The assistant’s advice in this area is another addition that I think we’ll eventually look back on as being a good move by SI, especially if the quality/accuracy of the advice is based on the ability of the assistant. It’s certainly a feature that the less experienced or tactically clueless user will benefit from.
I am a little concerned by the number of injuries players seem to pick up though - so far I’ve not managed to field my best XI once. Admittedly this in itself isn’t entirely unrealistic (just ask Newcastle and West Ham fans) but the fact that I can’t name a matchday squad without having to fill the subs bench with youth team players is a little over the top. I understand that SI are looking at this issue though and a patch will be issued on or around release day meaning it shouldn’t be too much of an issue when the serious gaming starts.
posted by devinehfc:
The transfer system is a plus point - it is vastly improved and I think the addition of the rumour centre is excellent and the days of offering decent players to clubs for £0 and have no interest seem to be over. However, I do wonder if it is too easy to get players on loan as I have players such as Chopra and Dickson Etuhu at Hibernian on £0 wages for the whole season.
As other posters have pointed out the ’send to reserves until match fit’ option has been needlessly removed but the option to make fringe players available for reserves permanently is a definite improvement. The press conference addition is ok - a tad tiresome and responses are again limited as they are with team talks which I thought would have been given serious attention.
posted by mtmartian:
I am disappointed in the feel of the game. There are no extra options for team talks - A big big gripe on 08. The only new thing is the press conference - which will go the same way as player interaction once you know what to say and when. The transfers seem a bit better but I haven’t got to far into them yet. It must be said that sending you ass man to look for loan player is good.
So many good little things like moving injured players to reserves until fit, different sliders for match and highlights etc., have been dropped for no apparent reason. It’s not like leaving these out make the game any easier or any better. If the game had been made from the ground up then maybe I could understand it but it quite clearly hasn’t. There was no reason to take these out and it has annoyed me more than the tactics, bad 3D or anything else.
And all the promises we have heard about this fantastic new match engine - sorry guys I don’t see it. What the hell is the point of providing an area to build your own tactics, but neglect to tell anyone what the bloody sliders actually do in relation to the ME?
posted by WWSD:
I was pleasantly surprised with the 3D engine, actually. I was afraid that it was going to turn into yet another dime-a-dozen game where all the tactics are gone, the goals all look the same, etc., but the contrary is true. This can be seen from the fact that the matches go exactly the same, no matter if you watch it in 2D or 3D. The effect of tactics make themselves a lot clearer, and it’s just very nice to see your team mount sophisticated attacks in 3D.
As you can see by only a handful of forum quotes, there are definitely issues with the demo that everyone has picked up on as well as vast differences in the way users are viewing the same exact features. Some would argue that there is a distinct group that are hell bent on criticizing the game using preconceived notions and clouding their view. On the other hand, some labelled regularly as “fanboys” are looked at as feverishly defending all things SI even with seemingly glaring flaws right in front of their faces. The exact verdict probably lies somewhere in the middle between all this madness. No matter what side you’re more inclined to align with yourself, we can still all admit that this new release has come leaps and bounds over its predecessor in comparison to previous releases.
One of our members, gathersquall, made a quote that sums up the sentiment that is increasingly dividing the two generalized camps of opinion on the direction of the Football Manager series: I honestly think change terrifies people sometimes. In the face of all logic and improvements, each new version has a minority of people clinging to older versions as a holy relic before the company ’sold out’ or ‘lost touch with the people’.
The same could be said of the American landscape in the global community for the past decade. Fortunately the voters in the U.S. decided that it would be best served to put aside our cultural differences and admit that a dramatic shift in direction is needed. They did so knowing that it wouldn’t be a simple “patch fix” and could be a long and arduous process that involved many sacrifices in viewpoint. The same could be said of the FM community right now with the release of ‘09, but can we all view the game from a perspective that permits all sides to benefit from the change with the end product being the most addictive football management simulation ever made?
Yes, we can.
As with any demo release by a game developer, it can be understood that there would be a few minor bugs and niggling flaws. While this may not excuse them outright, Sports Interactive have always been very user-friendly in their approach by releasing timely patch fixes for their titles and basing their changes heavily on the feedback of the gaming community. Looking over at their official forums, it would almost seem as if the sky is falling with the amount of new threads opened criticizing these initial faults. I would have to implore that vocal demographic to remain as temperamental and constructive in their responses, but I know how frustrating it must be to wait in anticipation for the game only to be disappointed with some of the issues highly apparent upon first play. Those who would be pinned as “moaners” though, do provide a valuable asset to the developers and with FM09 being connected with the Steam platform, most users purchasing this game around the world will be able to readily update their copy like never before and benefit from this feedback.
Taking a bit here and there from all points on the spectrum, let’s look at first impressions from several FM-Britain forum members and their initial experiences with the game. (most of which can be viewed in our FM2009 Demo thread)
posted by Levo:
The two major additions to the game this year, the 3D match engine I am pretty impressed with as I have been from the pictures I have seen it. I can’t really comment on it from a technical point of view, as my expertise in the analysis are lacking. But it looks and plays well to me and I love the widgets, just a pain in the arse having too many on at a time as it does block your view of the pitch.
I am much happier with the way the media engine works, I have had 3 press conferences and the questions have been varied and well done into the game, I just hope that it doesn’t turn into repetitive questions. Also some great little smaller additions to the game make it much slicker to play, I think it has been done well this year.
posted by Keith:
As you know, I don’t like to talk tactics, but I will say this version does seem to be more logical - when I try stuff, my ‘guesstimates’ for the settings I need to do what I want seem to be at least close to what I intended - I can see what’s going on, and why, a lot easier. The 3d also helps enormously in this. Already, I’d go as far as to say that the only people who don’t use it (if they can) are Luddites who aren’t getting the full experience. I’m hooked. I’ve even watched 2 matches in full in real-time. Yeah, that was a bit boring, but it was also well cool too.
Feedback all round is improved beyond all recognition. Being able to see a player’s motivation on the fly and be able to have my assman’s opinion on the match at any time and his suggestions for tactical changes is a brilliant step towards more realism - and it seems to avoid the complete ‘hand-holding’ scenario we feared (I’ve ignored his suggestions to good effect/lack of disastrous effect a number of times already, so what he suggests isn’t necessarily the only or best way to win/not lose), so I’m very cool with these new features (and you have to ask for them so they can easily be ignored if you wanted). There is a little bit of hand holding, especially with that advisor thing, but with the new features this year I can imagine the game being utterly daunting to a newcomer to FM… so I can live with that.
It’s not perfect; I hope they tweak the 3d a little more to get rid of those little hesitations - although I am extremely impressed with how well it works now. It’s definitely got that ‘I’ll press continue just one more time’ thing going. Yep - a thumbs up from me.
posted by Dale C:
I’m starting to see the benefits of the changes to forward arrows, theoretically. It would also explain why my team was completely inept using an FM08 set up, I will certainly be interested to see some of the findings on here and hopefully an updated base set to build upon for those of us that don’t have the time to do the research/analysis side.
I’m ashamed to say I think it’s time they introduced a difficulty slider, I really don’t have the patience these days to play the game with such a stringent, analytical mindset. I just want to blast through the season like the good old days. There just isn’t enough there to get me hooked though and I still feel the game has lost a lot of its soul, however I will give the full version a proper going over before making a final judgement.
posted by wwfan:
As I mentioned previously, FM09 will be extremely difficult at first, especially as the default tactics don’t help. I would think something better will be included in the release day patch. And, although I can’t play the 3d worth a damn, the 2d ME is gorgeous when you sort out what you are doing. The football is absolutely stunning.
posted by JP:
Finally SI provide us with a choice of skins, something I’ve wanted for a long time. It doesn’t matter that they’re essentially the same skin recoloured, the fact that the game ships with more than one is enough. Had FM08 been packaged in this way I think there would have been a lot less wailing and gnashing of teeth last October. One thing that does disappointment me though is that I was hoping for a skin which more closely resembled the FM-Live skin. Ah well, not to worry…
Tactically, the game feels like it makes more sense; sure the inability to place arrows is going to take some getting used to but the fact that you can now get your team to play attractive (reasonably realistic) football is a great step in the right direction. The assistant’s advice in this area is another addition that I think we’ll eventually look back on as being a good move by SI, especially if the quality/accuracy of the advice is based on the ability of the assistant. It’s certainly a feature that the less experienced or tactically clueless user will benefit from.
I am a little concerned by the number of injuries players seem to pick up though - so far I’ve not managed to field my best XI once. Admittedly this in itself isn’t entirely unrealistic (just ask Newcastle and West Ham fans) but the fact that I can’t name a matchday squad without having to fill the subs bench with youth team players is a little over the top. I understand that SI are looking at this issue though and a patch will be issued on or around release day meaning it shouldn’t be too much of an issue when the serious gaming starts.
posted by devinehfc:
The transfer system is a plus point - it is vastly improved and I think the addition of the rumour centre is excellent and the days of offering decent players to clubs for £0 and have no interest seem to be over. However, I do wonder if it is too easy to get players on loan as I have players such as Chopra and Dickson Etuhu at Hibernian on £0 wages for the whole season.
As other posters have pointed out the ’send to reserves until match fit’ option has been needlessly removed but the option to make fringe players available for reserves permanently is a definite improvement. The press conference addition is ok - a tad tiresome and responses are again limited as they are with team talks which I thought would have been given serious attention.
posted by mtmartian:
I am disappointed in the feel of the game. There are no extra options for team talks - A big big gripe on 08. The only new thing is the press conference - which will go the same way as player interaction once you know what to say and when. The transfers seem a bit better but I haven’t got to far into them yet. It must be said that sending you ass man to look for loan player is good.
So many good little things like moving injured players to reserves until fit, different sliders for match and highlights etc., have been dropped for no apparent reason. It’s not like leaving these out make the game any easier or any better. If the game had been made from the ground up then maybe I could understand it but it quite clearly hasn’t. There was no reason to take these out and it has annoyed me more than the tactics, bad 3D or anything else.
And all the promises we have heard about this fantastic new match engine - sorry guys I don’t see it. What the hell is the point of providing an area to build your own tactics, but neglect to tell anyone what the bloody sliders actually do in relation to the ME?
posted by WWSD:
I was pleasantly surprised with the 3D engine, actually. I was afraid that it was going to turn into yet another dime-a-dozen game where all the tactics are gone, the goals all look the same, etc., but the contrary is true. This can be seen from the fact that the matches go exactly the same, no matter if you watch it in 2D or 3D. The effect of tactics make themselves a lot clearer, and it’s just very nice to see your team mount sophisticated attacks in 3D.
As you can see by only a handful of forum quotes, there are definitely issues with the demo that everyone has picked up on as well as vast differences in the way users are viewing the same exact features. Some would argue that there is a distinct group that are hell bent on criticizing the game using preconceived notions and clouding their view. On the other hand, some labelled regularly as “fanboys” are looked at as feverishly defending all things SI even with seemingly glaring flaws right in front of their faces. The exact verdict probably lies somewhere in the middle between all this madness. No matter what side you’re more inclined to align with yourself, we can still all admit that this new release has come leaps and bounds over its predecessor in comparison to previous releases.
One of our members, gathersquall, made a quote that sums up the sentiment that is increasingly dividing the two generalized camps of opinion on the direction of the Football Manager series: I honestly think change terrifies people sometimes. In the face of all logic and improvements, each new version has a minority of people clinging to older versions as a holy relic before the company ’sold out’ or ‘lost touch with the people’.
The same could be said of the American landscape in the global community for the past decade. Fortunately the voters in the U.S. decided that it would be best served to put aside our cultural differences and admit that a dramatic shift in direction is needed. They did so knowing that it wouldn’t be a simple “patch fix” and could be a long and arduous process that involved many sacrifices in viewpoint. The same could be said of the FM community right now with the release of ‘09, but can we all view the game from a perspective that permits all sides to benefit from the change with the end product being the most addictive football management simulation ever made?
Yes, we can.
