Gaming Series: Football Manager

Today is the first instalment of what is likely to be a 3 part series giving my thoughts on the biggest soccer computer/video game franchises.  The first one up is a game that I think everyone who has a passion for the game should go out and get a copy of.  The Football Manager franchise from SI Games and Sega is intended to be a realistic management experience.  There is no game play involved in terms of controlling players but it covers all of the other elements of the game.  I have been playing FM for 3 years now and I can honestly say that it has expended my knowledge of players and clubs more then anything else ever has.

When you start playing FM for the first time you quickly realize that there is a lot to the game.  You can do the bare minimum and just take over a top club, use a very basic tactic, and use default training or you can choose to get really into the game and develop every element of your own tactics, setup your own training system, search the world for the best transfer deals and take a team from the lower leagues all the way to the top.  The game offers so many difference experiences because you can manage in almost any league around the world and with each league having its own rules and own competitions you get a new challenge every single time.  If you chose to manage in Belgium you never have to deal with getting work permits but if you manage in England that is a huge obstacle that you can face in trying to sign foreign players.

For me the true joy of the game is found in going to one of the major countries, most often England in my case, and taking over a team in one of the lower leagues.  It creates quite the challenge if you try to go from say League 2 and make it all the way to being a Champions League winner.  To do that you have to learn how to take advantage of free transfers and do your best with limited resources.  It really is a tricky task and the first few times I tried to do it I either failed and ended up getting my team relegated or it took me quite a long time to even get in to the Premiership.  To play the game this way it takes a lot of patience but it can be really rewarding to know that you built a team and took them to the top.  It is a lot less rewarded but can be equally fun if you decide to take over a top club where you are likely to get a large transfer budget.  Say you are a Manchester United fan and want to see the club make certain moves the game gives you the chance to do that.  You can take your 80 million or so transfer budget and start working on building your own dream team.

Team of Wonderkids I built at Leicester City, very good bunch

Another element of the game that has really hooked me is that of trying to find wonderkids.  The term wonderkid is used to describe any players on the game who are 21 years old and under but have the potential to be world class.  This is determined by a hidden value which you can get a sense of by scouting them but even with the best scouts in the world you sometimes miss certain ones.  I have spent weeks trying to figure out which wonderkids will sign for a lower league team, can get work permits, and are affordable.  This requires a lot of scouting to look for releases clauses and then just testing players out by training them.  All that work eventually led to me compiling my own list of the best bang for your buck young players.  Like every other element of the game there is an easy way and a hard way to find these players.  You can go out and scout them all and then test them out or you can just do a quick google search and find one of the numerous sites that provide their own lists of them.

That is another great thing about FM.  There are all kinds of sites out there for discussing the game, for sharing tactics, finding wonderkids, and just bragging about your own results.  My personal favourite is www.fm-base.co.uk which has a great discussion board as well as all kinds of downloadable content to help you out.

If you are interested in taking up the game check out www.footballmanager.com to download the demo or purchase the full version.  In my opinion if you have any interest in the tactical side of the game or in learning more about players this is the game for you and will be worth the price.