14 DAY TRIAL // 
Top Eleven 2015 is a football management simulation that was initially launched on Facebook and has since received a dedicated installment for both iOS and Android, allowing all players who already have a team to play on the new device while retaining all the progress associated so far with their team.
The app comes across as solid when it comes to its design and many gameplay decisions, but unfortunately the title created by Nordeus quickly reveals that it has appropriated all the core tenets of the free-to-play genre on mobile devices and tends to limit players who are unwilling to spend some real world money in order to get the Tokens they need to make steadier progress.
The first thing that will strike Top Eleven 2015 players is how much they will see Jose Mourinho in various poses as they learn how the game works and go through the initial setup for their teams.
Learning how the game works takes only a little time and then players are free to choose how they want to develop their club and try out different tactics in order to triumph over opposition teams.
Top Eleven 2015 does not have licensing data, which means teams are made up of unknowns, but over time, it’s relatively easy for gamers to create their own narratives and become attached to their clubs.
The squad selection is simple as well, but the tactics tab is disappointing, with options that will make sense for football fans but will feel instantly limited to anyone who has ever fired up Football Manager.
“Matches take place at times determined by the engine itself and it’s not actually necessary to watch them, although it does make sense to try and influence the result by switching tactics and players.”
There are three competitions a gamer can be part of at one time, and friendlies with friends can be arranged for those who want to try out new ideas for their team.
Top Eleven 2015 also offers options to develop the stadium and facilities of the club and to manage its finances.
Gamers can buy a variety of boosters in Top Eleven 2015, with treatments used to make sure that good players recover faster from injury, morale packages to get over defeats, and rests to get up and running before big matches.
Actual money for the club can also be bought via Tokens, which are solely acquired by playing via the sponsors but can also be bought with real world money.
However, the most insidious way Nordeus uses to part players from their Tokens is via transfers.
To just put in a bid on the auction market, the game asks players to spend one coin, and if the scout is used, the price increases based on the quality of the coveted player.
The developers have provided me with some Tokens in order to get to test the mechanics and it was very easy to spend them in about three hours by just picking up a good attacker and getting some more rests for my team, after they endured a bit of strenuous training.
Top Eleven 2015 looks good given the platform on which it is available, and the developers have used a solid design and a good array of colors in order to make it easy to get the info needed to make decisions about tactics and team selection.
There’s no option to watch matches in any sort of 3D and football fans will have to be satisfied with text that illustrates the most important moments of the game. What’s more, not even the top down view used by the classic Football Manager is included, which is a big disappointment.
The sound design is equally limited and the game will probably never manage to capture the imagination of football fans with its presentation, and it fails to take advantage of the solid processing power of the iPad in any significant way.
The Good
- Plenty of social features
- Does not require too much time
The Bad
- Limited management mechanics
- Focused on real money transactions
Conclusion
The development team has created a good interface for the new version of the title, but it has not implemented any sort of graphical representation for matches, which is a big letdown.
And it’s so easy to spend Tokens in order to improve team and player performance that it seems impossible to get ahead without using money.
It is possible for a player to put together a league that’s populated entirely by close friends and maintain a strict no-money rule, but I suspect that for most gamers this is just too much trouble.
Top Eleven 2015 is a limited experience, especially when compared to the leader of the field, Football Manager 2015, and it would require a lot of work in order to really appeal to lovers of the sport.
