14 DAY TRIAL // 
The titles in the Football Manager series have always been considered the best management video games on the market. The competition in this market segment isn't that big, either, with only two other major titles fighting for the first place, each of them focusing on different types of gaming experiences. While we won't talk about the other games, we must say that Football Manager titles have always tried to stick strictly to the pure management of your team - no sponsor negotiations, merchandise selling, ticket price setting or other "off-the-game" stuff like that. Let's say it's just the most realistic game in this competition, trying to avoid all arcade-related features.
Also (and I am sure I'm not the only one to say it), games in the Football Manager series can only have two types of feedback - you either ignore it once you've played it, or you get so addicted to it that you'll forget you have a real life. You can't choose a middle path.
Next, we'll try to see if the people in the last category have a real reason to love this game so much.
Story and concept First of all, for the few that don't know it - Football Manager was first released under the Championship Manager name about 12 years ago, but things changed when the developer, Sports Interactive left Eidos in 2003 and teamed up with Sega. So, practically, Football Manager is the original game, but with another name. Cool, eh?
For the other five persons that have no idea what this game is about, let me explain: in Football Manager you take control of any football club in the world and try to make it number one. You manage your team by creating the best tactics, buy and sell players, negotiate contract wages, improve your stadium and many more - it's probably the closest experience to the real life role of a team manager anybody will get.
The Pro-s The first thing you notice in FM 2008, after you choose your team (I doubt there is any competition left out of this game) and select the database (as always, the database is huge) is the skin - it's cleaner, optimized for a faster navigation and... uhm... the "Continue" button is in the top left corner, far away from the "Read news" one. But after a few hours of playing you will believe that's the place it should have always been placed.
And that is not the only thing you'll get so quickly used to. There are over 100 features FM 2007 didn't have but, boy, they seem so natural that probably you won't even notice half of them. Not because they are pointless, but because they are so well implemented and helpful that you can't imagine how you could play the other games in the series without them.
They all follow the golden rule SI Games never forgot - this is a simulation game, after all, and everything should be as real as possible. And indeed it is. For instance, the game doesn't automatically stop now when you want to substitute a player or alter the tactics. You will have to do this in real time, while the game is still being played. Be careful with the game speed, though, since you could go into the tactics screen in the 60th minute and actually make the substitution in the last minutes. Of course, you can just pause the game and do what you have to... but that's not what a real manager would do, is it?
Another implementation, not so core-based, is the new player's face generator. Every youth team player created by the game will now have a random face generated and you can actually see them getting older! While some will just ignore this new feature, it gives the manager a totally awesome feeling when he looks at the picture of one of the players he grew into a chart-topping superstar. Like any real life manager would.
Other changes were made to the match engine, making the game flow more natural and real, so that you will always forget you are actually looking at some colored balls running around the pitch. Oh... did I say that the pitch is now fully customizable, too? Well, it is, and you can change its size according to your desired style of play and tactics.
In addition, the new confidence system SI Games added in FM 2008 is something hardcore players will totally enjoy (and, as I said, most of the players are hardcore). You can now see both the board and fan's confidence regarding the team's evolution in different competitions according to their expectations, their opinion about recent transfers, results and... well... everything else in the game.
Another interesting addition (and an essential one for low budget clubs, I might add) is the possibility to "play" with the finances of the club. This means that, at the beginning of a new season, you will get your transfer and wage budget and an overall performance expectation (if you are a title challenger, relegation candidate or a safe mid-table player). First, you can change that final position prediction and get more money, but remember that it wouldn't be such a bright idea to tell the board you'll be a title challenger if you are supposed to be struggling in the relegation zone. Second, you can adjust, at any given time, your actual budget by transferring some of the wage budget over to the transfer funds or vice-versa.
While I won't comment about other features, since they are over 100 and players might love to see them on their own, I have a few things to remind you about: the player database is huge, which means that those "unknown-talent hunters" will have a lot of exploring to do, the game runs faster than ever (when saving, loading or starting a game) and it feels so real, that you might actually start to think that a football club manager is your second nature.
The Con-s Unfortunately, the game's not just sugar and honey. It has its flaws, its bugs and its annoying things. Still, none is bad enough to ruin the gameplay experience, though one in particular makes it harder to play and to reach your goals. But, hey, being a manager is not an easy job and having a 20 games winning streak isn't that realistic (unless you choose the best team in Sweden, that is).
The problem I am talking about is the defense. No matter if you order your players to man mark or defend the zone, there will always be open spaces for the opposing attackers to take advantage of. I tried all sorts of individual orders, I tried closing the game down with defensive midfielders, still no result. I even downloaded tactics created by other players, highly acclaimed ones, but my defense was still the opposition's 12th player. And this is something that can drive a person crazy. Especially when the other team's defensive line seems to do its job just fine. And I doubt I'm such a bad technician.
Apart from that, the game engine has another strange behavior - your players will get a bucket load of shooting opportunities and goal shots, but just a few of them will actually hit the net. And it's frustrating to get a 1-1 draw when you have a 10 shoots on goal difference. Especially if this happens all the time...
This shouldn't be a huge problem if you choose to manage a top team like FC Barcelona. But if you take a lower league team and fight for promotion to the first division, you will understand what I'm saying. And I'm not talking here about a poor player/super star player match, but about players with very similar attributes.
Another annoying thing in the first version of the game appears when you select the hot seat multiplayer option. If you start a transfer frenzy with the other human manager, player trading will soon become unavailable - all the transfer offers will be automatically accepted but nothing else will happen - there will be no contract negotiations and the player will stay with the parent club forever. So you should strongly think against a hot seat multiplayer game unless you have the latest game patch installed.
One other thing the developers haven't improved or, at least, they didn't change it too much is the team talk feature. You still have the same options (few, I might add), that have a questionable effect on your team, especially if you use the new added feature - "Ask assistant". This guy never manages to say the right thing! And if you choose to do it by yourself, you need to know each player's personality and give individual team talks, since different players respond differently to certain team talks. It's an interesting feature, some might say, a waste of time in my opinion, since I doubt any real life manager takes every single player in a corner of the locker-room to boost his morale.
Overall, Football Manager 2008 looks like an improved Football Manager 2007. It's not revolutionary and it doesn't bring new things that will make you jump around with joy. But this is highly understandable, since it's hard to think about further improvements when you're talking about a game that was brought so close to perfection. And there is nothing about this game that could ruin the pleasure of playing and enjoying it at least as much as you enjoyed FM 2007.
Sound and Graphics The first and only thing I always turn off when I start playing this game, since 1996, is the sound. Because there isn't much of it and it barely increases the feeling of the game. Basically, all the sound there is in FM 2008 goes down to a vague noise on the stadium, with fans getting loud when a goal is scored, a big miss is made or a hard tackle brings down the star player. That's all and I can live better without it.
Regarding the graphics... I think every fan of the Football Manager series plays this game for something else than graphics. There are no explosions or other eye-catchy things in here, there is no need for visual effects. Football Manager games put you under their spell with realism and complexity, not breath taking visual effects.
Conclusion As I said in the beginning, there are two sides when it comes to the attitude people have about this game: those who love it and those who would never play it. It's just a matter of taste. I can't say to those who didn't like the other games in the series to go try this one out because it will change their opinion about the game. I definitely can't tell the fans not to try this game, because it's a really good one. It has its flaws and bugs, specially when it comes to multiplayer and that lousy defense and defensive midfielders possitiong, but it's still a great game. Not a perfect one, but perfect for those who have high expectations and like challenging games which can get so addictive that you risk forgetting about your real life. But what else could satisfy you more than taking charge of CD Logrones and turning it into the next European Champions Cup winner?
