FIFA Manager 09

Take the role of the Manager of Football team and build the best team possible.

Contrary to an actual football simulation game, the Fifa Manager series allows players to step into the shoes of a manager to create the best soccer team possible and lead them to victory. The series began in 2002 and running to 2013, accumulating 12 different games. There were editions released for consoles on some years, but the series has been primarily released on PC. The series is officially ended and Fifa Manager 2014 was the last entry. There are other sports management simulation titles on the market, but Fifa Manager still drifts to the top, if you like this sort of micro management.

Game Play

Fifa Manager has depth and options. Depending on the style of play you want, you can increase or decrease the amount of options in the preferences menus. There's important stats things like player management, trades and the like to content even the most hard core fan of soccer. Then there's the lifestyle, girlfriends, luxury cars and all the high profile parties. The amount of micro management you can do on your players and your team is phenomenal. The depth of content is incredible as well. Pick from a huge selection of real players, teams and leagues. Trade, make financial decisions and bicker over deals as you guide your team to victory. To a gamer looking for depth and options, this is a great game. The trouble that arises is that presenting this huge depth is often a challenge.

Presentation

There's really only a few ways to present reams of statistical data, and that's as spreadsheets. The difficulty that Fifa Manager has is displaying the data that a player might want in a logical way. Often the game will have players flipping between screens. Although it has to be realized that a lot of this data is hard to present in a way that's fun, its sometimes confusing to navigate the screens to find what you want. The game modes are what you'd expect, grooming your team through the different leagues. Graphics are good, but really, there isn't much need to push the envelope with this style of game.

Pros

• Huge selection of teams, players and leagues to play through
• Massive depth of detail and options can tailor the game to how the player wants to play

Cons

• Presentation of data and menus is confusing