Review: Football Manager 2009

The words ‘Football Manager’ can mean many things to many people. For some people, they can mean the kind of addiction that can lead to forgetting to eat, sleep or something less important. For these peoples’ other halves, the words breed unbridled hatred and jealousy.

The words ‘Football Manager’ or ‘Championship Manager’ have been cited in 35 divorce cases since the series’ inception in 1992.

Thus this years’ edition of Football Manager means a lot to a lot of people, and the game doesn’t disappoint. The new features on the PC/MAC version; a 3D match engine and player conferences, enrich an already solid game.

A 2D match engine has been introduced for the PSP version, along with the ability to run up to 4 nations at once- a feature sorely missed in last years’ handheld edition.

These innovations for the PSP version means there is absolutely no escape from this absolute behemoth of a game- and behemoth it truly is; with over 350,000 players, 5,000 clubs and 51 nations making this the largest database ever.

However, the game does have its flaws, it being absolutely ridden with bugs. Developer Sports Interactive had to release a patch to fix these bugs on the day the game was released, which can be downloaded from its website. The game is virtually unplayable without the patch, with random leagues (Serie C2 being the biggest culprit) crashing, which causes your entire game to crash, which then sets in motion a chain of events which leads to much frustration on the player’s part.

Now don’t get me wrong, the game is just as good as it always has been. Any fellow Football Manager junkies out there will no not to let a few little problems put them off. Download the patch. And this is a great game - just remember to eat and stay hydrated.