Jason is immune to World Cup Fever
Publisher: Sega/THQ Australia
Fri, 23 June 2006
by: Jason
With the world in a state of world cup fever, it is probably not a coincidence that I have before me Football manager for the PSP. First off, I would like to state that I have never played Football (herein referred to as Soccer to avoid confusing rugby and AFL fans), so the chances of anyone asking me to manage a club are not only slim to none, they are microscopic to quantum particle sized. However, this is exactly what the game requires you to do, manage a soccer club on its path to glory, or in my case, the wooden spoon.
With there being a slightly smaller fan base here in Australia (as compared to the legions of rabid soccer-mad poms and round ball lovers from many other countries) you would assume there aren't any Australian teams represented and you would be right. Instead, there are a massive selection of clubs from 19 different divisions and 7 countries, so you're bound to find a team you can take to the top or run into the ground.
 | | Kinda pointless to show screens of this game. Nobody will be playing it for the graphics. |
Graphics... well, it goes without saying a soccer management game is never going to really push the capabilities of any system as rendering menus doesn't take a lot of grunt, however with that being said the menus do look nice and are easy to read which is probably a bonus when your sitting on a bus or in a train getting bounced all over creation.
As far as sound goes well, look at it this way; you won't be missing anything by playing in noisy areas without headphones. But then again the soft clicks of menu selections are probably infinitely preferable to irritating music.
Next we get to the gameplay. Quite simply it comes down to a choice; either you like reading through reams of statistics and figures, assigning players to positions and the like, or you don't. Personally I don't, but given that a review consisting of "it sucks" would probably have me hung, drawn and quartered I put my feelings aside and gave it a go. Honestly, it was more entertaining than I expected and had I anything resembling a knowledge of soccer it may have been more so (at least then I would have some idea as to why I'm transferring players and why this player needs resting).
 | | So let's just look at this chick instead |
Now we come to my main complaint with this game - after selecting a team, reading countless emails, and generally stuffing about, my team was finally ready to play a game and how do the developers choose to display your progress in said match..? With a bar across the screen, that moves to either side of the screen depending on weather you or your opponent is winning. Now, I don't expect a fully 3D rendered soccer match to be played out seamlessly in front of me, but I'm sure even a portable console like the PSP is capable of more than this. Even some fuzzy 2D sprites would do, just something to give the impression that something is actually going on, rather than 5 minutes of what seems to be a badly behaved progress bar.
Violent dislike of soccer aside, this game isn't bad; it does everything it sets out to do without being overly boring. Basically if you like soccer and the vast pages of numbers that soccer management games entail, then get this and you will be happily managing away wherever you go. If, however, menus bore you and you crave some excitement in your gaming, then you best steer clear of this one.
by: Jason
More articles by Jason
If you're not a soccer nut, at least try this one before you kickoff. It just isn't my cup of tea, but it should keep the fans happy for ages. | |
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