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Football Manager Live Review: Football Manager Live Review - Edit
7.5
| Pros |
 As in-depth as you make it Enhances existing FM addiction Preserves the spirit of FM |
| Cons |
 Doesn't feel entirely finished yet Game worlds hard to enter mid-season Possibly not hardcore enough for FM fans |
Oh boy, do we love our football in Europe. And I'm not talking about your silly American variety either - no, I am discussing the beautiful game of Soccer. There are no helmets or genital protectors here, just millionaire playboys wearing knee-high socks and shuffling a leather ball into a net. It's a sport for real men; do you hear me USA? Yeah’ Adam Tingle is calling you out.
Developed by the Sports Interactive, Football Manager Live is an online mutation of the already hugely popular Football Manager series. This is a game where you assume managerial duties of a club (durr) and then proceed to throw countless hours of your life away getting angry at little coloured dots that represent players. While it is surely not as interactive as something like FIFA, the game is a complex and in-depth affair which will see your social life sapped away into a rich display of spread sheet stats and hare-brained tactics. To put it simply, Football Manager is opiate-like already, marrying this with the MMORPG is a recipe for ruin.
Football Manager Live was released in late 2008 and as stated before, is a variation on the original series format. Rather than playing with established league systems and known clubs, Sports Interactive have created a 'fantasy football' style of game in which players can play as little or as much as they want and still feel suitably involved. The upside to this is that the game is all inclusive and you won't have to spend the majority of your week pretending to be a virtual Alex Ferguson - the downside however is that some of the complexity and depth of the original FM series is lost in the online translation.
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He's Football Crazy, Football Mad...
Like any MMORPG, FM Live starts with creation tools. As you assume the role of manager, you must select a profile (unfortunately no avatar, just stat page) and then customise your club; this ranges from name, stadium, kit selection and so forth. The creation of your club is very involving and goes a long way to involve the player in what is essentially a text based game, and this is also a well-crafted departure from the single player experience in which players usually assume control of already established club.
After deciding what color your team will represent and whether or not 'Thunder Dome' is the right stadium name, you are asked to select a game world. This for me is somewhat of a mixed issue. As the game runs in seasons, unless you subscribe or activate your game in the pre-season you will find yourself hurled into a game world at the mid-point, and this makes it hard to establish yourself. The game worlds offer league systems which differ on the amount of time you are willing to put into the game, and while this is a great idea if you are starting in the pre-season, if you are a little late you will find yourself in the late-comers league with a fairly poor squad and a serious wait before you can seriously get the ball rolling (excuse the pun) on your campaign.
There is also a problem that arises with account reactivation. As your squad of players are contract-based (more on this later) they will leave your club if you do not extend their services. This leads to a problem when re-subbing to the game after a period of time during mid-season as you will find yourself without a single player and with the transfer markets picked clean of any prospective good, cheap players.
Aside from the issues of the game worlds however, the newbie experience of FM Live is fairly accessible and easy to grasp. A tutorial wizard will lead you through the various steps of joining football associations, picking a squad, and grappling with the skill progression. The ability to request NPC challenges also help guide new comers into the experience before heading out and playing real people.
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New Eden meets Old Trafford
Like any MMO worth its salt, FM Live offers a form of skill progression - namely Eve Online’s. Players choose a number of options from managerial, tactics, coaching, medical and more and these are trained in real-time - not unlike CCP's space fairing game. While some don’t like this approach to progression, it is perfect for Sports Interactive’s title as it allows the hardcore and casual to proceed without too much of a distinct difference or advantage. The problem arises here however, when time passes and veterans inevitably have spent much more in-game time than a fledgling manager – the developers do in some way solve this by resetting servers every so often but it is a cause for slight annoyance. You can be a little industrious however and use veterans to your advantage and get them to train up young players with their superior skills.
The need for a skill system in a Football Manager game is somewhat debatable. As you progress, options open up and this is Sports Interactive’s way of showing some sort of advancement throughout the game. The single player series however does a fine job of simply allowing the player to muddle through at their own pace with every available skill at their fingertips. I understand that MMO’s intrinsically need some sort of level system, and to a certain extent it does provide more things to do - but I feel FM Live would have been fine without it.
Match Day Excitement
At its core, FM Live is about being submerged in stat sheets, tactics, and constantly trying to find that next star and the game manages to do this fairly well. Surprisingly there is quite a lot to do in the game and the most exciting part – playing matches – is always something available to you.
As the game assigns leagues, you will have a steady stream of fixtures daily (the number depends on your chosen association) and on top of this are player-run competitions, leagues, cups and even NPC challenges. The player-run side of this game is very well organised and easy to engage with. Even during pre-season and mid-season there is always some sort of league to join and this is usually all driven by those playing with you. There is nothing more satisfying than lifting the ‘Angry Butcher Cup’ or some other insanely named competition.
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As mentioned before, the NPC’s challenges are a good way to get into the game and also improve your team with. The challenges range from leagues to fictional cup-ties and even technical challenges such as not conceding a goal. While they don’t count to your overall competitive rank, these challenges do count towards a level system which is sort of a determiner for your overall skill as a team and also rewards you with points to spend on little extras such as mascots, different pitch visuals and so on.
It could be very easy for Sports Interactive to make this game seem a little too casual and ‘fantasy football’ but with tools available for players to create match content and the general ease of finding matches, there is definitely something here for the casual and hardcore. The amount of football you play is dependent on you and it’s great that player can decide.
hmm... this is a joke, isnt it?
This got reviewed before FFXIV?
[Mod Edit]
Like we don't all already know what the review of that game is going to say?
thank you for the review, I am kind of curious by it.
I still don't understand why the NHL series on the XBox and PS3 isn't considered an MMORPG.
You play with thousands of people.
You create your own hockey players.
You unlock new equipment and LEVEL-UP your player.
You design your own team and play a single specific position on a full team of 6 players.
You compete ina massive league trying to win championships against other teams.
The NHL franchise is more ofa n MMORPG than a lot of games alread ON this site.
And if we reviewed FFXIV before the reviewer had ample time to play it and experience a fair cross section of the game's content, I suppose we wouldn't get any flack for that?
We're reviewing the game, we're just taking the time to do it right.
Hmm....
So this garbage got reviewed before FFXIV?
So the implication is that FFXIV is more deserving of a review than a sports themed low graphics game? Do you really need another review of FFXIV? Exactly how many bad reviews does the game need?
Football Manager Live launched quite some time ago. FFXIV hasn't been out that long. Our reviewer is playing the game, and it will be ready when she has had ample opportunity to play, as i said in the previous comment you JUST quoted.
So, in your mind, our entire review process should screech to a halt while one of our reviewers is playing a game?
Yes, because..
1. it's been out longer
2. read the reply from Stradden
3. FM is an awesome game, it has millions of players ( maybe not FM Live, but the series sure does )
It may look boring but to any football fan it's one of the best games there is. this game pretty much goes on forever, the teams evolve season by season and the players stats change on their performances. Good review, I never actually tried FM Live, but FM 2010 was great :)
Why are you making a big issue?
Hey Adam, you might wanna save the nationalist BS for the right game. There is no difference between your "football" and our "soccer".
You want to say rugby is more of a "man's sport" than our "football" ( because that's what our football is comparable to ), then go ahead as soon as you find a rugby game to review.
Until then, stick a vuvezula in it.:p
"There are no helmets or genital protectors here, just millionaire playboys wearing knee-high socks and shuffling a leather ball into a net."
I was being a little facetious, I don't honestly think that Christiano Ronaldo or some such other football player is comparable in any real sporting terms to someone such as Drew Brees or Larry Fitzgerald. Just a bit of English teasing for you.
this "garbage" is most successfull football manager sim series ever and also is 100x better than your beloved FailFantasy XIV in terms of addicting gameplay. I play football manager since 2000 and SI Games knows exactly how to improve every game. Havent play 2011 version yet, cant wait to get my hands on it. Im sure it will be even more addicting than FFXIV ever will, and also will probably survive longer -.-
Soccer, game of men. Where men are thrown to the ground by the slightest tickle, then roll around in pain for the next 5 minutes so the ref can pull that lovely colored card out. They don't need pads.
Exaggeration? Yes. Point still valid? You bet! Soccer fans are cool, though. They take care of the violence.
Anyone like hockey? I find it a great mix of fast-paced soccer and American football. How is that not awesome?
Do people still use vuvuzelas, or are they banned throughout the world like I suggested, in the interest of saving peoples' eardrums/sanity?
Why am I asking you all of these questions!?
Anyways, I'd never heard of this game, so I'm glad someone reviewed it. Not really my cup of tea, but I do like a few team-managing games, so if I'm ever bored I'll check this out. And I think those who are complaining that this got reviewed before FFXIV just want a chance to attack MMORPG.com for another crappy review (because MMORPG.com will add to the mountain of bad scores, and that's not cool for FF fans).
Vuvuzelas were just a thing introduced in the South African World Cup by the hosting nation. Gladly they have been banned for any future international matches.
Also in regards to FFXIV, I cannot speak for the website, however, I do think they have the facility to review two games, possibly three games at the same time. Its the magic of having a number of writers. Go figure.
Hmmmmmm.
I'm not a huge fan of football but the average US football player could mop the floor with any 2 of your 'real' men.
Different game. Soccer is movement with minimum contact while the US version is a full contact sport...you know....a man's sport :P
Adam, please stop writing like it's just another way to make $. You are clearly intelligent enough to write sensible text that's readable and grammatically correct, yet you make lots of mistakes that are simply the result of laziness and a force of habit after choosing to 'go into writing' when clearly - you view it as an occupation that's simply another 'easy job.'
My biggest advice - take a leaf from Bill Murphy's style of writing and reviews. He takes the time to write content that's well put together and if you could just SLOW DOWN, you might even be a decent writer.
However, at this moment in time, every time I read a review by our very own Adam Tingle, I'm left with a gaping hole where my brain used to be.
How about rugby :P full contact no pads.
Why are the americans here getting offended? Before you say anything, I'm from New York, so when I say 'you' I mean because that doesn't include me in the people getting offended.
Surely you can tell when someone is taking a jab at you purely in jest? It's not meant to be taken seriously. I swear this community needs a restart button.
As for all the bitchertwitching about this getting revied before ff14, who cares? Do you REALLY need someone to tell you if it's okay to enjoy a game THAT badly? Are you so incapable of making your own decisions? Lemmings. If you're that curious about reviews, go read any number of the thousands already out there telling you how much it sucks. If that's not enough, get a buddy key and try it yourself. FFS. Nothing but bitch bitch bitch anymore.
Edit - I will however add, that as an MMO site, I'm not entirely sure a review about a sports game is relevent. There's quite a few actual MMO's that haven't been reviewed let alone the ones that haven't been reviewed in a long time. Maybe those would have been better choices? Just saying...
Thanks for the review! I generally suck at the manager stuff. I was curious about this game though.
As for the jests at the American Throwball fans; keep them coming. LOL ( btw I am a Browns fan )
Dude...they are waiting for the next patches.
Right now,FFXIV is one of the worst MMO's in the history of gaming.
60k active players,lmao.
...u telling me that it's worse than Star Trek Online???
U better have some facts, cuz it's hard to beat Craptic's game :)
PS: I though Australian Football was ever harder than Rugby... no paddings and alot of mud... and 'roos... don't forget the 'roos ;)
heh whats this 'real man' sport stuff- why on earth does a sport need to be a 'real man' sport. Does it make basketball, tennis and baseball unwatchable because they're not 'real men' sport bs.
I hate the sport, in the UK football is a violence machine. Its a hideous sport with sparks all manner on anti-socialism. The football players themselves beleive themselves to be above the law getting away with rape, drugs and all manner of crime.
I am british and I am embarassed by the football hooliganism that our country is known for.
The fact that such a game has even leaked onto an MMO site disgusts me even more. The anger being expressed here is nothing to do with Final fantasy being reviewed.. its the fact that a compeltly non-mmo product is being reviewed at all.
Its like buying your favorite sports car magazine only to see it full of motorcycle reviews.. now, I have no problems with motorcycles and respect their awesome power and speed, so would forgive the occasional mention but seing a f'kin football review on MMO is like seeing articles about family life and womens problems in my Sports car magazine.
mmorpg.com has been my home page for years now. No longer!
“Soccer is movement with minimum contact while the US version is a full contact sport...you know....a man's sport :P”
took you guys a over a year to write a review for this.........
btw i rather play a game which is safe... then a "real men" game which causes drain damage.....
Someone is still living in the 80's... Football hooliganism is much like all the polish migrants in the UK, i.e. a very small issue which is turned into something much bigger than it is by the UK red top rags and the Daily Fail. There is far worse violence on the continent then there is in the UK, ofc no one mentions that fact.
The vast majority of supporters and players are law abiding citizens who simply support their team like anyone who watches rugby/cricket or any other sport does.
As for this site reviewing the game, well its online and played by multiple players so I fail to see the issue, especially given some of the other games that have been reviewed.
Agree with the above poster. And also, FMLive maybe a sports title but its an MMO with traditional character progression and stat building. Just because it doesn't include goblins or spaceships doesn't mean it's an invalid choice.
Agree with Bunny and shaker. Sadeyx what friking decade are you living in m8? Also quiting this site because they reviewed a sports mmo.....Grow up! I was a beta tester for this game a few years ago and actualy had to stop testing as it was so adictive and was interfearing with my work and private life. There was a brilliant community and atmosphere and I'm glad it is getting some attention. However I am not going to sit here and argue that it is an mmorpg but let's look at what criteria it does share with them. Thousands of people playing together, character development and a persistant universe. To me that seems to fit the bill a lot more than some of the crap released over the last few years in the mmo market. So you don't like sports? Thats your choice but millions of people all over the world do including people who also enjoy mmorpg gameing.
cool game bro
perfect for soccer obsessed casual computer users, just the target audience they were aiming for.
I'm not in the target audience
This game is sort of ghetto though, they could have done better, at least a virtualized lounge and player-made custom characters as they watch virtual games of soccer play out with nothing but AI in full glorious 3D.
American Football and jiu-jitsu are the most macho man sport ever... the only difference between those 2 is that the first one you have fat men rubbing each other, moaning and jumping in piles, using very tight pants and the second one you dont have the tight pants and they are not fat men...
More personal contact then merrier they will be... because, you know, it is, a male ...kind.. sport :)
www.managerzone.com
best football manager online and its free
ugh. you guys had to pick the dorkiest picture for the news page for this? LOL. I look at it and say "Typical sports fan"
Despite the fact I can't go a day without thinking about football (soccer for the slow americans who couldn't come up with a decent name for a game where they use hands ;-) this game seriously sound ike a waste. Sadly.
Who cares ? So far all reviews say that FFXIV is garbage too.
i always thought the real winners in American Football were the sponsors... 30 seconds of play.. ooh commericals... 70 seconds of play.. yay more commericals.
seriously if i wanted to watch shit, i'd switch it over to glee.
Thank gawd i'm scottish and i do love my football ! not american football mind you... thats not a mans game, thats muscle bound apes flinging shit at each other.
game looks "meh", nice idea but not quite 'there' yet.
i have to say when i visit america i prefer taking in a baseball game than soccer, americans just can't play football, the crowd booed when the guy crossed the ball.
"air ball" isn't soccer, the couple beside me informed me.
i just laughed, shook my head and laughed some more... "air ball".. good one.