There are still problems with the game, although many have been ironed out somewhat with the implementation of the patch. The most notable is still the problem with player injuries. In the demo it wasn’t uncommon to have a lot of players out injured and despite the promise of being fixed by the patch, injuries are still happing too frequently for my liking – every other game I am still losing one or two players to injury, whether they are serious injuries or not. At one point I had seven of my first team out injured with a variety of ailments and building a settled team has so far proved difficult.
As previously mentioned, some of the players’ decisions in-game are baffling; choosing to play a short pass of the ball to a heavily-marked team-mate rather than play a long ball to a striker in space for instance is just one strange tactical decision, while players tendencies to stop chasing loose balls or collect a loose ball and then stand still with the ball rather than initiating a move can be infuriating to see.
Other small niggles include some rendering problems with the 3D match view, such as lines not always being drawn, animated players running but ultimately not moving and slow loading times; all of which, while annoying don’t ultimately detract from the game.
Football Manager 2009’s system requirements are relatively modest, but to be able to run the 3D match mode, you’ll need the following minimum PC specification.
Processor: XP: 1.4GHz or Faster / Vista: 2.0GHz or Faster
Memory: XP: 512MB RAM / Vista: 1.0GB RAM
Hard Drive Space: 2GB
DVD-Drive: 4x Speed
Video Card: 128MB - Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater. (Note: Earlier cards may only display 2D Match)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Directx: Version 9.0c (included)
LAN: TCP/IP compliant
It is good to see that problems that were evident in the demo version have been addressed and to a large extent cured in the retail version and subsequent patch. While it was always going to be difficult to top the near-perfect representation of football management in the Football Manager 2008 release, the new additions to FM2009 have been well thought out and add a new level of depth to the game. While it is still a little rough in some areas this latest instalment of the game makes a good fist of taking the game to the next level and ultimately succeeds in doing so; as new patches are released, this game can only get better.
While the 3D match engine may not be to everyone’s taste, the sheer depth of the game make it an essential play for any football fan and there is still only one football manager game worth considering. This is a must-buy title for anyone with an interest in the beautiful game.