FIFA Manager 10 Review

The world of football management is a pretty complicated one. A manager has to deal with everything from tactics and transfers to moral and team problems. In many cases these days though, the manager’s job is limited to simply making sure the players on the field are doing well.  Only established managers such as Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger get the chance to interfere with nearly everything inside a club. Games like Football Manager deal with a specific side of the job. You make deals, sell players, arrange games and plan your tactics. FIFA Manager 10 wants to make you feel like you are the whole club. You will manage your club, play as one of the players, set tickets prices, design the stadium and even learn a new hobby while at it.

FIFA Manager is back this year with “over 400 new features”, or that is what the developers would like to say. While changes are around and plenty, most of them are small tweaks that many of us will not even notice. The main changes this year come in the shape of the online mode. The single player game remains unchanged at the core, but the new little changes do add up positively overall. How much did FIFA Manager 2010 improve compared to FM 2010 and FIFA Manager 2009 though? Read on and you will find out.

First off, we really like the number of options this game offers when entering a match. If you wish you can take things into your own hand and control a player on the field. If you are in a hurry, you can get an instant score and get the whole game over with. You can even watch the game in 3D and note your player’s moves and tactics. The options here really cover everything a manager can ask for. We were especially impressed by the new 3D animations this year. We were delighted by how a good passer can perform a number of different looking passes in a match. The addition of the new 3D animations might sound unimportant but it surely does make the game better overall.

The one disappointing aspect in the 3D engine though is the match engine itself. At times some of the players seem to float around pointlessly. One of my players took the ball in the opposition’s side, and ran back slowly towards the other side of the pitch. He then turned around and started running in the correct direction again. Those glitches are far apart and will not occur that often, but a quick fix in the next patch should get rid of them completely.

When looking at the presentation, the game does a fantastic job. The majority of the logos are authentic and most of the players in the game have a picture in the profile. Despite all the authentic logos and pictures going around, the game seems to have got some wrong information regarding some big teams. The captain of Arsenal for example was not Fabregas. Injured players that are out for the rest of the season in real life were back in action a week into the season in FIFA Manager 2010. On a more positive note, the game does offer you the chance to manage any team in 35 different leagues including the Saudi and UAE football leagues.

The biggest new addition this year is the online multiplayer mode. The online mode is pretty simple. Here you will pick a team and get going playing against other players around the world. People in for a realistic and time consuming online game might be left disappointed. The online season is quick thanks to strict time limits and a limited number of options. Think of the online mode as a single player light version. Playing online a few times was actually fun, but the simplicity soon took over and we were back playing offline soon after.

The game this year offers a few other additions. You can now take control over your stadium. Change everything from the fast food offered in the stands to the number of VIP boxes and new locker rooms. The options are truly fantastic considering some of the changes can be spotted playing the game in the 3D mode. The changes you make will have a direct effect on your budget and income for the season.

You can now shout out instructions watching the game from the sidelines. Just like real life (and Football Manager). The instructions can be simple or complicated depending on the situation. And you will appreciate how the players start adjusting their game based on your orders in the 3D match. Winning a game after asking your wing backs to attack can be pretty rewarding.

The graphics are very good in this game. The screen is rarely plain or boring. Every message you get will usually have a picture of the player involved and even the coach or scout as well. The skins used are very bright and the game even comes with a SkySports.com like news page that you will be presented with at the end of each week. The matches themselves look really good no matter what option you choose.

FIFA Manager 2010 is a manager game with a ton of options. You can choose everything about your career before you start a game. The huge number of teams and leagues to choose from only adds to that huge number of options you have on hand. We honestly wish the developers spent more time adjusting and adding features to the offline single player mode instead of adding a quick online mode to the mix. Football fans looking for a game that concentrates on just football and tactics should go with Football Manager 2010. If you are after the whole package though and if you think you have an Arsene Wenger somewhere inside you, then FIFA Manager 2010 is your game.

About Rabie Hassoun

Rabie Hassoun prefers the 360 over the PS3 but still loves all 2 of his systems and that 3rd white motion filled dust collector as well. He prefers Sports games with NBA 2K, Football Manager and FIFA being 3 of his favorite games of all time. You can find him over XBL and PSN @ Rabie1.