Football Manager 2012
Getting Started, Eventually.After purchasing the game for £10 from game-station, I wasn't expecting much, and after 2 hours of sitting at my computer watching the install, I was rather regretting my decision. Even when loading up the game, I could have walked to the moon and back. But once I had finally got the game going Luke then decided to tell me that I needed to download two more things. Firstly "LogMeIn Hamachi" a server hosting piece of software, which also took a hike up Kilimanjaro to install, and then after all that the Football Manager Editor, but we will get onto that later.
The FM Editor
Next I make the ridiculous decision to say, "I'll host Luke" to which Luke says "load up the Editor then." After approximately 2 minutes of loading time a large white screen pops up before my eyes, with very little on it. I click on the file button, load the most recent database update and begin to search through the options. Personally I think that the editor is a great idea, as it means you can edit the Football Manager database directly. This is great, because I can write off Portsmouth's debt, give them a £1billion to spend, and new star striker Lionel Messi. Which, obviously is very realistic.
However some problems are arisen when this then goes to playing the game. Nonetheless I wrote off our debts, gave us a few million to strengthen our squad, put us back in the premier league, with a new fantasy team of Messi, Ronaldo, Pique & Xavi and I even made Fratton Park from this..:
...Into this;
I'm sure the extra 80,000 seats will be filled, and loads more season tickets sold.
Anyway, after editing the world to make it a better place, and then ruining it by giving Chelsea some extra cash for Luke, we loaded up the game, ready for a few hours of winning matches.
Pre-season
Once we have connected and are in the game, we set about starting the season, and when It gets to our first game, we realise I have done it wrong. I bought all foreign players into the Portsmouth team, and removed all the others, so I ended up with no "Home Grown" players. You need 8 in the premier league to be allowed to compete. (FYI: A Home grown player is one that has spent at least 3 years between the ages of 15-21 in the country.) believe it or not. Ronaldo and Lampard were my only home grown players. So it was back to the editor, to edit the "days in Nation" setting in the Player data. So while I was there I created me, made me a Central Midfielder and maxed out my attributes.
Finally we are back in the game and we can finally play. Thankfully we could skip through the pre-season matches as Luke made sure to tell me about the "Team Policy" settings, which meant I could assign my assistant manager to any of the club's runnings, such as friendly matches, contract renewals and even pre-match team talks. However this meant that for the first 2 hours of playing, we were skipping hour by hour the days from 1st July all the way to August 13th, when the season kicked off. Stopping only for transfers.
Actually Playing
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| Here is a basic screen from the game, Wimbledon's Fact Page |
TV View
After a couple of seconds the greatest graphics I have ever seen filled my page.(I could see why the game was only a tenner.) Look at that stadium detail! I mean that stand behind the goal must have taken them donkey's years to make. Concrete steps. Literally pushing the boundaries of what computer graphics can do. Even the players must have taken them ages, especially to make them all look exactly the same, and even to make their rounded heads and bodies look pointy. Impressive.- Yeah, if your last game was Space Invaders, or you could quite afford an Atari VCS console from 1982.
Yeah that black box thing to the right.
the thing that is nearly double my age at 30 years old.
Anyway, killing the joke now, but to be honest, I was expecting a little more for a game that starts at £29.99
Having said that, after a while It does begin to grow on you. You find yourself starting to love the limited graphics, and comedic outcomes of the game. It becomes a bit of a gimmick.
Give It a Chance.
If you ignore it's faults and imperfections this is actually a pretty amazing game. The simplicity of it, and the uncontrollability of each match keeps you on the edge of your seat. I find myself shouting at the screen, cheering my team on, and even getting a bit wound up when things don't go my way. So despite a large amount of this blog, slagging off the game, I genuinely love it. I now spent hours every night playing with Luke or George (another person Luke begged.) or sometimes on my own, playing my Portsmouth season. It's just so satisfying when you win a game, especially If it was hard work. Which sometimes, this game is.
Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing
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Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp
James "Womble" Richardson
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