Codies' latest footy manager has the glamour, but still lacks some of the depth.
So while FM has the depth, LMA has the glamour. Well, with the exception of the appearances of Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen, it has the glamour. That’s not to say that LMA doesn’t have some serious levels of depth, because it does – it just has a slightly more accessible approach than the mighty FM. Codemasters are certainly making use of what the 360 has under the tracksuit to their advantage. The use of HD certainly keeps the game looking sharp, provided, of course, that you have the necessary hardware. The interface is well laid out and it’s easy to find everything you need. Moving around and manipulating features on screen is quick and painless – something that FM will have to wait for its next incarnation for us to be able to say the same of.
A big boost to the LMA score sheet is the match engine. While it still doesn’t look quite as good as the standalone arcade-style footy games, it certainly makes watching the games a lot more entertaining. This is especially true when you see changes you make directly influencing how things are played out. When you switch tactics, you will actually witness players doing what you tell them. It’s a cool feature and certainly one you will spend a lot of time enjoying.
While FM suffered a little from lengthy load times and stat crunching pauses, which only really got frustrating if you were playing prolonged sessions (to get those multi-season achievement points, no doubt), Codemasters have made use of the multicore processor to reduce all these. So even if you are watching lots of matches, you won’t spend too much time staring at loading bars or waiting for results to come through.
A key factor, of course, is the accuracy, and while Codemasters have done a lot of work to make sure all the team stats from the 50 footballing nations are up to date, there will still be a few anomalies at launch. If you have access to Xbox Live, these will be taken care of with a free download soon after release which will bring all the stats and transfers up to date as of the close of the transfer window.
For those of us who now associate match analysis and punditry with the ultra slick Sky Sports rather than the clumsy old BBC coverage, Codemasters have included a media hub. It is here where presenters Lineker and Hansen, along with crusty old commentator Barry Davies, under the guise of “Football One” give you match day analysis of your team’s performance and highlights of that day’s matches as well as transfer news and other information. It’s a glitzy version of FM’s email news system that works well and is certainly less clunky to get around.
‘Less clunky to get around’ is a recurring theme which you will benefit from, especially as you advance deeper into the 20 year career mode. Yes, 20 years. I doubt you would get to finish that before the 2008 version of LMA, but that’s the challenge. Your career can be in a real or fantasy team, which you can drop into any league you like. And I’m sure Accrington Stanley would be delighted at the crowds that turn up to watch your team of Galacticos play against them. This career mode does include possibly the most pointless feature, though, where you get to design what your manager character looks like. This isn’t an RPG – we don’t need that Codemasters, but thanks for trying.
So how hardcore and multi-layered is LMA? Well, that depends on how you want to play it. If you don’t want to micromanage everything then you can do the smart thing and let your backroom staff handle the tedious jobs. Tackling all the training and financial duties yourself means that your seasons will last for a hell of a long time – probably too long for anyone who isn’t a hardcore fan, in which case you should probably be playing Football Manager.
LMA Manager 2007 is a huge step forward from the last instalment, which was a disappointing sidestep for the franchise. This time, with the use of the 360’s HD oomph to enhance the experience and some obvious thought given to the on-screen presentation and match engine, the series has really come of age. Is it better than Football Manager? Looks-wise, yes; but if it’s depth you want then Sports Interactive still has the edge. But the gap is getting narrower and it looks like we have a genuine battle on our hands for the Premiership title.