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GC '07: FIFA Manager 08 Impressions

By Guy Cocker, GameSpot UKPosted Aug 23, 2007 12:30 am PT

EA Sports presents another chance to step into the shoes of José Mourinho and Alex Ferguson. We took a look at FIFA Manager 08 at Leipzig to see if it's likely to take home this year's silverware.

LEIPZIG, Germany--As far as many football management aficionados are concerned, there's only one game on the market, and that's the aptly named Football Manager. However, there are a lot of fans out there who find the sheer depth of Sports Interactive's series slightly daunting, which is likely why EA Sports has continued to release its own take on the genre. Offering an inviting interface and the polish we've come to expect from EA Sports games, the last game in the series was an excellent starting point for those who fancy the football manager lifestyle. We caught up with the developer of this year's game to find out what it is hoping to add to the experience.

First of all, the interface itself has been given a visual overhaul and now supports resolutions up to 2,280 x 2,024 pixels. The update also follows the rule of thumb that more is better, so there are some leagues appearing in the game for the first time, including Australia, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. The designers have certainly been kept busy updating the core game because they've added 2,000 more official player images, as well as new competitions that include the Under 20s and Confederation Cups. They've also added 200 new objects for your stadiums.

One of the nicest touches we saw in FIFA Manager 08 was the localised newspaper updates, which came from best-selling British tabloid The Sun during the matches we saw playing as Liverpool. Likewise, if you're playing as France, the updates come from acclaimed football paper L'Equipe, and other countries promise a similar level of authenticity. The developer insists that it's important to keep abreast of the media's response to your management of the club because it will affect the morale of the team in general. This played a large part of the previous game; taking care of individual and overall motivation is an important part of the job. You'll have to constantly juggle the demands of your players, as well as making sure the board is satisfied.

Scouts will also play a much larger part in the game than before. You'll need to keep a constant eye on the youth team and transfer market to manage a successful club. Although it remains an accessible management game to get into, the general attention to detail in FIFA Manager 08 is looking very impressive so far. Being able to place Liverpool's training ground in a small English seaside town called Filey was a nicely realistic touch. On a more practical note, the ability to see x-rays of each player's feet and adapt their training routine to avoid injury was also a useful tool.

The main simulation mode in FIFA Manager 08 will again last 20 years, and as before, you will be able to see all matches replicated in 3D. The match engine itself hasn't been updated this year because that particular overhaul is being held over until next year's game. In the meantime, the game has been updated with all-new textures, and we noticed that players seemed to move in a more sprightly fashion than they did previously.

FIFA Manager 08 is currently 85 percent complete, so the majority of work now taking place is on ironing out the bugs and adding final polish. There are about six weeks to go until launch, so the team of 50 beta testers has plenty of time to make sure the game is up-to-scratch for the November 1 release. To find out if the team manages to pull it off, keep an eye on GameSpot for our full verdict later in the year.

14 Comments

  • rockycool2006

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 1:10 pm PT

    overall graphics is good but where is luca modric of croatia he his not in the squad

  • Barryspeed

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 2:02 am PT

    They forgot to put in the Dutch team that's stupid and insulting!!!

  • BigGris

    Posted Oct 29, 2007 9:46 pm PT

    As an avid Football Manager fan, i have always found the Fifa Manager series lacking in that certain something, that FM has, which is a belief that your decisions, transfers, etc are making a real difference out on the pitch...having said that, the lure of the 3D graphics does leave me tending to own both every season, but Fifa is always the one that gets the odd dabble here and there.....and not melt my PC like FM !!

    All that said, EA, master tweakers as they are (good job on Fifa2008 btw) continue to improve the series, and having played the demo, there looks like enough content, that FM2008 does not do, that will make me purchase this. Could`nt get any 3D graphics on the demo (unless its just me) and some of the scores were frankly bizzare (won 12-0, 11-1) and player ratings ranged from 3-8 in the same match..some improvement

    But i guess there is still time to iron out the bugs, but might be wise to keep an eye out for a few reviews when released before committing yourself....

  • HMSA

    Posted Oct 20, 2007 5:03 pm PT

    This game sounds very good indeed, but for sure will not be better than Football Manager 2008! The main reason, is the monstrous data base that Sports INteractive already have, all the leagues that are been added to Fifa Mananger just now already was present in Football Manager for many years, and is the same situation with the cups and other tournaments! And in this genre the data base(players/teams/leagues and other competitions avaliable) counts much more than visual, graphics or personal life. I liked the EA manager game until 2005, when it was called Total Club Manager, after they changed the game´s name... it become worse every year...they retrograted too much, removing many amusing features that TCM2005 already have, like football fusion, personal life(that was removed in 06 and returned in 07 becouse the fans were much revolted with this), the numbers indicating the quality of the player and many more things... I miss TCM series until today... Becouse all of this mistakes they have done, and not create a good database, is impossible for EA to beat SI Games this moment and for more next year at least.

  • spider-manfan45

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 4:32 am PT

    can any1 tell me if you can play as the actual team like in manager mode in fifa 07?

  • lada2107black

    Posted Oct 5, 2007 1:02 pm PT

    at last ! I can't wait for it !

  • pitmars2004

    Posted Sep 22, 2007 12:36 pm PT

    i think EA should include mini-games within the game to provide extra option to spend the money we make being the bestest mangers... right now we can buy cars and mansions, maybe we could buy a stable and race horses and see them run once in a while (see the game "new star soccer 3") or maybe we could try our luck on the financial markets (see the game total club manager 2004)... i cant wait to see the full game anyway!

  • ete-san

    Posted Sep 6, 2007 2:44 pm PT

    I'm loooooooking forward to it. I think that the depth will be the same or better than in Football Manager.

  • squeaque

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 11:11 pm PT

    Sounds really good. EA might beat all the competition this time(if all the features work right). I especially hope MY TEAM star players on top form,moral and energy will finally stand out and play like they should.

  • cesare313

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 6:47 am PT

    I think this game will be good. Loads of work has been done to it especially if you have looked at the video and all the screenshots. Hopefully they have fixed up the editor because there are problems within the editor itself and there must be a bigger database of players.

  • karim1_007

    Posted Aug 26, 2007 1:52 pm PT

    i may try this one

  • playstation_wii

    Posted Aug 24, 2007 6:23 pm PT

    Cool!
    I can control everything!

  • richardcutlass

    Posted Aug 24, 2007 5:29 pm PT

    i am especially pumped for this game. It will be my first one, but i'm ready.
    The more players and leagues the better. I hope there is a feature for most of the international teams as well.

  • ymcop

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 4:00 am PT

    oh cool!

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