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Football Manager 2006 Mini Review

Chris Leyton

23/10/2005

A seasonal update for the fanatics to truly appreciate...

Sports Interactive stumbled upon a recipe for success with the 1992 release of Championship Manager; a rare enigma within the industry that eschewed increasingly sophisticated visuals in place of endless pages of stats, numbers and text. Despite this oddity Championship Manager managed to create a frighteningly authentic and highly addictive replication of football for a legion of fans to appreciate; letâs admit one thing, any football fan often thinks they can do a better job.

Since then Sports Interactive and the Championship Manager brand have parted ways in a well-documented split between the developer and Eidos, paving the way for a partnership with the resurgent SEGA and a new canvas for the resurrection of the Football Manager brand. Football Manager 2006 builds upon the series debut last year with a host of introductions that will please the fanatics, but you truly do have to be such a fan to enjoy or even notice many of these.

Thereâs little doubt that this seasonâs training system is the first time in their illustrious 13-year history that Sports Interactive have got it just about right. Sliders govern such aspects as Shooting, Technique, Strength, etc, controlling how intensive players focus upon certain areas. Itâs relatively pain-free to set up new regimeâs which becomes essential to maximising playerâs potential, however the General default setting does a reasonably good job of a balanced set-up. Each individual player also has a Training page which uses graphs to provide a definitive representation of the affects of training throughout the season; along with extra information such as the Assistant Managerâs thoughts and their own opinions on the system. The inability to look back at what particular regime led to a spike or drop in a playerâs stats, means that the system doesnât quite realise its full potential however itâs a good base for SI to build upon.

One of the many, finer enhancements featured in Football Manager 2006 is the Snapshot page, providing a compilation of crucial information on one page. Seasoned CM/FM fanatics will appreciate just how helpful this becomes, ensuring that players are constantly tuned to every major aspect under their control.

In the ongoing attempt to improve the personal nature of the game FM2006 increases the interactions between players, backroom-staff, players, the board and the media. Specifically physios coming to you immediately after an injury occurs is a welcome change, particularly when given choices as to how you want to treat an illness - send home, to a specialist, leave it to the physio or administer painkilling injections, itâs up to you but remember everything has a consequence.

On the pitch FM2006 continues on from its predecessor with an unwavering take on the beautiful game. The result of more attributes, stats and calculations likely being performed then even the most complex RPG, helps FM2006 to present a game of football, with its 2D visuals, that will have you shouting from the rafters and screaming down the walls like very few others.

A number of enhancements and introductions continue through to the actual match, most notably the ability to issue tactical changes without leaving the pitch. The Quick tactic command allows you to change tactical elements of the team or individuals, such as pushing up the field or switching roles around as if shouting them from the touchlines; however a slight but noticeable load sequence whilst the game applies these changes detracts from the illusion somewhat.

Half Time talks are something the fans have been asking for and provide ample opportunity to get your team back in the game or warn against complacency. They represent another level of control, developing the illusion that every one of your actions has an affect on what happens on the pitch. But if it still goes wrong on the pitch, you can at least vent some of the anger with a barracking during the Post Match talks.

The lengthy list of minor tweaks continues throughout the game, seasoned fans will appreciate the ramped up Player Form and enhanced Player Position screens; extra tactical options such as Time Wasting or Swap Sides and the inclusion of Height and Weight player attributes. Some of the changes are likely to split opinions; Iâm personally not a fan of the re-jigged Player Comparison screen and Iâd say the interactions between managers and players/media/board could do with a little more variety to spice that aspect up a little.

Despite the traditional appearance of a patch on the day of release, FM2006 appears to be surprisingly stable. There are very few instances of the typical interface glitches, and Iâve yet to come across a bug that significantly affects the game - although a number have voiced concerns over an alleged penalty shootout glitch. Thankfully the team at SI have also worked hard on optimising the experience, resulting in a game that runs significantly faster then last yearâs version even on relatively low-spec systems.

It would be hard to justify FM2006 as a big upgrade; itâs far closer to the seasonal updates that interspersed the Championship Manager series. That said the list of enhancements do make a great game even better and will be fully appreciated by the fanatics.

If the monotony of football in the real-world is beginning to dampen you down, make sure to check out Football Manager 2006; somehow theyâve managed to replicate the same experience of the beautiful game into a beautiful videogame.

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