Gaming Sunday: FIFA Manager 11

Introduction

FIFA Manager 11 is the other big name football management game. Although having a smaller community when compared to Football Manager, FIFA Manager 11 is still one of the better football management games, and my personal favorite. Beats me why I like it better than Football Manager, even though most football management game lovers tend to prefer Football Manager over FIFA Manager.

Gameplay

Not that much different from Football Manager at a glance. You manage your team and bring them to glory. However, a closer look will tell lots of different tales. First off, FIFA Manager 11 is more user friendly compared to Football Manger 2011. It is easier to navigate the screen and information is usually just a few clicks away. Depth-wise, it is said to be very shallow compared to Football Manager, but I can't seem to pinpoint the difference. You get to see the abilities of different categories, the usual suspects of Finishing, Passing and the likes. You can even tell players to focus on a particular area by clicking on the stats. To make things easier, most of the information are displayed in a SINGLE page. You also get a "summary point" that rates the player based on abilities and form. For example, a in-form Casillas can rate above 90, which is a few points higher than his usual 8x points. Allows you to easily choose your team.

The transfer system is the one thing I dislike about FIFA Manager. You can't offer a rival team, you can't offer a player who has just signed, you can't offer players who are still trying to get into first team and you can't offer players who are not interested. Other than that, it is pretty easy to offer to buy a player due to the fact there is a meter that judges your offer from things like Outrageous to Acceptable make it Basis for Further Negotiation and most of the time, you get the deal. Teams are also unlikely to offer reserve players a new contract, so snatching guys like van Nistelrooy who has his contract expiring at the end of the season is easily done.

FIFA Manager also provides a much easily navigated Calendar which allows you to arrange Player parties, day out at amusement parks or organize a Christmas party to boost your team's morale and relationship. The money used for this is taken from the Miscellaneous budget. You can also move matches a day ahead or later, allowing your players to have more rest between matches. FIFA Manager also allows managers to increase Stadium capacity or build certain buildings, such as lodgings or carparks that allows for more income through ticket sales. The money used for this is taken from the Stadium budget.

There is also a game option known as Personal Life that you can turn on or off. Personal Life allows you to fully experience the life of a football manager, juggling between work and family, as well as getting into good relationship with your boss. You also get to spend the wage you earn. On cars, house, yacht or donate it back to the club to help buy more players, or organize more outings. You can also invest your money, which can allow you to buy the club, provided you have the money required. This allows you to take full control of the club's finances.

Graphics

A thousand times better than Football Manager. The interface itself is much pleasing to the eye. All big name players have faces. You also get newspaper headlines when you sign a big name star, which features a bigger picture of the player and big headlines. The fine prints are there for you to read as well. 3D matches are more like FIFA 2005 days, and is much much better that Football Manager. Award ceremonies and match draws are done in beautiful graphics instead of just a message coming in.

All clubs have logos and leagues have their logos as well. No need to download facepacks and stuff. And yes, there is music in the game. Nice music as well. A big improvement over Football Manager 2011.

Conclusion

I am usually not an aesthetic person. I can play Half Minute Hero without puking, I can play Final Fantasy for PSP, hell I can play NES Mario and NES games really without a mouth of complain. My only real downfall for aesthetics is Final Fantasy III, both NDS and NES, for whatever reason, I can get myself to play them. So even though FIFA Manager 11 offers a lot of aesthetics, although one reason, it's not the main reason. I just can't explain why I feel that I have more fun playing FIFA Manager 11 than Football Manager 2011. Too bad I'm stuck playing Football Manager 2011 since I lost my FIFA Manager 11 when I reformatted my laptop.