As someone who has played this game since its early days, I'm delighted by the way the game has progressed each year. You will always get those opinions around this type of game which suggest that each new version just has the updated players lists and competitions, but I can't even begin to suggest why this isn't true. The fact that the game sells millions of copies on each release is proof enough. You can easily get free updates which updates the squads and skills from year to year and you wouldn't pay £30 for that. Football Manager 2009 like all the other releases improves on the previous version and adds completely new features.

This year loads of new stuff has been added that we will catch up on further down the page, but the biggest thing in this years release has to be the new 3D match engine. I for one have been waiting for this feature from the football manager series for quite some time now. While the 2D birds eye view served its purpose as this of course is a hardcore management game, the new 3D engine brings Football Manager 2009 into the modern era. Nothing changes in terms of how you operate you team in this new view, but now you get to see you players from completely new perspective. Now you can view even more of players performance giving you greater knowledge to make the right decisions within your team. The 3D match engine however does require a fair amount of processing power from the CPU and the graphics card, so if your computer isn't up to much you may have to revert back to the 2D view which hasn't been ditched mainly for that purpose.

Football Manager 2009 hasn't been without its problems though, The initial release was plagued by bugs in the code, causing freezing at key parts of the game, the majority of these bugs have been fixed but patches are required in order to iron out these problems. the link to patches and more resources can be found at the bottom of the page.

As well as the bugs though, there was one other thing that has annoyed a fair portion of the football manager community. There is an activation system which requires you to go online to have your pass-key verified and your game activated before you can use it all. This system has come under some real scrutiny as many players failed to get their games up and running for days or even weeks on initial release. While this problem also seems to have been solved, it's still worth noting that Football manager 2009 is unplayable without internet access. It seems that the few people who don't have access to the internet or are in places where the internet is not available to them ( I heard one player was on a yacht and unable to play his beloved game because of this copy protection farce).

That's the negative out of the way now to look again at some of the new features available in Football manager 2009. As well as the 3D view that is making the headline's you can also view the match from a "TV" view. This allows you to have the whole screen dedicated to the match with several "widgets" of information you require placed where you need them. You may wish to see match stats or player stats, or maybe other results without having to loose the pitch screen from your view.

Your assistant manager love him or hate him will be even more influential in your plight for success. More feedback from your assistant on training, player feedback and tactics, as well as in-game feedback positive or negative on how your team is performing. They will also advise you on potential weaknesses of the opposition that they have noticed during the game.

Some of the more generic improvements are the improved finance system, modelled more closely to real life football clubs and situations, same with a complete overhaul of the transfer system, showing more realistic results of which players end up at what clubs. The Board also have a lot more to say than before they play a big part in your game, keep them happy and your job is as good as safe. A preferred moves tactic has been added, its kind of like a training ground move thing that you can get your players to perfect and use in the right situation. This is a feature that gives you even greater control over the style that you want your team to play like.

The influence of the press has been getting more and more attention from the Football Manager series over the last few years and this year they have added a new feature where you can build up a rapport with the press, whether that be a good or a bad one. Pre and post game press conferences give you the chance to answer, ignore or evade the burning questions that the press will no doubt have for you. Answer them wisely as the press have a habit or dragging up old comments you may have made in the past.

One final point that will please a hopefully growing number of fans is the female manager, now you can be a female manager on the game and all the commentary of the game has been updated to show that you are a female manager. Getting more women interested in football can only be a good thing :)

 

Features of Football Manager 2009

3D Match Engine - This year's match engine has seen more testing than ever before having been extensively beta tested in Football Manager Live for the past year.

The famous Football Manager match engine can now be viewed in full 3D with motion captured animations for the players. Sports Interactive has been working on the 3D match engine for nearly 3 years with the support of SEGA Japan's Virtue Striker team who provided the motion capture data and some of the animations.

You can now watch your matches in 3D from multiple camera angles and re-watch any part of the match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new match time bar that flags the key moments in the game.

The old 2D view of the match engine is still there, especially for those people whose computers aren't powerful enough to take advantage of the 3D views.

TV View - Watch your matches in new full screen TV view and customise your match day screen with widgets to view the information you need as a football manager, be it player performance, match action zones, pitch radar, latest scores and many more.

Assistant Manager Feedback - Pre-match and in-match feedback from your Assistant Manager on how the team is performing and your player's motivation levels, as well as hints on how your tactics are working and how you could outwit the opposition's tactics.

Improved Media - SI have worked hard to reflect the greater impact the media has been having in recent years on the world of football, in the in-game dealings with the press. The game now features more news stories, more detail and greater media interaction than ever before, creating an even more realistic simulation of the football world.

Press Conferences - Attend pre-match and post-match press conferences with local and national journalists and build up relationships with them over time, but choose your answers carefully because they could come back to haunt you in the media at a later date.

Transfer System - Completely new and re-written transfer system code, providing an even more realistic simulation of real-life football transfers.

Transfer Rumours - View the latest news on what players are being speculated on, and who's said to be interested in securing their services.

Board Confidence - Following on from its addition in Football Manager 2008, board confidence has been expanded and improved. In addition, the board will now also offer feedback on your squad harmony and your club's stature in the football world.

Preferred Moves - Train your players to learn 'preferred moves' to add to their game. For example, train central defenders to not dive into tackles, or wingers to do step-over's before crossing the ball.

Female Manager - For the very first time you can now play as a female manager. All of the text in the game now also has a female gender so the game represents female managers and staff in the game in the correct gender.

Realistic Finances - SI have listened to feedback from all of their researchers to try and model every single financial area of the game correctly for each country, including transfers, staff wages, budgets, ticket prices, season tickets, competition bonuses and club sponsorships.

Updated Competitions - Fully updated for the new 2008/09 football season with all the latest league, club and player data, featuring over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50 countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world, drawn fresh from the famous Sports Interactive database.

Widescreen Support - As a result of usability testing on Football Manager 2008, this year sees widescreen support for the game for the first time, as well as lots of tweaks to the user interface for easier navigation.

PC/Mac System Requirements

Minimum requirements (PC)

*Windows XP / Vista
*1.4GHz processor for XP or 2.0 GHz for Vista
*512MB RAM for XP or 1GB RAM for Vista
*Graphic Card - 128MB Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9800, Intel 82915G/82910GL or better.

Minimum requirements (Mac)
*Intel Mac
*Mac OS 10.5.5
*1GB RAM
*Graphic Card - Nvidia Geforce 7300 / ATI X1600 Radeon

The graphic card requirements only apply if you use the 3d match engine. 2d match engine does not require a video card.

Football Manager 2009 Resources
Cheats - PC Patches - PC Demo - PC demo Screenshots - PC