The game received almost universal critical acclaim on release, with an average score of 87 out of 100 on Metacritic. GameSpot described Football Manager 2007 as a "truly immersive football experience", while PC Gamer suggested that "no other game comes close."[3] Football Manager 2007 was also nominated for a Golden Joystick Award and won the Gamers Award at the BAFTA.[7][8]
football manager 2007
Football Manager 2007's computer version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[9] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[10]
Football Manager 2007 is Sports Interactive's third game since leaving the Championship Manager name behind, and while it's a case of evolution rather than revolution, it turns screens of statistics into something so absorbing that it is possible to lose entire hours, days, and weeks of your life.
The game, like most of its genre, thrusts you into the front line of football management at a club of your choosing. Where that may be is entirely up to you, and FM 2007 provides an almost endless list to choose from. You can choose from the glamour of Barcelona or AC Milan, head to smaller clubs such as Accrington Stanley or Woksop, or take a punt with clubs from leagues you've almost certainly not heard of, such as the Hong Kong First Division. You can manage any of these clubs--and even international teams, should you so desire.
You'll also start your management job with some idea of what the board and fans of your chosen club are hoping you'll achieve over the course of the season. Managers of football clubs live and die by results, so if the board is expecting promotion and you're delivering too many losses, you may find that your first contract ends prematurely. However, if that does happen, it's not the end of the game; you can apply for jobs with other clubs that have vacancies at any time, and you can even throw your hat into the ring anywhere if an incumbent manager's position is looking shaky.
Having financial acumen is crucial, especially at smaller clubs, and you'll want to send out scouts to watch prospective transfer targets. FM 2007 introduces a new format to this section of the game, adding in knowledge bars for scouts based on their past experience. Some of them will specialise in certain countries or regions, and while smaller clubs might confine missions to a relatively local area, if you want to compete on the world stage you'll want a good depth of global knowledge at your disposal. Particularly important are staff members with South American experience, which may let you tap into the potentially priceless players of the Brazilian and Argentinean leagues and uncover the next Pele or Maradona before anybody else--and before the price gets too high.
The matches themselves are where the real action happens, and FM 2007's match engine has been refined further to create the most realistic re-creation of player activity to date. The games are presented in a top-down view, with players as numbered circles moving around a pitch, which is usually green but can deteriorate into patchy brown to give you an idea of conditions on the ground. It's not the most sophisticated method of displaying a football match we've ever seen, and other games such as LMA Manager 2007 certainly pull it off with more aplomb, but the crucial aspect of it is that you can actually learn something from watching a match. The movement of players is almost bulletproof when compared to watching a real-life game, and it's incredibly easy to forget you are in fact simply watching a bunch of circles move around inside a green rectangle.
In this respect, FM 2007, in sacrificing visuals, does a far better job of providing a useful tool for analysis and entertainment than any of the fully 3D match engines. What's more, the rest of the game presents you with information in a clean and efficient manner, and it's clear that extensive work has gone into making sure that the most important screens are always easily accessible in a logical fashion.
That said, it's obvious where the focus lies in Football Manager 2007, and thankfully it's on the most important part of the game--the feeling of immersion. News items which alert you to goings-on from around the world are sensibly tailored to your own part of the world, while still keeping you in touch with important developments globally. Depending on your progress, journalists may approach you from time to time to ask you to comment on your situation. If you're on a winning streak, you might like to gloat a little, or maybe praise the players. If you're not doing quite so well, you might prefer not to comment at all. Everything you say and do, especially where the media is concerned, can have an impact on the morale of your players, so it's important to consider the bigger picture when talking to the press.
Players, teams, league setups, and even competition rules are accurate for all of the 116 leagues across 51 countries that exist in the game, something which not only adds massively to the feeling of realism, but also gives you the scope to learn more about world football as you go.
Once your career is under way, the football world carries on around you, giving you as much attention, or as little, as your current managerial position deserves. From the moment you begin, FM 2007 creates an environment that's based on reality but allows you to forge your own path and create your own stories. Whether you choose to join Manchester United as a former international footballer with a glowing reputation or to join a semiprofessional team of part-timers as an ex-Sunday-league player, you have the scope to do almost anything within the confines of what a real-life manager would do, and setting yourself targets--or just seeing where "life" takes you--is one of the best parts of the game.
For a game as complex as FM 2007, you'll be pleased to know that there's plenty of in-game help to be had, as well as a decent-sized manual that sets the scene well. Undoubtedly newcomers to the genre will find the sheer depth of gameplay a little overwhelming at first, but it's possible to ask advice on things like team selection from a member of staff, and you'll also get valuable feedback on training schedules and performances from a number of sources. Invest a little more time in the game, and the many screens and statistics will begin to become second nature.
Overall FM 2007 is a game that you may well still be enjoying when Sports Interactive is releasing the next version in a year's time, and football fans won't find a more rewarding and realistic tool for fulfilling their sporting fantasies anywhere else. The addiction of playing just one more match, season, or career won't fade anytime soon with this game.
Churlishness aside, there is a host of new stuff to be found here, from boardroom level right down to the youth team. As is becoming commonplace in modern football, the board can now overrule the manager should they receive an offer for a player that's too good to refuse. Again reflecting real life, they can also decide to up sticks and move to a new stadium. Furthermore, should they lose interest in the club or run out of cash, they may invite offers for the club, which will certainly impact on the security of your job.
Stuck In Mid-Table obscurity? Hated by your supporters? Unable to mastermind victories in those must-win derby games? Then fear not as help is at hand with our ultimate guide to becoming a successful manager in the latest version of Sports Interactive's supreme management series. By the time we've finished with you, you'll have Ronaldinho, Henry and a host of other potential Chelsea targets banging on your door begging to be signed while you comb your hair in the reflection of your bursting trophy cabinet Well, that's the plan, but football's a funny old game...
Yes, yes, football's all about the team and not the individual, but setting your side up to play a defensive 4-4-2 counter-attacking game will only get you so far. If you really want to see your team reaching its full potential, you're going to have to get used to issuing individual players with specific instructions. This means researching not only their stats, but the opposing team's too. Does an opposing forward need to be man-marked? If so, do you need your fastest or tallest defender to keep him quiet? It's decisions like these that can make the difference between a plucky loss and a heroic win.
Admit it, you've sometimes selected your favourite player no matter how badly they've been playing or whether or not they fit your system. Am I right? Course I am. Well stop it! Now! You see, there simply isn't room for favouritism in FM2007. If one of your heroes isn't delivering, drop them. If they don't fit into your system, then consider selling them, doubly so if they've only got a couple of years left at the top before that slow, inevitable decline. Cash in before it's too late and bring in two promising youngsters instead. It works for Wenger and it can work for you.
Perhaps the key new feature this year is Player Interaction, which effectively extends last year's manager interaction process to all the players as well - and not just your own, but the those on rival teams too. Essentially, you can conduct your little 'chats' face to face with members of your squad or conduct your communication through the media, giving rave reviews of potential targets to unsettle, flatter, or just plain tap them up.
As they point out every year, FM 2007 will be "easier to use, navigate and control and all the options are more obvious to players". Most of the time this is definitely true, thanks to clearer icons, customisable bookmarks and a vidiprinter spewing forth tons of interesting snippets of information, as well as tweaks to the already clean layout. Rarely will you get stumped over how to find something - and even if you do the 300 hints and tips and the updated tutorial should help out in no time. Usefully, delegating the growing layers of micromanagement to your back-room team seems more obvious (and beneficial) than ever, giving the more old school players the chance to switch off a lot of the stuff you might otherwise consider unnecessary. 2ff7e9595c
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