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The aim of this thread is to provide some comparison with another football management game to see what's good and bad about them and provide some information for comparison and ideas for SI for improvement of Football Manager.
I have played a full season of FIFA Manager 08 (henceforth known as FIFA) and several dozen of Football Manager 07 (henceforth known as FM). I have looked at several aspects of both for comparison:
- 2d vs 3d matches
- commentary
- player interaction
- statistics
- database
- ease of play
- depth
- tactics
- scouting
- manual
- transfers
Each of these will have its own section in the thread so it's easier for you to read ( so give me a few minutes to put them all up. The last section will be my opinion on the two. I have only played the demo of FM08 so am not in a position to comment on it or make a fair comparison.
The 2d blobs that we're used to in FM can be irritating when to comes to deciding who's offside and who isn't. It's also impossible to judge how bad a tackle is. It's a step up from text only but its usefulness is debatable. How many people actually fully utilise it?
The 3d match engine is, obviously, vastly superior in terms of graphics and appearance. But the game still has difficulty in seeing obvious offsides. Using the standard camera angle that follows the game up and down the pitch I have paused at the moment of passing the ball and seen two of my players offside, but none is given. The only advantage in a 3d match engine is that you can see the tackles, but even that is somewhat hit and miss. The main disadvantage is John Motson and Ally McCoist.
It looks good, but that's all. After a couple of games of this I didn't bother with it and just used text only mode.
I'll call this a draw as neither (in my opinion) are particularly useful.
The game commentary (text mode) in FIFA is much better, and also funnier in places. It is more detailed and you get a full history in front of you instead of the abridged version you see in the game report in FM. Sometimes you get to shout an instruction at the players when they have the ball (shoot/dribble/pass), and also decide whether to give the ball back quickly when it lands at your feet. You can also instruct your player on how to take his penalty and where to put it. This can get you into trouble as I found out on two occasions when I was sent to the stands.
In one game I was winning comfortably and the ball rolled to me in my technical area with a few minutes to go. I had the option to kick it away, but I quickly gave the ball to the opposition and the player was so surprised he accidentally threw it to one of my players.
It's certainly an area that FM could learn from. FIFA wins this one.
This is one area that FM'ers have complained about for years. FIFA wins this one hands down. At any point you can talk to your players about their training and behaviour or give them a general comment about their team status and make promises. In fact, if you don't the player and team morale will drop. You also get instant feedback.
This is especially true at half time. You get to make one comment each to five players (praise/motivate/criticise/threaten with substitution) and if you get it right for all five, you get told that the player's morale has increased and that they'll play better in the second half. You can also see how they feel about the game, how they're working together and how optomistic they feel (or not).
The statistics in FM are well presented and relatively easy to find. In FIFA there are fewer of them, badly presented and difficult to find. To find out your top goalscorers you have to change screens and then hunt.
It's also much more difficult to see what's happening in other leagues or look at other teams.
Maybe I'm just too used to FM, but I don't like this part of FIFA at all. FM 1 - 2 FIFA
This one is difficult as what one person finds easy another will find impossible. Once you get used to the games both are easy to play, just different.
Whereas you get to play out your personal life to some extent in FIFA, that side is ignored in FM. It can be fun, but can also be irritating when your wife spends £20K on a whirlpool just before you get to buy the detached house you had your eye on. It's a nice add on but not something worth getting heated up about.
Also, in FIFA you can find out what the fans think about you. One woman wanted to have my children!
This is also a difficult one. Wheras you get more into your personal life in FIFA (you can decide to get your wife/girlfriend pregnant), you get more footballing depth in FM.
In FIFA you can design a new stadium and decide what scarves to sell in the shop. In FM you can hire as many coaches/physios as the club will allow. FIFA also has an FM05 style of training.
There is a tactical depth in FIFA, but it is not as deep as FM. For me, FIFA wins as I hate the interminable fiddling with sliders, trying to get the right balance between the team orders and personal orders you have in FM.
Whilst sliders are present in FIFA, there are fewer of them and they have fewer notches. But if tactics are your thing, then FM is the winner here. If not, then FIFA is the winner.
However, due to the options available, however frustrating they are, FM wins.
Fairly similar. You send scouts out, they tell you what they find, you decide who to buy. The only real difference is that scouts in FIFA don't have visible, numerical attributes just descriptions (specialises in midfielders etc). The presentation is slightly different, but not enough to warrant an advantage of one over the other.
FIFA Manager 08 vs FM 
Linear Mode
