Football Manager 2006

A mouse! A mouse! My wireless controller for a mouse!

That is indeed what I was crying upon entering my fourth hour trying to get to grips with Football Manager 2006 for the Xbox 360. I’m used to the quick point-and-click-click-click of the PC version, with it’s sublimely laid out menu system and super-fast quick access controls that get you to where you want to be. With the PC version, the mouse simply becomes an extension of your brain, and as the dawn breaks into yet another sleepless night, you don’t even realise that its there.

Upon loading the Xbox 360 version of the game, I was hoping that I could now experience that same level of man/machine synergy that made my backside feel like it actually needed replacing after sitting on an uncomfortable desk chair for twelve hours straight, trying to get Exeter City into the Premier League ‘ with the only difference being that I could zone out on the sofa. And as much as I want to say that this was the case ‘ I just can’t. Sega and Sports Interactive are to be given credit, for they have brought a full-size version of Football Manager 2006 to a console without dumbing it down, which is what usually happens when this sort of game gets a console release. However, navigating the hundreds upon hundreds of menus and options is just far too difficult and time-consuming to make the game as good as it could be. Even by mapping the main ‘quick access’ menu to the left-hand bumper button, and a context sensitive menu to the right-hand one doesn’t help massively ‘ although these can get you out of a fix and back to the main team screen when you get lost.

Take an example on board, here. I wanted to arrange a friendly match for my beloved Grecians to use as a warm-up for their first season with me at the helm. I can choose a date; I can choose a location ‘ no problem ‘ I can even choose how much the opposition will be paid for playing me, if I so wish. What I can’t do is find a way to select anything other than top-class opposition (including, strangely ‘ the team from Sky’s Dream Team football drama ‘ Harchester, complete with all the correct players) from the UK or Europe. There’s no obvious way to select a lower division or non-league team, and I spent an age just trying to fathom this out. Ten minutes spent trying to find out how to do something doesn’t indicate a massively usable interface. Not being able to use the d-pad to navigate through menus doesn’t help either. In this edition, the d-pad is used to flick between certain screens and is context sensitive, but when a vertical set of menu selections appears, you’ll be dying to use it but will be relegated to using the fiddly analogue stick. Even a mouse cursor controlled by the sticks would be better than the current setup.

If you can get around these issues ‘ or indeed, have never played a PC version of the game ‘ then you’ll find that Football Manager 2006 has the potential to take over your life. The new Xbox Live options are also a boon, as you can take a team and have a ranked match against an opponent from anywhere in the world in your quest to dominate the league table. This works as well as could be expected, although it would be nice to be able to play in a full league season, or a Champions League or something, with multiple online players controlling the various teams. Imagine the potential this summer, where a different player could control each team in a simulated World Cup. Alas, it isn’t to be ‘ but as I say, what is included works well.

If you’re expecting Football Manager 2006 to light up your screen with fancy graphics, then you obviously haven’t experienced the game before. The best you get here is a set of dots running about on a pitch, so that you can see how your tactician’s mind is working ‘ and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the beauty of the series ‘ there’s nothing here but pure football management and that’s what makes it so addictive, since there’s nothing to distract you from the task – aside from the control system.

I’m sorry. I can’t stop talking about it. I don’t think you’ll be able to understand exactly how much I wanted to enjoy Football Manager 2006 for the 360. I cleared two whole days in my schedule when I knew that our review copy was on the way. I made sure the fridge was well stocked with beer and bought food that only required one hand to eat. But I could only play for an hour or two at a time before getting so frustrated that I didn’t want to carry on. In turn, this shows exactly why the game is such a legendary PC title, because the amount of times I’ve sworn that I’ll not try to play the 360 edition again can do without counting. But yet I come back, I try again, I get frustrated again and then I load up PGR3. It’s a vicious circle.

On the plus side, Sports Interactive have done well with their coding, as the 360 version runs along very quickly, with the minimum of delay when processing a Saturday full of matches. On top of this, all of the detail that makes the series so essential is there as well.