Well, I promised I'd share my thoughts on the game once I'd had a chance to have a decent play on it, so here we go.
Overall, not bad and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I should qualify this of course by pointing out that there are quite a few people reporting bugs and installation problems, but it appears I've been lucky on that front as I didn't hit on any snags getting the thing going. Personally, I've found the game runs perfectly well on my Core 2 Duo MacBook, running 10.4.8.
There are some nice additions to the game. In addition to the changes
R.Youden mentioned previously, there are more options for financial control which means that if – as I do – you enjoy the challenge of running a lower league club you can juggle the finances a bit more, useful when budgets are very limited.
Also, the 'confidence' feature is a good addition that I really liked – you're presented with bar charts by your board and supporters club showing at a glance how you're measuring up to their expectations. However, it looks like there are a few quirks to be ironed out because some of the opinions seem a little bizarre. For example, my new goalkeeper was proving a good signing – in his first six games he kept five clean sheets, only conceded a single goal and earned a couple of man of the match awards for his heroics. The fans confidence in him was shockingly bad though, they thought he was a poor signing and had no future at the club! There was also the instance where I – as a Blue Square North side – beat Newcastle 2-1 in a pre-season friendly... the fans weren't impressed at all with the result though, as they felt I hadn't created enough chances! Mind, we all know how fickle we football fans are so maybe it's not that unrealistic.
The FaceGen pictures for game generated players and staff is also a great addition, even more so in that the pictures apparently age as the game progresses. Mind, I've not played long enough to see ageing occur so I'm taking the manufacturer's word for this.
And one little thing that's been wrong for ages that they've finally sorted is that female staff members now have their gender reflected in news items (ie 'your physio mentions in
her report...'). A very, very minor thing but one that always annoyed me that they hadn't sorted out.
There are a few niggles too. I've already mentioned the issue with confidence and I mentioned the problem with selecting captains in an earlier post, there have also been a few oddities with my opponents selections – for example, one team played with a striker in goal for the first half before putting their first choice, fully fit 'keeper on in the second half. My forwards weren't complaining but it doesn't score high for realism. That's as bad as it's been for me, though.
All in all, it's a decent version. As with previous years it doesn't make sweeping changes but rather it adds a few interesting features. If like
dynamicv you're in two minds then I'd say maybe wait until the full patch is released before taking the plunge.
