Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006

"A worthy successor to FM2005"

Two years ago I heard that Sports Interactive, the geniuses behind the Championship Manager series, were going to stop producing it. As an avid fan of the series, I was distraught...where could I get my football management fix now? Well, thirty rejection letters from real-life football clubs later, I came across a press release from SI, announcing the rebirth of the long-dormant Football Manager brand. My heart fluttered, and I eagerly anticipated the release. I purchased the game and sure enough, it was at least as addictive as SI's previous CM games.

So, one year later, you can imagine how excited I was to buy the much anticipated sequel. When I finished loading FM 2006 onto my laptop, I was overwhelmed by the familiarity of it all. The team layout was the same, as was the skin, albeit with a few minor changes. The transfer and contracts systems were identical, except that it was much more difficult to sign decent players on free transfers as unprotected contracts were virtually scrapped. However, it is when you go into your first match in charge that you realise that there are a great many seemingly little differences that combine to form FM 2006 into an entirely different game from its predecessor.

As soon as the match begins, you notice that the players move much more fluidly in the new installment, and that both your team and the opposition have improved AI (no more spectacular 50-yard own goals now). The main difference, however, and one that I admit to not being the biggest fan of, is the new team-talk system. At half-time and after every match, you can give your players the motivation, praise, or in some cases, hairdryer treatment that you feel their performance warranted. Or you can be lazy like me and get your assistant manager to do it. However, this policy can get you into trouble, as the wrong team-talk at half time can result in a poor performance in the second half, and if you or your assistant decide to yell at them after a particularly heavy defeat, the morale of the team may be irreversibly damaged. These are the changes to the matchday system, and I haven't even got to the manager contract negotiation yet.

The main changes occur at the start of your second season in charge, when your provisional 1-year contract has run out and your club may decide to renew it. You then get the opportunity to negotiate your wages, which has no effect on the game except that it is fun, but you also get the chance to choose between different transfer/player wage budgets, which is useful if you felt at the beginning that you had too much money to spend on players but not enough to pay the ones you already had...although this should not happen in the second season because as an established manager you are given a higher overall budget anyway. The hall of fame is still there, and the game goes on until you get bored, which should be somewhere in the region of...never. Or at least until FM 2007.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/06