arsenal_2111's Review of FM10

There is a fine line between SI making a simulation game and SI making something that’s a chore to ‘play’. With some areas of the game – media interaction one example – they seem to be in the latter. However I have found that, more in FM10 than any other game, I have genuinely had fun playing the game.

For me, FM07 was all about getting into the game. FM08 seemed to be the best I had played, with two great careers helping me to enjoy the game. However, FM09 was a letdown. I failed to get into a long term game, and didn’t enjoy the game. I thought I’d fallen out of love with the Football Manager series. FM10 proved me wrong. The fun is back, and early announcements from FM11 suggest that this could just be the start of more excitement from this simulation.

Skin

I’ll start with how everything looks in the game. In my opinion, this year’s skin is quite easily the best that I’ve used since starting playing the game at Football Manager 2007. This includes any official or custom made skins that I’ve seen or tried – even Steklo from FM08, which I previously had down as the best skin. Not only is the FM 2010 skin clean and professional, but it’s also incredibly easy to use – many sequences are shorter than previous games and it is generally a lot easier to find what you’re looking for. Arguably the best new feature in my eyes is the ability to customise many different screens on the game. As someone with some, albeit limited, experience in editing skins, I had always had to edit the Squad screen so it had the columns that I desired. However, with FM10, SI provided for users like me, and the customisable columns are not only a fantastic idea, but one that has been implemented almost perfectly. Similarly, being able to change the boxes on the home page and changing the quick links are also two great additions – all customisation allows more people to be happy, and no-one can complain at being given more options.

Major Features

• Backroom Advice is a useful part of the game, with backroom staff giving very good advice which can make the game a lot easier and quicker to get through – however knowing that they can make the wrong choices really makes you think!
  
• Editor Improvements were all great – never did I imagine that we would be able to do what we now can with the editor, and everything that we can do is created and designed brilliantly, making using the editor a lot easier whilst also giving so many more options!
  
• New User Interface is discussed above under ‘Skin’
  
• Tactics Creator is discussed below under ‘Tactics and Training’

Match Engine

I have found that the match engine has been very impressive. I play using 2D Classic, so cannot comment on how much the 3D matches have improved. However, from what I can see using 2D – the whole pitch, unlike you 3D users – there seem to be less silly errors that we have seen many times over the years. Whilst I'd much prefer to now have ad boards around the pitch, instead having a bigger pitch, the appearance as a whole is much improved with the game also seeming a lot smoother than previous games have done.

It’s not perfect, not by a long shot. There are some issues, such as the teams moving to the centre circle at half time rather than heading down the tunnel, and the game showing players without numbers as being given the shirt number ‘-1’ but overall I have found that the match engine has been at the highest level it has been since I started playing the FM series.

Media and Interaction

Yawn. Is there anyone that actually likes this side of the game? Press conference here, opponent comment there, another press conference here. After that, you can go and tell a player his form is good only to be told to go do yourself because you’re wrong. Quite possibly the most repetitive and dull part of the game – I can only hope that, as well as the already announced player and board interaction changes for FM11, there are also many changes in all aspects of interaction. If not, we could find that once again press conferences and questions are left to the assistant to complete, wasting a feature with so much potential.

In a related area, team talks have once again been shocking. The same few options, the same unpredictable reactions and the repetitiveness have lead to team talks, once again, being a complete bore and being an area of the game that is left completely to the assistant manager – something all too familiar throughout the entire interaction side of the game.

Transfers and Contracts

Although it has already been announced that both of these areas are being overhauled in FM11, I was actually quite pleased with them in the current game. I found that negotiations were great, for once the AI occasionally negotiated with me instead of constantly raising their price. Not always, of course. But that’s okay. That bug has become quite loveable to me, like the crazy uncle who sits in the corner at Christmas muttering to himself.

I also found that contracts were pleasing – I always seemed to be able to negotiate with players to meet in the middle for wages – perhaps slightly higher than the middle, but there can be no complaints from me in that area. I look forward to the new negotiation system on FM11, with agents, but at the same time it seems strange that the area that I found had improved most from FM09 to FM10 is now being completely changed again, and I can only hope that SI build on what was, in my opinion, a steady base rather than starting afresh and taking years to perfect like with the current model

Tactics and Training

Whilst these are two areas that could be discussed separately, I don’t feel I used either enough to write an amount deserving of a section each. Training doesn’t really need a comment at all really. You could just look at any review of Football Manager from the past 5 years and training would always be the same dull, boring, snore-fest it is in FM10. The changes to training are perhaps the most necessary changes in the game as regular players of the game could only put up with the current system for so much longer. Hopefully now, the training will be something that can be enjoyable, rather than something to get out of the way at the start of the game in the hope that it will just work as you intend.

Tactics, on the other hand, have already had an overhaul. Full credit to those involved in the production of the tactics creator – something that has simplified tactics for both experienced and new players of the game. Player roles are fantastic, they effectively triple the amount of positions a player can play. Touchline shouts are wasted on me – I only use them to change the mentality of the team, as I have to say I cannot ever see much difference in my team when changing individual shouts. As a whole, I’ve been very impressed with tactics. SI have facilitated for those who require help to perfect their tactics as well as those who choose to do it ‘old style’. A necessary change compared to FM09, and one that has been pulled off superbly.

Regens/Player Progression

There seem to have been a lot of complaints about this area of the game, with people saying that there aren’t enough world class regens coming through on the game. I’d have to disagree. As someone playing a long term save, as Arsenal in 2028, I now have a team absolutely full of regens. Not one real player is left in my squad. However, the squad I have now is almost definitely stronger than the team I started with, and I would bet it is stronger than a large percentage of teams at the start too. I have spent a lot of time bringing young players through the youth team and turning them into world class players, and I would imagine that the people who complain about there being a lack of quality regens are those who buy established players rather than building up those quality regens themselves. The only disappointing aspects of the regens are goalkeepers – I have found that there is a distinct lack of very good goalkeepers. Whilst there are many good keepers, there are very few who could be judged as being world class. However, as every save is different, this could be something limited to my save.

Player progression has been fairly unsatisfying, though. I have found that players seem to decline too quickly – an example being Cesc Fabregas changing from a leading Premier League player to not being needed at the club within just over a season. Also, I don’t think that many players improve early enough. There have been many examples of teenagers performing brilliantly in the Premier League, but this is just not common in FM10. A player is lucky if he’s in the first team by aged 21, from my experience. I feel there need to be more players progressing as teenagers, rather than the large amount of late bloomers we seem to have in the game at the moment. Slightly related is the prominence of physical stats in the game. I believe that these need to be less important in some cases, as some players – examples being Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes – are no longer at their peak physically, but still perform at the highest level because they are so good technically. I believe that, in FM10, once a player’s physical stats begin to drop, it’s the beginning of the end of their career. However, many examples in real life show that this shouldn’t always be the case, and I’d like to see less importance put on these in future releases – perhaps players who have the personality of professional should keep their physical stats for longer as they keep in shape unlike unprofessional players who may find their physical stats drop quicker as they lose focus on the game towards the end of their career.

I've no idea if anyone will actually bother to read this far, if you have, thank you and well done - although this is considerably shorter than many posts of mine have been in the past! I think I've covered most areas of the game, if there are any I've forgotten then please let me know and I'll try and get them done - I'm sure you can forgive me, with it being quarter past 3 and all...

If you've got any comments on what I've written - whether you're agreeing with my remarks or if you'd like to offer constructive criticism, please do - this is all about getting different views on the game!

Again, thank you,

First of all, great post.

I agree with pretty much everything you put up there, apart from the skin thing, i'm a flex man for sure.

The Media Interaction thing as you say, is crying out for an overhaul, but the new board room interactions for FM11 seem to be a step in the right direction. Unless of course they end up tedious and repetitive as well, which will hopefully not be the case.

The transfer system on this version is very good, negotiating works and its the first version IMO, where clauses can be used successfully.

As for regens, personally, to see a young player become a first team regular early on, you have to occasionallly take the risk of throwing them in at the deep end, especially if they have the potential to be great. I've had players as young as 18 play just as good as veterans of my teams because of them having experience and match time from very early on.

Just wanted to say I agree with much of what was said. But also throw in a quick 2 cents on the transfer/squad management AI.

I recently started a new game in the US MLS (yeah, silly yank), but just before the first season started two different teams dropped 2 very good players (by MLS standards) Emilio Renteria and John Thorrington. Both have great stats across the board for the league and are serious offensive threats for any team they are on and they were both just waived seemingly at random. I snapped them up for my team and they have been two corner stones producing a lot for me. When I first saw them waived my jaw almost hit the floor in shock and I was just dumbfounded why the AI would have dropped them because I know just what quality MLS players they are.

So while the AI seems to be better especially with 10.3 there are still some issues like AI dropping massive players for no reason at all.

Beyond that I think the points that need to most attention are the physical stats situation, think the thread that talks about that specifically details the situation plenty, but also the player progression. I see such a slow progression I question how young players that scouts say will develop very well can actually hit that mark unless they already have high stats to begin with (which obviously means you don't need the progression anyway).

Great post, and agreed on pretty much everything (except I don't find team talks random at all, it's all about knowing your player personalities and adjusting accordingly really).

As for player progression I've noticed tutoring makes a huge difference, as it affects the hidden mental attributes (such as professionalism) massively. Newgens tend to have some very bad weaknesses in these naturally, so it's important to keep hold of your veterans for mentoring purposes, and make use of the feature as early as possible! In my current game I have an 18 year old left wing back playing at 7.20 average ratings real consistently in the Premier League. Less than a year ago he was just a nervous kid who couldn't perform at all, but being tutored by Steven Hammell (36) and Phil Bardsley (33) did the job. Thank you Scotland

Great post, and agreed on pretty much everything (except I don't find team talks random at all, it's all about knowing your player personalities and adjusting accordingly really).

As for player progression I've noticed tutoring makes a huge difference, as it affects the hidden mental attributes (such as professionalism) massively. Newgens tend to have some very bad weaknesses in these naturally, so it's important to keep hold of your veterans for mentoring purposes, and make use of the feature as early as possible! In my current game I have an 18 year old left wing back playing at 7.20 average ratings real consistently in the Premier League. Less than a year ago he was just a nervous kid who couldn't perform at all, but being tutored by Steven Hammell (36) and Phil Bardsley (33) did the job. Thank you Scotland

Good point...but getting a good tutoring result seems to be fairly random for me.

I've placed a vet with a youth who has the same personality traits and the youth gets nothing. Placed vet and youth with same skill sets/stats and youth gets nothing. Placed vet and youth that play the same positions and get nothing. Placed vet and youth with all of these combined and still can get nothing. My tutored youths seem to only get anything out of it on rare occasions and not based on any info I seem to have available.

I've placed a vet with a youth who has the same personality traits and the youth gets nothing. Placed vet and youth with same skill sets/stats and youth gets nothing. Placed vet and youth that play the same positions and get nothing. Placed vet and youth with all of these combined and still can get nothing. My tutored youths seem to only get anything out of it on rare occasions and not based on any info I seem to have available.

When you tutor a player his hidden stats will def go towards the mentor's. I.E He will always gain something if you choose the right mentor.

When the game reports about the tutorage it's in this way

Gained nothing - No PPMs learned

Gained a little - 1-2 PPMs learned

Gained a lot - 2+ PPMs learned.

Jammy \o/

I'm slightly confused as to whether you're still banned, because the infraction points are still showing, but you posted that.

Anyhow, I agree with most of what you say, though I have to admit that I enjoy the interaction side of the game.

I must say that I agree with most of your post, I do find the skin to be very good, for FM09 (the only other game where I had easy access to skins) I used about 7 skins easily changing once a month, this year about 95% of my usage was with Michael Murray's code for the base skin (I changed the colours for the stat ranges to make them more noticable).

I did find the creator a big improvement, even if I fairly well understood what I did on the old system, e.g. this year was the first time my friend, an occasional player due to (until recently) having no computer, could make a tactic himself.

On training, I just use the 09 version of Tug's training not being bothered to learn.

On regens I agree completely about how good they are. I find most of the complaints are "he's not good physically" which is pretty unimaginative really. But your point about real life older players being good despite physical drop off was badly served by the examples. As a Man Utd fan I'd have to say that after November of 09 Giggs really fell off due to not being fit enough to last the pace, and Scholes has had only the very occasional good game in the last 2 1/2 seasons (in fact I'm very worried that we are still so dependant on those two, but this is the wrong forum for that discussion). As regards turtoring like Martyr I find it very random indeed, even when matching players who should get along.

On interaction, yes it is boring but so is interaction in real life. I would like to see better board AI and less random player interaction. I would also like to see something like CM10's team talks, with different levels of interaction (the only good thing I found in that demo).

My most obvious gripes for the game are:

1) More varied foul aanimations, I often swear sulphurously at the screen when I get a yellow card only to find 30 secs later from the report that the minor collision was in fact a two footed amputation of the knee performed without a licence.

2) Having in two messages "Scout X compiles report on player Y" and "Scout X recommends player Y". Why do you think I wanted reports on player Y I know he's good I want more detailed opinion. Eeediot!

3) Possession=chances. All too often I see after a game that my team has 64% of the ball (ok not always this good but minimum 10% difference), but shots are 12-12 with both sides having only 3 long shots. Again possession=chances, if you have dominance in possession you have both time and ball to work chances, while restricting the opposition's ability to do same. Note I don't equate possession with win, as teams can get sloppy, or own Marco van Basten (who could in his day score a hattrick of .5 seconds possession).

4) Progression of youths is too uniform, you hardly ever get a high PA player stalling for a few seasons and then coming good at 24. I'd like to see more of it.

5) One very minor point, international teams with roaming stadia seem to stick to the wrong one too often, e.g. when I was managing Turkey I played nearly every game at the small cramped Inonu grounds, when much bigger stadia were available for the major matches like the Ataturk or the Sukru Saracoglu (sorry for no accents Turkish people).

I probably have a few more minor ones like Irish players are IMO slightly underrated (opinion) and one major one, why can't I be even better?

I agree with every little thing you said, except from touchline shouts as I like using them.

Another great post Jammy.

Jammy \o/

I'm slightly confused as to whether you're still banned, because the infraction points are still showing, but you posted that.

Anyhow, I agree with most of what you say, though I have to admit that I enjoy the interaction side of the game.

I'm most definitely not banned still - the infraction points are horrible, I'm not sure why they're still there but ah well

I'll reply to other posts in the thread when I have time, need to be going now.

Found one more problem, national team interaction. I'm currently Netherlands manager (I wish FMRTE had a way of changing nation names, Holland Schmolland!), and I have a 20 yo DC,DM,MC who's top at the first 2 and he's only gotten 1 game for Arsenal in 4 years (ok years 1&2 are a write off as he's too young) and I would like to tell him "get out of there, or you're not playing for Netherlands" but I can't (even though he's in the national squad). With other players I can do it.

Yeah. Wish we can convince cracking young players to sign for your team in exchange for a place in the national team. Cheap but .....

Yeah. Wish we can convince cracking young players to sign for your team in exchange for a place in the national team. Cheap but .....

Well I'm well past that stage (I've a player out on loan at Valencia just fro experience!), but I hate to see cracking players warming the Arsenal reserve bench, when they could go down half a division to Fulham or Birmingham for a season or two and then come back into the Arsenal first team.

Following on my example, I can't say it to the 20y.o. who should be getting games (if only to keep his hand in) but I can say it to a 16y.o. with lots of potential but isn't even close to Segunda B level atm, and the only other difference is the 16y.o. is at my club.

Well I'm well past that stage (I've a player out on loan at Valencia just fro experience!), but I hate to see cracking players warming the Arsenal reserve bench, when they could go down half a division to Fulham or Birmingham for a season or two and then come back into the Arsenal first team.

Following on my example, I can't say it to the 20y.o. who should be getting games (if only to keep his hand in) but I can say it to a 16y.o. with lots of potential but isn't even close to Segunda B level atm, and the only other difference is the 16y.o. is at my club.

I think its available when a player is not in the national team. Try removing him from your team