First impressions ... (of what should be a great game)

Hi everyone,

Today, Thursday the 29th of November, one day earlier than planned, around 17h20, I bought something that I've been waiting for and dreaming of for months: Football Mananger Handheld 2008.

I cancelled all my plans for tonight, as I will start playing a game that I expect will be awesome. It's 6 'o clock now, and I don't have to appear at work till tomorrow moring 11am, so'll have enough time to keep you posted with my first impressions.

I live in Belgium, my favorite team is KV Mechelen, so I started up the Belgian League with my side. All I need now is food, drinks and a fully charged PSP.

Coming back soon to report from Belgium,

Rubinja

PS I paid 45 euro for the game at Gamemania

click here for a picture of the game

Hi everyone,

Today, Thursday the 29th of November, one day earlier than planned, around 17h20, I bought something that I've been waiting for and dreaming of for months: Football Mananger Handheld 2008.

I cancelled all my plans for tonight, as I will start playing a game that I expect will be awesome. It's 6 'o clock now, and I don't have to appear at work till tomorrow moring 11am, so'll have enough time to keep you posted with my first impressions.

I live in Belgium, my favorite team is KV Mechelen, so I started up the Belgian League with my side. All I need now is food, drinks and a fully charged PSP.

Coming back soon to report from Belgium,

Rubinja

PS I paid 45 euro for the game at Gamemania

click here for a picture of the game

Thanks Marc,

Just wanted to point out that I BOUGHT the game...;-)

Any idea how I should take screenshots?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rubinja:

Hi everyone,

Today, Thursday the 29th of November, one day earlier than planned, around 17h20, I bought something that I've been waiting for and dreaming of for months: Football Mananger Handheld 2008.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nice One

Keep us up to date with how you are getting on.

First impressions...

I just love the new skin! Still easy, if not easier, to navigate and have the feeling that text is easier to read because of the bright colour scheme.

The Belgian teams are very up to date. My own team, KV Mechelen is 100% accurate, all the players are there. Praise the Lord for the Reserve team, so surplus players won't bother me for an entire season.

Other things:

* no match sound :-(

* no attendances

* nice player interaction (not with loaned players though)

* more detail on the national teams

* no detailed financial info

* custom tactics, yes!!!

* 2 scouts (head scout, scout)

* nice position-overview per player

For my game:

Realistic Board expectations: newly promoted team so: stay clear of relegation. Small transferbudget (9k). Still lot under my wagebudget, so I signed twee free players (tip: turn "interested" off). One month into the game, played two friendlies: draw against Antwerp (2nd div) and won 4-1 against non-league team. Feels very realistic.

More later, check out the screenshots

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I just love the new skin! Still easy, if not easier, to navigate and have the feeling that text is easier to read because of the bright colour scheme.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I couldn't get on with the new skin and changed back to flexion.... I'll give it another chance though..

How's the commmnetary/match speed balance folks?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rubinja:

PS I paid 45 euro for the game at Gamemania </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Same here. But i'm gonna go now. Got other stuff to do ^^

Under the impression that there's more commentary (so the game/match goes slower) than in previous versions, even if you put it on fast or very fast. But then again, only played a couple of games....

Got the game and played a few matches, so early impressions.

Notable improvements are the processing speed, which was never that slowly really, but is like lightning now and the tactical variations. The Live table is good and the live scores are good. I’ve only played with York City (unlucky random selection) but there seems to be more accuracy with the wage budget figure so now you know why the game is saying you’re over wage budget when the display says you’re on the limit. So all good there and I’m sure there’s other useful changes that I’ve not spotted yet.

I still think there's too much commentary on medium speed. I think the matches (not counting your tactical fiddling) should take no more than a minute to play out and preferably a lot less. With several lines of text per minute they still take several minutes. But medium speed does seem a bit quicker than it was in FMH07. I'd prefer it more like CM3 and the spin offs. Tried out Fast and Very Fast and again the commentary flashes by when it could be slower.

I would like to have seen the scores of the continental international championships rather than a one liner of how the match went. The scores don’t show up in a national team’s fixture list yet friendlies do. I’d also like the Euro Vase results axed as news items. I thought people had requested that after FMH07?

But overall still a very good game.

The best commentary solution would be two settings, just like the PC game. One for speed of commentary, the other for how much you get of it.

Playing FMH 07, the number of times I've scored or conceded goals literally from nothing (the first line of commentary being GOAL FOR EAST STIRLING or what have you) is unbelievable. I keep my commentary on Fast, but I'd like more of it. I don't mind my games taking longer, but I do mind waiting for the next commentary piece when I've already read this one.

Yep in full agreement!