FM 2009 Demo Review: Pros - Cons - Bugs

Here are my pros and cons:

(i'm comparing with FM2007, since i never bought FM2008)

pros:

* I love the 3D match engine. It looks better than i anticipated and runs very smoothly on my PC (4GB RAM). There are of course a few problems with it. But after the patch i'm sure it will be a major improvement. No more 2D for me.

* Transfers look a lot more realistic. You can't just snap up top youngsters at relatively big clubs for relatively cheap prices. Clubs seem to be aware of their high PA as well. Balotelli for 13M (euro) seems a bit cheap though

* Scouting looks a bit more random compared to FM2007. My scout with 19 for judging potential thought coutinho was only worth ** for potential, while his PA was at 174. Stevan Jovetic was worth the full ******* with a PA of 175. It was too easy in FM2007 to grab all the top youngsters if you had a coach with a 20 for judging potential.

* The skin, the lay-out, etc: looking very nice (y)

* I really love the widgets that you can add when you watch the game in TV mode.

* I love the feedback your assistent manager gives you during the match.

* Player motivation feedback during the match = AAA

* Facegen is new to me as well since i didn't buy FM2008. I've seen quite a lot of screenshots of those faces for FM2008 and it looks really great. Although i'm gonna turn it off if too many regens appear with the exact same haircut. I hope many new haircuts have been added for FM2009.

cons/bugs:

I do have some issues as well though. Some have already been addressed, but i'll mention them anyway. These are all issues i wrote down before i read the forum.

The match engine: (most of the problems have already been mentioned by others)

* When a long ball is being dispatched to one of the attackers and flies over his head almost in the feet of the opposing goalkeeper, the goalkeeper often doesn't come rushing out to get it even though he would beat the attacker to the ball by far. The goalkeeper would just stand there, the ball almost in his feet and let the attacker get to the ball. I've seen it a couple of times. Usually the goalkeeper doesn't have high stats for rushing out. But in those situations where they wouldn't even have to run, keepers IRL always come out to get the ball.

* Long balls are way too effective. Defenders just stand there and don't even try heading it away. Or they will try to open the offside trap moments after the ball has been dispatched. But i've seen this issue mentioned in other threads as well.

* The static players looks quite bad as well. Also addressed numerous times already.

* The amount of free kick goals is also on the high side i think.

* Closing down doesn't seem to work, even though i play with a high profile team. It looks as the defenders and midfielders are standing back too often, even when you tell them to do otherwise in your tactics.

Some other issues:

* I add myself as a Belgian manager and my first and only languague appears to be French. This is still the same issue as in FM2007. Does anyone at SI know that 60% of the Belgians first language is actually Dutch, that most of us speak fluid English by the age of 12 and fluid French by the age of 18.

It doesn't look good when a journo asks me (in English) if I consider it to be a problem that i don't speak English when managing an English club.

* The 3D viewpoints should be easier to adjust or there should be more viewpoints available. There is only one viewpoint that lets you look at the match 100% horizontally: 'elevated'. But it should have a zoomed version as well, just like the vertical viewpoint has a 'zoomed' version. Maybe it is a frame-rate issue, i don't know, but i don't like to watch it from that high.

* Although I really like the TV mode widgets, they are a bit pointless if they block your screen. They should be made very transparent and switch to non-transparent when you do a mouseover.

* During the Olympics U23 tournament the Brazilian squad only had 1 substitute benched, both in the semi-final and in the little final.

* Why have the match speed sliders been merged? Looks like a step back to me.

* I always select 'extented' highlights. But the highlights don't seem that extended this time around. The difference between key highlight should be bigger.

* In the squad screen the colour of loaned out players is almost indistinguishable from the grey players, which is quite annoying.

* Does it often happen that on the 16th of august it is 7° in Middlesbrough at 15:00 in the afternoon?

* It's still not possible to select of which leagues you would like to receive fixture results. You only get the fixture results of your own league, champions cup and national cup competitions. Fair enough, but an option where you can select to receive fixture results from other playable leagues as well would be great.

* Actually i didn't really notice the injury bug before i read the forums. There are more injuries than in FM2007, but i thought there were not enough injuries in FM2007. I know it's not fun to have many injured players, but sometimes that just happens. But i've seen other people having far more injured players, so i guess it should be tweaked a bit, but not to the extent of FM2007.

Overall FM2009 definitely lives up to my high expectations. I'm going to be playing this game for a long long time. Sure it'll have its problems out of the box. But i guess i've grown used to it over the years and accepted that it is just a dauntingly huge game to create. None of the competitors on the market even grow above the ankles of SI, so I don't see why I would demand even more of them. Can't wait to play the patched full game!

dude i get wot u say man. but and i must ask si one thing. how come man city don't have like 200mill to spend cos we all know they do even more. but 4 get man city im a man u fan and every year Ive 10mill to spend now that's a bit crap. like we all know man u could spend at least and i must stress at least 30mill a year i think that needs to b fixed as

well. i know i could use the editor but i shouldn't have to. apart from the Belgium dude mentioned the game is class. but the injury thing is really ****ing me off. pardon DA:thup: french