2D Match.

After trying the 3D for a couple of minutes and deciding that it was going to be annoying I went back to the 2D engine which has changed and not for the better it seems. The players shown on the pitch are now not bold enough and the same goes for the ball. In FM08 the ball was bold, black and white and quite large (in proportion to the players) meaning you could see it when one team had a white kit. Now however even when a player has the ball when not wearing a white kit you can't see the ball because of it's very small size. Would it be possible to change this before the game comes out? And my last gripe, both engines seem to be less smooth then last year's, whenever a pass is completed there seems to be a small freeze. Hopefully this type of thing will be ironed out because I'm less sure that I'm going to buy the game now.

I agree totally regarding the 2d pitch...i dont usually say anything but because there has been a strong focus on the 3D pitch it seems that the 2d pitch has declined...I really enjoy the 2d pitch and hope along with the OP that this can be sorted for the future

I also agree. I am less than impressed with the 3d view, so wanted to revert to 2d, but it is not so good as previous versions.

I agree. The 2D in FM 08 was perfect. SI pls fix it.

The Magic is missing.

I agree. The 2D in FM 08 was perfect. SI pls fix it.

You are right.

The FM 09 2D pitch is too small. It looks like it's being played on a tennis ground. And on freekicks the wall looks like siamese quadruplets.

agree... 2d has gone backwards to accomodate 3d

On my machine the 2D is a disaster (in fact,why do we need two different 2D modes?!). The highlights do not run smoothly and the "overview" screen no longer appears between passages of play. As mentioned above, the 2D pitch is too small and proportionally incorrect when not in TV mode. In addition, despite turning off the 3D options and using minimal graphics settings, each match spends a fair amount of time setting up. I did not have this in FM08.

Consequently, I have played through a few pre-season friendlies and am already getting fed-up with FM09.

This is a real shame, as all the other aspects of the game look to be very well done and presented nicely.

If anyone has any idea how to speed up matchdays, I would be grateful for your advice.

Thanks.