IGN Score FM09 a 9.1 but tear the 3D match engine apart...

Very interesting, I thought it was just me who was left a little cold by the 3D engine.

"Of course, we've yet to mention this years' tent-pole addition to the series - the oft-discussed but never-until-now-realised 3D match engine. For years FM has proudly shied away from the flashy, graphics-heavy vagaries of its tartier, lesser competitors, such as FIFA Manager. However, Sports Interactive has now, finally, bitten the bullet and you can watch the progress of your team in full 3D, as opposed to previous top-down-chalkboard-o-vision and text-based match descriptions. However, while it's all very well proclaiming this as a massive, revolutionary step forward for the series, (as the FM marketing machine has done with gusto), it's not much good if the implementation is poor – and, unfortunately, that's precisely what it is.

Upon finishing the same pre-match cycle from previous games, you enter the match engine itself and, assuming you've opted for the new 3D mode, you're suddenly confronted with one of the clunkiest, poorly animated evocations of the beautiful game we've had to endure on a PC since the late '90s. The technology, bought in from Virtua Striker, frankly looks terrible. It's ugly and ran anything-but-smoothly on our averagely-powerful test machines. What's more, whenever we had the temerity to attempt a substitution or change the camera angle, things pretty much ground to a halt in immersion-destroying ways. Thankfully, you've the option to switch back to classic 2D mode – but, frankly, that's not progress."

I think their review was based on the pre-patch code (and why not), and I'm sure they'd be happier with the patched version.

yeah its because even with a bad match engine, FM is brilliant. IGN know its not graphics, nor sounds nor presentation which dictates FM games. its purley down to the addictivness and unpredictability it provides which is unprecedented in any other major football games available (PES/FIFA).

oh, and i think the match engine looks okay. lol

Things grind to a halt in 2D mode when we make substitutions anyway, so it's no surprise it happens in 3D - has the reviewr even played previous versions? (I think it's ok, not brilliant, but not crap either)

They are a bit too harsh on the 3D, even in the demo it wasn't that bad

Anyway it won't matter to anyone on this forum, we are aware the patch improves it

As i said after demo i hated 3d not because it was buggy or anything just did't like it but since playing full version since midnite friday gota say i love it now the patch worked a treat.Once you realise the 3d not ment to look like fifa-pro evo you understand it alot more.Dont get me wrong its got afew glitches but nothing that cant be sorted with future patches.And it runs a treat on my machine but so it should i have graphic detail set to high and its very smooth.You need to watch 3d in a slowish speed to get the most out of it

the 3D match engine is now far better after the patch, a massive improvement over the demo.

They should play the patched version much better, I would still like the 2 match sliders back though.

the 3D engine is an improvement, but work in progress. if FM brought out the perfect 3D match, who would buy then next installment? It would only take somebody a few hours to create the new squads and kits etc, and that would be the yearly update. It keeps us going and buying the game, hence why we are all on here discussing the game. Long live FM!!

3d engine is vastly better post patch, to be honest I'm absolutely delighted with the way it looks and feels.