FM09 Impressions (Yes, another impressions thread...)

So far, I must say, I'm really enjoying FM09. It feels like a far more complete and realistic experience than FM08. I've only completed one season so far - as Barcelona - but I have yet to see the alleged dearth of goals discussed at length, elsewhere on these boards. So far, I'm running a healthy 2.2 goals per game average, conceding 0.5 in return. Eto'o has managed a very good haul of 32 goals this season, 19 of them in the league. Messi is sublime, as always, scoring 25 and assisting in another 23 over the season. This has been achieved with a 4-1-2-1-2 (or the attacking diamond 4-4-2, in other words) formation, playing largely through the middle (no wingers or outlying midfielders). The little details complement the experience, and everything seems more... authentic.

Before I go on, I'll just re-state that this is a better game than FM08, overall. However, there are a number of issues that have cropped up for me.

1) The 2D match engine runs very poorly, for some reason. My machine is not below stated requirements (Athlon 4300+ Dual-Core, 2gb RAM, Nvidia 7800GT 256mb card), but the stutter has forced me to revert to commentary only - which I've accepted, but have had trouble getting used to.

2) I put Marko Marin from Gladbach on my shortlist. For those who don't know of him, he is generally considered to be Germany's future in the midfield, and has been a terror in the Bundesliga over the last season. He is extremely young (20) and very talented. Yet Borussia Gladbach offered him to me in February for 3.1m pounds. I did not actually make a bid for him before the offer arrived - so this seemed somewhat strange to me. Gladbach is giving up their sole quality player for a pittance by choice. I attributed it to an aberration in the transfer market, but was surprised again in April when Toulouse offered me a 24 y/o striker of Premier League quality (valued at 6.5m pounds with great stats in all the right fields) for 6m pounds. This individual is their best striker. I had not even viewed his profile, prior to the offer.

3) Injuries are an issue even with patch 9.1. Specifically, during matches. On two occasions of the regular season, I have had trios of players put out of action in the same match. When that trio is Eto'o, Messi and Iniesta, the loss is painful. Though only a few of these injuries were long-term, they are a harrowing experience every time. Knocks are also far more common. It is always the same group of players (attacking midfielders and strikers) getting injured, so I'm thinking that the match engine could do with a tweak regarding injuries from tackles. This could also be an issue of discipline, as the yellow card is far more liberally employed than has been the case previously - likely with on-field justification. Eight yellow cards in one match - two of them mine - should not be a regularly recurring theme, but it is par for the course, in my case. Defending players might be putting in cynical tackles too often.

4) The press-conferences are a good addition to the game, but the feature gets old fairly quickly. The range of questions and responses is not particularly extensive. Granted, the option is there for the AM to handle it, but a lot of dressing room chemistry depends on those answers, and my erstwhile assistant Tito has a habit of nonchalantly playing down chances of victory or denigrating my actions at times when that is the exact wrong thing to do.

Those issues aside, my complaints are few and far between.

Thanks for producing a great game, SI! Much appreciated.

4) The press-conferences are a good addition to the game, but the feature gets old fairly quickly. The range of questions and responses is not particularly extensive. Granted, the option is there for the AM to handle it, but a lot of dressing room chemistry depends on those answers, and my erstwhile assistant Tito has a habit of nonchalantly playing down chances of victory or denigrating my actions at times when that is the exact wrong thing to do.

I would love to have press-conferences where I would be asked about what had happend during the game. For example why didnt my team create chances, tactical questions and so on... I know this feature is new, but the way the press-conferences are right now are very boring in the long run. It is always the same questions...

I think the press conferences may be enhanced when you have real journalists involved - you can then see their personalities and form relationships (good or bad...) with them.

That's what I hope anyway - and there are a number of unofficial media addons adding in journalists and media sources available in the Editor's Hideaway

I`ve been playing it a while now and to me apart from the press conferences which themselves do get very repetitive and the 3d match, it doesn`t seem any different to fm 08, the words in the news items are the same as in 08.

way too many impressions threads haha

But anyway, i really like, even though I'm one of those stuck in 2d (only until christmas though!!) not liking the press conferences that much though. I find them very repetitive in the sense that the journalists ask the same questions over and over again but i guess it's a realistic feature though.