FOOTBALL MANAGER 2012: Demo Impressions
Some early thoughts on the demo for Football Manager 2012.
In nine days time this year's update to the premier football management simulation franchise - Football Manager 2012 - will land on shelves (or more appropriately it wont, since it's only being released via Steam), with our full review coming on Monday the 17th as soon as the embargo breaks. But for now, with the demo already out there and available to everyone, here follows a few early impressions of the game based solely on that demo. It looks pretty easy so far: the same thing happened with the last addition, as I took Leeds quite easily to the top of the Championship with a small number of squad signings, and this time I was able to get QPR into fourth for a while before the New Year cut-off. Transfer dealings are simple, and realistic, with a certain set of players available to your team based on their appeal and stature in the league (and the wider world). Joey Barton will probably sign for anyone if you offer him £80k a week... The decision to allow players to carry their progress over as a saved game is a good move, though hopefully there will be a slight refinement in the realism of results (and less silly high scoring games) when the full game lands. The design is teutonically precise, with the same good-looking screens as have made Football Manager the top of the pile in the genre. Menus aren't quite as good as last time out, but they'll no doubt grow on me. The new features boost the game's sharpness, and amp up the off-pitch realism - particularly in the Intelligence of the game and the way managers can interact with players and press. The new transfer center looks good, but the newness again will take some getting used to - in comparison to the last management sim I played (which was Championship Manager, rather than Football Manager) it is a massive uplift in quality and ease of use. It's going to eat a lot of my time in the coming months. For further impressions and a full review of all of the games new features, look back on Monday for our review of Football Manager 2012.