Football Manager Handheld (PSP)

Perhaps the title of this game should be Football Manager Abridged given that so many fun aspects of the game have been cutout to squeeze the game onto the PSP.The good news is that the game is very fast and looks good on the PSP. Selecting formations, changing teams, searching etc has all been well thought out. Many aspects of the training regime still exist. The match engine reverts back to Championship Manager of a few years ago with text updates during the match as opposed to the 2D view but sadly there are no crowd noises and therefore no atmosphere whatsoever.In my opinion the game seems too basic. You just go through the motions of picking a team, playing a match and so on. I doubt if you pressed the 'on-holiday' button you'd have much less in the way of interaction.So what is missing?Transfers are so basic - put in a cash bid and wait. No swaps, no having bids related to goals or appearances. No offering your player to other clubs. No keeping bids secret or making public.No interaction with players or press. No fining players, no responding to speculation. No player unrest. No players asking to be transfer listed (from what I can see)Tactics are pretty good but less flexible. Dozens of formations, team tactics, player tactics but it just seems something undefinable is missing.If you are a Football Manager addict on PC (like I am) leave this alone. Sure it passes time but it feels like a game (as opposed to the real world simulation that is the true PC version) and at times seems less interesting than Sudoku.If you want a great PSP football game buy Pro-Evolution 5. Better luck next time Sports Interactive...

Short 'n' sweet and for those who are looking to buy this game but are put off by the negative comments, especially those that say you can't do this or that in this version. Well, they're wrong!All the posts above that say you can't view this in 2D, can't offer players to other clubs, fining players, no player unrest, no players asking to be transferred etc are talking crap!An excellent game for the price and will keep you glued for weeks and weeks!

Bought as a present

You know what? I'm the biggest fan of football manager on the PC, I can easily spend hours and hours at a time on it..But this just doesn't cut it.There have been a few other reviewers going into detail about problems, so I won't say too much..But:1)There are WAY too few stats for each player (about half as many as on the PC), so you have the ridiculous situation of all players looking pretty much identical to one another. Compared to the PC version it is nigh-on impossible to look at a player and decide that they'll be good. Hardly a great start considering signings are a pretty important part of the game2) There is pretty much no media game engine, so if you sign a player or something, there are no comments, no journalists. Perform way better than you're expected to? Big deal, nothing becomes of it in the news, so it just doesn't feel like you've achieved anything.3) You CAN'T CHOOSE YOUR FORMATION. That is plain stupidity. There is no way you can become the most sucessful manager if you're limited to 4-4-2, 3-4-3 and so on. In certain situations you end up having to sell some of your best players because they don't fit into the pre-decided formations, and you can't select your own formation to mould around your team.All these problems and many more combine to make a poor, poor game. The final outcome is that you feel that you're managing a team from inside a big bubble; you have limited say on tactics etc. and you gain absolutely no satisfaction from achieving anything because you never get lost in the game. It just doesn't have enough depth.Like I said, there is nobody who likes Football Manager more than me on the PC, but this one just doesn't do it for me.

Other reviews of this game bemoan the fact that it's a cut down of the PC version - no 2d game engine etc. My playing of these things goes back to CM2 when the game was also text based. For me it was never bettered - yes new features were added over the years but it just made the games much more complicated and more time consuming to play. I want to get through a season in less than a real year and enjoy myself!Unfortunately, though this game delivers a swifter, less complicated approach it results in a feling that your actions don't seem to get you anywhere. For example, as the scouting system cannot be directed, signings are too hit and miss. Then, even if you do manage to sign a good player, he'll invariably lose all his talents over the close season.Each season seems to run along the same lines - moulding the team in to something that works by May, only to be back to square one come August.Back in the CM2 days, over 30 years, you could take Brighton from division 4 to European cup glory. It wasn't realistic, but it was at least fun!

I have got an xbox but started getting bored of lma manager and decided to get a manager game for psp. At first this game was very good and was doing very well, beating arsenal and man.united. i then came to playing wigan and lost 3-0 and then sunderland. i didnt think this was very realistic. i tried changing my formation because it wasnt working for me but found theres only 2 formations to choose from!!! I bought tevez for £5m. once i bought him i found his value had rose £30m whic wasnt to realistic but benefit me.Overall i feel this game is good but has some major floors.