No love for FIFA Manager?

[Sgran]

Honest question. The only soccer sim i've played is TCM 2005. I really enjoyed it, especially starting in the lower leagues and working my up while building my stadium. I've played some organised soccer (defense, and then in goal) here in Hungary, but I'm far from saying I understand the nuances of the game. I've thought about picking up FIFA Manager 2008 but, to be honest, I'm a little intimidated by FM and am pretty sure I'd give up on it since it's so heavy on strategy. I'm interested in hearing your opinions (don't worry, I'm no EA fanboy).

[AlexB]

I played the first one for a bit, and it was not horrible. But as soon as you play FM for any length of time, even if you find you don't necessarily like it, you can't play another football sim...

You'll see how 'lite' the other games are, and it feels like you've put down War Peace and picked up Spot The Dog. FM08 is the first FM I've honestly liked since FM05, but even through the two down years, when I try out CM, FIFA or even SaaP it felt so basic.

Having said that if you've not played FM, and you want to learn about football, one of the other games might be a good way to ease yourself in.

[DaddyTorgo]

FIFA manager makes me throw up in my mouth

but FIFA 08 is fun in small doses if you want to actually be like "controlling things"

[Critch]

I played some of the early versions and they were always severely buggy, things like keepers wandering up field at random, games that would forget the final whistle and continue til you alt-ctrl-del out. Not very deep or realistic either.

The one great thing was the editor, you could set up completely new leagues with fictional teams very easily. If you're the kind of dork that invented his own soccer league with madeup teams when he was 11 and still remembers all the names and colors, it was great. I spent more time with the editor than I ever did with the game.