Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

[Fatalah]

Credit to PastaPadre.com:

The latest OXM has the first review for MLB Front Office Manager. They gave it a 5/10 citing awful menus and a worthless manager mode though they did state the game was very in depth. Thanks to Jesse Behr from The ‘Burgh Blues for sending the tip in.

This score surprises me. PastePadre's right though-- 2K should be sending this game out to sports community sites like OS. The mainstream reviewers might not appreciate the level of detail this game has.

[ARMORALLL]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

Looks like its destined for the bargin bin.

[OliDegu2008]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

Sounds about right, especially with the comparison to NFL Head Coach 09

[BoKnowsBest]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

well HC09 is one of the best games ive ever played, and it got crappy reviews. 99% of reviews out there for all games are pure BS anyways. overhyped games will always get high scores(madden, cod, etc) while most sleeper games do bad.

im still getting this game.

[wsu_gb23]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

This review sounds accurate to me. After all, it's a 2K baseball game....

[CMH]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

The only good reviews to read about this game would come from a hardcore text-sim player.

Most game sites don't have reviewers interested in that genre and they'll hate the title. I'll wait to see what OS players have to say, or what I read in OOTP, or from Ben here at OS.

[tyler289]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

Much more interested in what OS people say. I'm getting it for PC, so the problems with xbox stuff is unimportant for me.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

Personally, I would not consider this game on the PC over the stellar OoTP series. You would have to be insane to consider that notion. Especially in it's first year, from a company that has yet to nail baseball this generation of gaming consoles.

That is not to say I obviously wouldn't be open to the reviews and seeing how it compares (as a baseball fan standpoint), but would be far from disappointed, knowing the king of text sims is still alive and kicking.

[trancejeremy]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

It's hard to know what to believe - reviewers are usually bad at reviewing games like this.

On the other hand, much like movies, when there are almost no previews of a game, usually it's a bad sign.

Anyway, I don't think this is mean to replace the text games. But is for people like me who simply can't get into a text game, because there's no real on the field implementation.

[budsticky]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

I certainly agree that these reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. If I didn't believe that before, I certainly believed it after reading IGN's review of the new Worldwide Soccer Manager which it gave a 2 out of 10. The reviewer cited the fact that while the game was detailed as a management sim, you weren't actually playing soccer. To be fair, the review has since been pulled from the site but this kind of ignorance makes me skeptical about any review that appears in a mainstream mag or web site.

That said, I have been very cautious about this game since it was first announced. There is nothing that would excite me more about a game like this that is done RIGHT. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on this first year IP. Like some others here, I am also worried about the lack of info being released for the game.

Overall, there are so many ways the developers could kill a game like this; there are too many areas for potential bugs. The one area of the review posted states it has a "worthless manager mode." I would love to know more about this as this is the main aspect of these games that I enjoy. I'm not so much into the minutae of front office stuff. To me, if the on the field action isn't up to snuff, I won't enjoy the game. So, does he mean the opposing manager makes dumb moves(bullpen, substitutions etc..), or does it mean that the user has no control over strategy for his team? Or is the reviewer just clueless? Who knows. Either way, there is NO way I will be getting this game on release day. I'll definitely be on these boards checking things out for a while before I decide whether or not to purchase this game. Even at the reduced price point, 35 bucks is a lot of money for a coaster.

[Bruin26]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

You just know most sites and mags are going to focus on the game to game stuff rather than the rest. Which is odd considering it is more of a GM simulation, not a NFL Head Coach type of game.

I got so board with Head Coach because I didn't like the games at all. JUst wasn't fun for me.

With this game I actually want the coaching aspects to be pretty basic, but the GM stuff to be deep. Having full minors, rule 5 drafts, regular draft, bidding for japan players, arbitration and then still having graphics of the actually games sounds great to me. Lets just hope things like progression are spot on. I know this is made by different companies, but 2k has had a lot of issues with franchise mode progression in their baseball titles and it has gotten very old for me.

This game definitely is not going to be for everyone and I can't see how anyone would go into it expecting the managing of each game to be supper detailed when that isn't what they are aiming for in the game.

I might have to buy one for me 360 and one for my lap top. I like the idea of playing on my big tv for the xbox but like the idea of playing on my lap top while I am watching tv as well. Too bad you couldn't have one file used between bot the pc version and console.

[jaguar8311]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

You just know most sites and mags are going to focus on the game to game stuff rather than the rest. Which is odd considering it is more of a GM simulation, not a NFL Head Coach type of game.

I got so board with Head Coach because I didn't like the games at all. JUst wasn't fun for me.

With this game I actually want the coaching aspects to be pretty basic, but the GM stuff to be deep. Having full minors, rule 5 drafts, regular draft, bidding for japan players, arbitration and then still having graphics of the actually games sounds great to me. Lets just hope things like progression are spot on. I know this is made by different companies, but 2k has had a lot of issues with franchise mode progression in their baseball titles and it has gotten very old for me.

This game definitely is not going to be for everyone and I can't see how anyone would go into it expecting the managing of each game to be supper detailed when that isn't what they are aiming for in the game.

I might have to buy one for me 360 and one for my lap top. I like the idea of playing on my big tv for the xbox but like the idea of playing on my lap top while I am watching tv as well. Too bad you couldn't have one file used between bot the pc version and console.

If you don't like managing the games, just play OOTP

[Mikocop]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

If you don't like managing the games, just play OOTP

Isn't the entire game manager mode......I mean you don't have to swing the bat or perform the fielding...right?

[TeixeiraFanatic]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

yup

[budsticky]

Re: Official XBOX Mag reviews Front Office Manager: 5 out of 10

You just know most sites and mags are going to focus on the game to game stuff rather than the rest. Which is odd considering it is more of a GM simulation, not a NFL Head Coach type of game.

I got so board with Head Coach because I didn't like the games at all. JUst wasn't fun for me.

With this game I actually want the coaching aspects to be pretty basic, but the GM stuff to be deep. Having full minors, rule 5 drafts, regular draft, bidding for japan players, arbitration and then still having graphics of the actually games sounds great to me. Lets just hope things like progression are spot on. I know this is made by different companies, but 2k has had a lot of issues with franchise mode progression in their baseball titles and it has gotten very old for me.

This game definitely is not going to be for everyone and I can't see how anyone would go into it expecting the managing of each game to be supper detailed when that isn't what they are aiming for in the game.

I might have to buy one for me 360 and one for my lap top. I like the idea of playing on my big tv for the xbox but like the idea of playing on my lap top while I am watching tv as well. Too bad you couldn't have one file used between bot the pc version and console.

While I see your point I'm more inclined to think that any type of front office type sim would need to have solid on the field results for it to be considered worthwhile. This is true even if you as the player never actually "manage" your games. You still have to know the AI in the sim engine is using your players effectively. What good is signing a left-handed shutdown reliever if the AI keeps bringing him in during the game to face righties? Similarly, what use is the late inning pinch-runner that can get you a stolen base when you really need it if the computer AI never inserts him in places that make sense? If these kind of bugs are present all the front office detail in the world will be of no use.

OOTP does this stuff really well. You can tweak your managers tendencies if you want, but you always know they will run the game in a respectable fashion if you choose to sim it out. And if you do decide to manage you can count on a reasonable realistic AI opponent. I think there will be a lot of people disappointed when they find out this game isn't OOTP with a graphical representation of the game tacked on. Sorry I'm such a pessimist on these boards about this game. I just can't see how a 1st year IP such as this can get "it" right..and by "it" I mean all the little details of baseball that fanatics of the game crave. It's too bad, because I really like OOTP but I don't find it having a lot of staying power with me. I think after a while I get that "playing a spreadsheet" feel. If FOM were to deliver I would sure be a happy camper.