Fifa manager 09 update 2-razordox

Publisher touts latest milestone as nearly tripling the online sessions played in the prior year's collection of athletic sims. Customers can now "deauthorize" computers to get around SecuROM's five-machine limit on Spore, Mirror's Edge, and 17 other recent games. Valve's downloadable game service welcomes a full slate of publisher's PC titles; Mass Effect, Need for Speed among new additions.

You can even learn how to play golf so as to 'get on' better with your chairman. On a positive note, the underlying database is fairly impressive in its depth and it's clear there's been a lot of love and attention paid to it. While it might not match Football Manager's depth, it's certainly a challenger in this respect.

As for the matches themselves, there are some new textures, sounds and a new interface, while the tactics are also different. The 3D highlights mode is present and as surprisingly dull as ever, failing to accurately represent what's going on behind the scenes, often leaving you ignorant as to why things happen.

Anyway, if you've played one of the FIFA Manager games before and came away satisfied, you'll love this one.

You can also take up golf to improve your relationship with board members or learn a new language if you're planning on jumping ship to a team in another country.

These lifestyle elements, while admittedly simplistic, imbue FIFA Manager 09 with a distinct personality, adding a personal dimension to the slew of more hardcore management options. One of the game's quirkier features is the ability to control a single player during 3D matches. This can either be an existing squad member or a new player you've created in your own image, or more likely, in the image of someone far fitter, wittier, more skilful and attractive than you.

In truth, this is more of a novelty than a key selling point as the level of player control is incredibly limited compared to the likes of FIFA 09, though some fun can be had if you persevere, despite the relatively clumsy controls.

FIFA Manager 09 is undoubtedly the most comprehensive club management simulation money can buy. While the 3D engine fails to capture the ebb and flow of matches with Football Manager 's aplomb, and despite a few tactical shortcomings, it's an excellent alternative with an exhaustive feature set. Football Manager may still be the benchmark against which all others are judged, but if Championship Manager 09 can live up to its promise and if FIFA Manager can continue to show the improvement of the of the past two years, then could see the most closely-fought battle the football management genre has ever witnessed.

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