Metacritic Games

Football Manager 2008 (Xbox 360)

Football Manager returns packed full of new features for fans of the much-acclaimed series from Sports Interactive to feast their eyes on. Transfer Center - A new way of managing all current transfer and loan bids for your club, both incoming and outgoing, making it easier to compare bids and reject or accept them. Finance Revamp - Sports Interactive have updated the finance area of Football Manager 2008 to better reflect the ever-changing modern football world. More information is available to the manager too, including, but not limited to, corporate matchday income, season ticket news, investment funds, improved sponsorships, collective win bonuses and the ability to move around funds from the wage budget and transfer budget (and vice versa) at any point to help you in your quest for the ideal squad. International Management - The international management gameplay has been completely revamped for Football Manager 2008, including, but not limited to, media improvements, international retirements, player interaction, international scouting, improved national pool selection, captain selection and a separation of international and club morale for players. Match Flow - The largest change to matchdays in a Sports Interactive game since the introduction of the 2D match engine. Match flow brings more atmosphere to matchdays with match previews, team talks, opposition player instructions, the match itself, half time and post match now seamlessly following on from one another. There's no more pausing to make tactical changes and you'll find a mini-radar pitch whilst making those tactical changes to keep you in touch with what's going on in the match. [Sega Europe]

Sega Europe
Sports Management Simulation
Players: 1
RP (Rating Pending)
Developer: Sports Interactive
Released March 28, 2008

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

77 / 100

Critic Reviews

86	Games Master UK The best football management game on any console but not a patch on its PC brother. [June 2008, p.67]
82	Xbox World 360 Magazine UK Quite possibly the best footie game on 360...hidden beneath niggly controls. [June 2008, p.80]
80	360 Gamer Magazine UK Probably the best iteration of the game yet, but the long delay to the release date means that the timing of its arrival is perplexing. In many ways it would have made more sense to hold back and launch for the start of next season with updated player lists and such like. If you can look past the very late arrival though, the game is as playable as ever.
80	EuroGamer The finest management game ever to grace a console. But despite the game's many merits, you can't help feel that this year's iteration simply doesn't possess enough cutting-edge new features to set it apart enough from "FM2007."
80	Totally360 But none of those stop Football Manager 2008 being a highly recommended purchase that just falls short of greatness due to a lack of stand out improvements and badly designed online play.
80	AceGamez The gameplay is as brilliantly addictive as ever, but it's that bit more awkward and fiddly that it sometimes makes the micromanagement that the series is famous for too frustrating to be worth bothering with.
80	MS Xbox World In conclusion, those that love football and have a burning desire to play a management sim on their TV should really look no further that Football Manager as it does reward dedication.
75	Xbox360Achievements The redesigned match day portion and new Skin are welcome additions to the game and will make you feel even more like a professional Football Manager.
72	Jolt Online Gaming UK All of the game’s play revolves around them, and the fact that navigating through them becomes nothing short of a hassle seriously undermines the game’s performance on Microsoft’s console.
71	Console Monster But with badly thought out online modes and no major improvements from previous FM games, my advice to you is to buy the PC version if you have a PC, both for cost and the fact that using a mouse is much easier.
70	Official Xbox Magazine UK Another life-sucker alright, but if you've got FM2007 wait for FM2009 - if not, buy it!
70	X360 Magazine UK Crippled by the control system, and a few self-inflicted interface issues, yet still the most realistic management sim out there. [Issue#32, p.88]
70	PALGN Football Manager 2008 does a fantastic job of emulating the role of a football coach and administrator. Though gameplay is satisfying, Football Manager 2008 will only be of interest to devoted fans of the game, or those with the dream of being the next big soccer supremo.
70	Gamestyle If you have a PC that can play this game then buy that version; it's safe to say the 360 controller really is no replacement for a mouse. If you prefer console play, however, then prepare to be addicted 'til the next year's edition.

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