Football Manager has long been regarded as the ultimate virtual soccer management simulation. Now you can play this dangerously addictive game wherever you go with Football Manager Handheld 2010 on your iPhone.
It's hard to imagine a mobile version of the game could be anything like as in-depth as the original, but Football Manager Handheld 2010 offers a surprisingly rich management experience. You can take control of a team from a choice of 34 leagues across 11 different countries. You get to set tactics, pick formations, issue team and individual instructions, organize training, scout players and make transfers, just like the desktop version of Football Manager 2010.
Like I said, the depth of Football Manager Handheld 2010 is incredible for an iPhone game. There's a database of 20,000 real players, each with their own stats, attributes and a history of their career. You can play the transfer market through an elaborate filtering system to find exactly the right player for your team. Football Manager Handheld 2010 contains full support for scouting, and you can assign your scouts to individual players.
For such a complex game, Football Manager Handheld 2010 is very simple to get around. All game menus have large, explanatory icons and once inside these menus the process of viewing players, setting tactics, and organizing your team is very straightforward. You can swipe the screen to switch views and change players around by dragging and dropping.
The match view in Football Manager Handheld 2010 isn't quite as polished as it is in the desktop version, but it's still very impressive. You get to watch in-game commentary with pitch view highlights and you can see real time match stats, player ratings, action areas, etc.
Of course, there are things from the full game that are missing in Football Manager Handheld 2010. For example, you can't take control of international teams, there are no touchline instructions, and you don't get to handle the media. This doesn't detract much from the game though, and some might even welcome the dumbing down of Football Manager 2010 because there are now less distractions in the game.
Hats off to Sports Interactive because Football Manager Handheld 2010 is an outstanding conversion of a superb soccer management game. Now watch your social life disappear once and for all!
