Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5903 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2005-10-21
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
One of the many fan-inspired features to make it into FM 2006 will be that, for the first time, managers will be able to negotiate with their board of directors - not only for a better contract for themselves, but also for improved player wage budgets and increased transfer budgets or even stadium expansion. Be aware though, if you push too hard and don't reach the heights that the board specify, you'll soon be looking for a new job.

Half-time team talks add the ability to tell your players individually or collectively exactly what you thought of their first half performance, via the tactics screen. Will you be able to keep your players motivated, or will you cause a collapse in the second half?

Another welcome feature is the ability to manage players on a personal level. Unhappy players can cause huge morale problems for the whole squad and result in bad performances, so the new Player Interaction feature will help you to manage your team more closely.

A completely revamped training module simplifies training schedules and players' training progress, with your coaches becoming far more important members of backroom staff. New media items and expansion of the media module have been implemented, including but not limited to, cup draw news and man of the match news.

Want to know how many yellow cards the ref looking after your Saturday match has given in the last few matches? Now you can, with referee profiles and league tables, which add an extra element to tactics of the game. Maybe hard tackling is not a good idea for this Saturday's match!

Also adding an extra tactical element to FM 2006, the player positions feature has been taken one step further. A player position indicator will not only show you the best positions for your player and where to play on the pitch, it will also show player preferred moves for those players in your team. As well as this, the Player Positions display format has been upgraded, making it easier for the manger to pick the team.

Customer Reviews

Its the best football management game on the market
Ive been a championship manager fan for over 10 years, but this game is simply the best there is.

Its got every aspect of football management covered (transfers, training, back room staff, finances, press handling) and the game play is fantastic. You can watch a whole game if you wish (not recommended) but with tweeking the settings cover a game in a few minutes allowing you substitutions.

Some of the previous games were easy. I once took Chester City to win the European Champions league. Now its again more realistic. Yes you can still try to get Chester to the Champions league, but without the money, it will be much harder.

There isn't any better game on the market.

Only improvements I would suggest are to the speed of the processing and maybe better media handling capabilities.

The best footie manager game in the world, just got better
The most eagerley awaited Football Manager title of the year is finally upon us with FM 2006. For those of you who don't know this is the continuation of a title that first started in 1992 as the original Championship Manager created by Sports Interactive and published by Eidos. Sports Interactive and Eidos split in 2004. Eidos kept the CM name and SI kept its database and engine, hooking up with SEGA in the process. The first Football Manager game (2005)was a great success (as all the CM's with Eidos before it had been). Each year since 1992 the game gets updated and improved (with a few additional fetaures each year. This year's improvements boast:

Transfers correct up to last transfer window
Improved Player-Manager interaction
Improved Media
Speeded up gameplay
Re-designed and easier player training facility
team-talk (1/2 time and full time)
more options
more tactical options

Anyone familar with this titles predessor and the past SI SM series will know that it is without a doubt the most in-depth and stat filled Management game available and boasts more features, players (theres 50 countries, 5,000 teams and 250,000 here),and options than any other footie management game on the market.

As a footnote, this game is really submersive so be prepared to sacrifice your gf and social life as you look to guide your team to glory.

All in all this is the best footie management title available, but there are a few niggles. My main one is that i have a top of the range Pentium 4, hyper-threading, 3.4ghz, 1 gig rammed PC and when this game does its sys check it reccommends that i play one league (England div 2 up) only. Now forgive me but the minimum spec says it can go on 256mb ram and a significantly lower processor. Now god only knows what kind of Quad Processor (10ghz), 10gig of Ram 100k Super computer you'd need, just to run every league so lets just say that unless your gonna purchase off Nasa, your gonna have to limit yourself.

I personally find that if i run 11 divisions :

England (Conference-Prem)
Scotland (Premier)
Spain (Premier)
Italy (serie A & B)
Portugal (Premier)

+Large database

that the game runs at an acceptable speed and is fun to play, and gives you a broad spectrum of teams you can manage and players to choose from. Obviously its a matter of preference as to the realism you want (and what power your pc has), however if you have a mid-range PC and try to fire up 30 leagues accross several continents, your gonna have a game that takes 15mins per load cycle, and the game will become cronically unfun to play.

The dreaded vote of confidence
Far and away the best football management game in the world, named in a number of divorce cases owing to its sheer addictiveness (true!), this is a case of evolution, not revolution. How much was there that needed to change anyway?

Obviously teams are all up to date following the close of the transfer window. The accuracy of this extends to players who were injured at the start of the season are also injured on here.

The half time / full time team talks now enable you to directly affect the psychology of your players over the course of a match. If your star striker is having a shocker, do you encourage him or give him the Alex Ferguson hairdryer treatment? Whatever you do, the results are seen on the pitch and in the dressing room afterwards.

Media interaction is extended and gives you extended opportunities to psych out the opposition or bemoan your own shortcomings.

The strength in depth that has been the hallmark of SI Games series (through the first 4 Championship Manager games and Football Manager 2005) remains evident - they've just made it smarter, faster and even more involving than before.

Now if I can only get to Christmas without the Spurs board giving me the boot...