Football Masters has been around in some shape or form for the last eight years, a fact which developers, ESP Software, are understandably proud of. Whilst Eidos and Championship Manager continue to grab the headlines, Football Masters continues to please a growing number of dedicated fans. With all the clubs from the leagues of Germany, Italy, England and Scotland, real players with authentic, or fantasy ratings, a tactics editor which allows players to create their own unique player formations and a comprehensive transfer market, the content and options within the game are certainly very good and it’s not hard to see how it has built up this following.

Playing the game is unfortunately a different matter, with the matches themselves proving to be something of a disappointment. Having first selected their team and tactics, players are whisked off to the match screen which has all the players names listed down either side of a pitch. Once the match kicks off, a ball moves around the pitch denoting where the action is currently taking place. Performance bars by the side of each player’s name lets the manager know how the individual members of their team are playing, but there’s no way of breaking this down to find out exactly why a player is having a good, or bad game. At the end of a game possession bars inform players which side had territorial advantage in the key areas of the playing field and some token stats, such as shots on goal, give them a vague idea of how things when, but not enough information is passed on to allow them to develop their game.

One of the strengths of Championship Manager is that it allows players to see exactly how each individual(at the team as a whole) is playing at any point during a match, which then affords them the opportunity to try and influence the result by changing tactics and substituting players. In Football masters it’s much harder to do this. Some may like the added challenge this brings in them game, but I find it hard to see it anything but a flaw.

Football Masters has its redeeming features though, the most impressive which is an extensive club history for each of the teams in the game. Whether you’re a Manchester United fan or a Torquay one, you’ll be able to find out everything that there is to know about your team, including all its league results dating right back to 1871. In fact, such is the detail to the club histories, it’s almost easier to recommend this as a football encyclopaedia rather than just a game!
 

With Man Utd storming their way to yet another sweep of domestic honours this season, the only for
soccer fans of non-red persuasion looks like it will have to come from the virtual world of football
management sims.

This month’s contender comes in the form of ESP’s Football Masters ‘98, but with Championship
Manager 2 already bestriding the field like a veritable colossus, you feel that this game will need to
play out of its skin to stand a chance of toppling the Champ.

From the moment you plonk you plonk your posterior into the managerial hot seat, the indications
are good. You can choose to coach in any of the various English, Scottish, Italian, or German
leagues and the cartoon - style graphics place the emphasis firmly on fun, rather than heavy duty
simulation. The interface is smooth and intuitive, allowing you easy access to a comprehensive list of
management functions but if you want to lighten the load, you can automate all those tedious financial
components like ticket prices, wages and ground development.

Once you begin running your team, there’s a wealth of possibilities to explore. You can send your
squad on morale-boosting holidays, arrange pre-season friendlies, scout out potential stars and
there’s even a youth team to bring on younger players. All the authentic league, cup and European
competitions are included and the transfer market is especially good, if a little unrealistic. There’s
also a complete encyclopaedia of club histories and achievements, detailed with supreme accuracy
by the Association of Football Statisticians.

When it comes to match day the team and tactics editors are extremely flexible and allow you to
experiment with some interesting formations and strategies but unfortunately where FM ‘98 falls
down is its representation of the actual matches.

The games are shown in static, plan-style view, with a ball moving around the pitch to indicate the
action areas and players’ names simply underlined when the take possession.

It’s a shame really, because in all other respects FM ‘98 is a fine game, which is both entertaining
and fun to play.