Hands on with Football Director DS

Poor little DS. It's got everything in place for a cracking football management game – dual screens to handle all the information, touchscreen technology for quick and intuitive navigation, a sizeable casual/non-gaming user base to lap it up – and yet where are they all?

Thankfully, as those of you who keep an eye on our news section will know, the fine chaps at Pinnacle Software are set to release Football Director DS. And no, contrary to the title, that doesn't mean you get to sit in the stands annoying the manager with your meddlesome ways.

Quite the contrary, in fact. In this game you get to take on the role of manager, head coach and penny-pinching executive all at once, like some kind of less-despicable Roman Abramovich. We took an early build of Football Director DS for a spin to check out its pre-season form.

Early signs are extremely positive, with a clear and easily navigable interface and crisp, uncluttered styling. Excellent use is made of the DS's real estate, with both screens being put to good use. Everything runs through a strip of icons on the left hand side of the lower screen, and there's a valuable tutorial facility in place the first time you enter any screen.

You'll need it, because each main menu branches off into several others, detailing your squad, individual player abilities, transfer lists, finances â€" everything you'd expect from a fully fledged footy management game. The important thing to note is that we didn't get lost once, even early on in the game. Everything's accessed via the touchscreen, which works absolutely beautifully in this context.

Come match day, you have the option of viewing the game or just receiving the result. If you choose to view the match you'll be treated to a live text-based breakdown of major events such as goals, yellow cards and scoring chances, all backed by the sound of a roaring crowd that 'oohs' and 'ahhs' at appropriate moments.

The tactical options seem quite straightforward and stripped back, but we'll have to wait until we've spent more time with the review code to see if you can really mould a team around your own footballing ideology. You're certainly able to tinker around with the team's training schedule to help with this process.

The transfer system seems fully featured, with a nice full roster of official players from the fully licensed football league – no Robin Goggs playing for Manchester Reds here. We didn't spot the option to part-exchange players or offer to pay in instalments, but you can include a sell-on percentage if you want to add a little sweetener to a deal.

So, Football Director DS is shaping up to be a very tidy management simulator. It certainly has the structure in place, but you'll need to check back here for our forthcoming review to see if it has sufficient depth to suck you all the way in.