Features

Football Manager ready for PSP

We talk to the developer of the fan's favourite football management game as it prepares to kick off on PSP

Football Manager ready for PSP

Judging by the number of Pocket Gamer readers currently tracking the game, Football Manager on PSP could come out of the leftfield to be a bestseller on PSP this season.

And with the handheld game just two days away from launch, Sports Interactive's managing director Miles Jacobson (pictured above) says we can expect all the football lore the series is renowned for – albeit it with more behind-the-scenes goings-on necessitated by the handheld's smaller screen.

"There are less stats displayed on the screen, so we've merged a few of them together – but all the player stats are present from our massive database," confirms Jacobson. "Without the stats, even in the background, the realism that our games are well-known for is gone, so it was important to stuff the PSP as full as possible."

Indeed, despite the obvious appeal of a game that pretty much doubles up as a fast-forward button on real life being made available for tedious car journeys and Monday morning lectures, Football Manager might seem a tricky proposition for development as a portable game.

How has Sports Interactive got around the lack of a PC control set-up, for instance?

"The game was designed specifically for the PSP, so the screens were designed from scratch, and the control system built around the PSP's controls," says Jacobson.

"The text is amazingly clear on screen, and the game is pick up and play," he adds, explaining Football Manager on PSP has been specifically designed to play to the platform's strengths. It's quicker to get into and easier to play on the go – Jacobson describes it as the "little brother" of the PC version.

"It was important for the game be fun for five minutes as well as for five hours," the MD continues. "We hope to see a lot of people alleviating the half time boredom with the game, as well as those long train journeys."

With that massive database in the background, one thing worrying us at Pocket Gamer was the curse of the PSP's slow loading times afflicting Football Manager. Happily that won't be a problem, ironically thanks to efforts to get around the PSP's other main weak spot – battery life.

To maintain sufficient juice for long sessions, Football Manager won't access the disc at all once you've started playing. Hence there are no loading times at all!

Despite this, off-the-pitch activity and managing the books remain an important part of the gameplay (although if cashflow is your weak spot, win certain tournaments and we hear you might just attract the attentions of a Russian billionaire). As for clues for players worth looking out for – in the game, and, if previous Sports Interactive games are anything to go by, in real-life too – Jacobson tips Hatem Ben Arfa, Freddy Adu and Freddy Guarin. Incidentally, the plan is for transfer updates to be available over the PSP's wi-fi connection at the same time as those for the PC version.

It seems Sports Interactive has focussed on getting the series working right on the handheld format, rather than trying to cram to much into its PSP debut – something many developers could learn from. But then, this is a company well-known for its pragmatism: a 2D match engine remains determinedly in place, for instance, even as rivals go 3D.

Rather, it's footballing accuracy that Sports Interactive prides itself on – this is a company of football fans making a fan's game, albeit one with surprisingly wide appeal. Most of the development team plays in a regular 11-a-side team, for instance, along with their tame football consultant Ray Houghton.

In fact, who better than MD Miles Jacobson to make an early punt as to who should replace Sven as England manager after the country's German campaign this summer?

"Me!" says Jacobson, with the confidence typical of Football Manager veterans everywhere.

"But I don't think I'm on the shortlist."

Football Manager: on sale from April 13th.