Real Football Manager 2009

It always amazes me just how many ex-footballers manage to get into the management game. You could almost pick them out on the pitch during their career; it's never the flighty number 9 or the distant goalkeeper, but rather the bulldog in midfield or club stalwart in defence that turns out to have a penchant for coaching. Some of the biggest names in the management game at the moment - Fabio Capello, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane - have made their name on the pitch before retreating to the sidelines.

Conversely, it's very rare to find a football franchise that translates well both in terms of a straight footie titles and management simulators. Gameloft's Real Football, however, has successfully made that leap, with Real Football Manager 2009 incorporating the strengths of the standard football title into what is a comprehensive management sim.

So why do so many others get it wrong? Real Football Manager 2009's trick is two-fold; it manages to convey a hell of a lot of information and options on a very small screen, and it also plays out what is a superb take on the matches themselves to finish off proceedings with style. Unlike many of its rivals, which either don't show any in-game footage or rely on a script that bears little relation to both your tactics or the styles of the teams in play, Gameloft's effort uses the Real Football engine to exhibit actual matches on the screen.

Moreover, isometrically is just one of the ways you can view proceedings, with a top-down view also available, as well as a more traditional player list and possession approach. The most innovative part of play, however, is the ability to alter your team's strategy mid-match without having to call up any menu screens - tapping the D-pad up or down switches between an attacking, defensive and neutral prose, with a tap left or right also changing the speed of the playback.

But it's Real Football Manager 2009's ability to pair up this entirely fluid recreation of the game with manageable menus that really pushes it ahead of most of its rivals. That's because Gameloft has sectioned off general options - to do with the physical management and direction of your team -from match day and post match messages, where emails from your club's directors are delivered and you can also keep a track of income from tickets and offers for your players from rival clubs.

Simplicity of control is an ethos that runs throughout, and this is achieved not by cutting back the options or serving up a half-baked management sim, but by taking ideas already penned by football management titles on PC and translating them here. Buying new players, selling your own, and managing how you team gels are all dealt with here - nothing is left out.

Real Football Manager's only real disappointment is its lack of official teams and leagues, with the game only able to call on nondescript names such as Liverpool or Chelsea, substituting the likes of Everton with 'Merseyside' and Arsenal with 'London'. Recent transfers, such as Robinho's move to Man City, are also absent, meaning you'll start off playing with teams as they started on day one of the new season.

But when a few fudged names and late transfers are the only real sticks you can beat Real Football Manager 2009 with, you know you're onto a pretty good thing. It's unlikely mobile management sims will top their PC cousins any time soon, but Gameloft has made a good job of avoiding substituting quality in order to squash what is an expansive management sim into your phone. More importantly, its decision to tie in the Real Football 2009 engine gives its take on the game the added class it'll need to slip a fair few goals past its rivals.

Real Football Manager 2009

All-encompassing football management sim that also comes with a nifty in-game engine that puts many of its rivals to shame
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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.