My Football Manager Online for iPhone looking to tap into that Draw Something competitive spirit
Words With Players
Football management games mainly involve a lot of time, a lot of planning, and a lot of spreadsheets. They also tend to be quite solitary affairs, as one of my ex-girlfriends will readily confirm (while slamming the door in my face).
My Football Manager Online for iOS is a bit of an oddity, then, as it not only involves quick matches with little pre- / post-match setting up, but it's also entirely played against another player.
On the headEssentially, the game revolves around each of you taking turns to choose your desired tactics for the next 15 minutes of the match, and then watching text commentary to see just how well you fared.
While it doesn't have much in the way of statistics, each of the (hilariously named) randomly created players that make up your team does have a few individual skills that you can weigh up before making your team selection.
Given that I'd need some opposition to test the game properly, I roped in PocketGamer.biz deputy editor Keith Andrew to play against me.
Kick offThe match between Manchester Hotspurs vs Mostly Athletic FC was a bit of a dull affair, if I'm being honest, with the sole highlight of the first half being Keith's goalie (Paxton Meachum) getting carded on the half-hour mark.
While the stripping away of stats did mean that we were playing a game within minutes, the lack of any meaningful feedback from the match in progress meant we were both left slightly bewildered as to what tactics we should pick.
My Football Manager Online has some potential, then, in terms of structure, but it's not the most instructive or carefully explained game on the App Store.
You can try it out yourself for free by hitting the 'Download on iTunes' button over there in the bottom right, and you can watch a trailer for the game by pressing the Play button below.
