Game Overview
We have to be honest, we aren't the biggest fans of console management sims, we tend to get a little bit lost with how to get to the transfer list, make an offer for a player then get back to your team sheet in order to pick your team for the next game. Clicking this clicking that and generally getting used to what button does what takes quite a bit of time in most console manager sims and it's no different with Football Manager 2006, although once you do get the hang of things its very simple to navigate.

The gameplay itself is the typical gameplay from Sega, something that all Football Manager fans are used to, there is no difference at all, the only thing that makes it a little different is the layout and as mentioned before navigating menus etc. But the general look and gameplay is almost identical to its bigger brother on the PC.

The 360 version of Football Manager still manages to hook you in and keep you plugging away for hours on end, what adds to this is the Xbox Live online gaming, you can't actually play a full season against one of your mates to decide who is the greatest FM player but instead its purely a tactical bout. You are able to set up a mini league tournament or a cup and compete against players around the world, you aren't able to buy and sell players so it all comes down to how much of a tactical magician you are! The times we have tried to play online though we have only been able to find one other person to play so we haven't been able to test online out all that well and it does appear that it's not all that popular around the world online.

Our Conclusions
All in all its a good level of management sim, it's set a benchmark for the likes of LMA and Champ to beat and in all fairness it will be quite difficult to beat mainly because of the following FM has, the game is top drawer and will keep you entertained for hours, its a must buy for all FM fans who own an Xbox but due to the not so easy controls it might appeal to "newcomers". We'd recommend getting hold of the PC version and giving that a whirl first.

Overall Score: 8/10

Thanks to Alex at Sega