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Chat FM Mobile 17 review: Is this the best FMM yet?


Chelsea8
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So, it’s here. FMM17 has dropped and those who have brought it have managed to have a play around with it, checking the new game out thoroughly from top to bottom.

As with every new game, there are always new, added features. There’s also existing features which have maintained their place within the game. And, somethings are no longer there, as they have been replaced with new, more relevant and game-changing things.

Eastern Europe has replaced South America

This year, the game hosts two new nations, in both Poland and Turkey. However, their position in the game hasn’t come in without disturbance, as Brazil is no longer a nation you can manage in.

So, is this an improvement? Personally, yes. As an avid Football Manager Mobile player, the ability to play in two newer nations makes the latest game far more interesting and bring about a fresher change than the introduction of Wales did when that was introduced (apologies Welsh fans).

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Though, I don’t think I would be saying that if Turkey wasn’t a new league. If Poland had been joined alongside Greece, the reception wouldn’t have been received with so much joy and elation.

The Süper Lig has been one of the most called after leagues, alongside the Russia’s top-flight. Their reputation rise makes them seen as advancing leagues, and with enormous names plying their trades in those countries, it makes your regular FMM player want to try their hand in the division too.

But: will we miss Brazil? I know some of us will. The huge amount of games played in a season makes their nation a hot property for most challenges. I must admit however that Brazil isn’t my go-to nation in FMM, and if I am to choose whether I would want either Poland and Turkey or Brazil, I would go for the former.

But African nations make their debut

If you’re disappointed by the removal of the Brazilian leagues (might I add, they were removed from SI’s hands), then this is most likely going to cheer you up.

I don’t know if there has been anything wanted for as long as manageable African nations. Nonetheless, in this year’s game, they are available for the first time. With South American nations remaining manageable, you’ll be able to manage in three continent’s.

However, the possibility of managing African stems further than just being able to manage in a new continent. You’ll finally have the chance to internationally manage some of the finest talent in the world, and have a crack at winning the African Cup of Nations. If you’ve put your ambitions in a boat and pushed them down stream, then you could even give yourself to mission of being the first manager to create a World Cup winning African nation.

The tactics board doesn’t have any new counters

A lot of your success on Football Manager is dependant on your tactics: how do you get the best out of your team? How will you fit your best players on the pitch together? Can you risk playing three at the back?

It’s not surprising then that when we get to the changing rooms, we can’t help but grow a frown on our face. We stare at it, looking at it from every angle, observing if there is anything new on it. It takes a while, but we soon admit defeat, realising the only thing which is new are the names which now surround the board.

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There is a side note: what if the changes aren’t on the board itself and instead in the players. What if the actual mechanics of the roles have changed, the players responded differently to the roles they’re put in and that the game has changed from the inside. After all, we wouldn’t know unless we played the game, studied our matches and assessed the situations.

But, no matter how I look at it, no matter how optimistic I am, I can’t feel but feel disappointed when I turn my back on the board and go back to my office. The idea of having new roles available to us make us wonder, make us ponder, and makes us think of new tactical revelations. It’s going to be another year of dealing with the same roles and same options available to us; but that doesn’t mean you can’t still think outside of the box.

But what about the match engine? 

The match engine will forever be surrounded by discussions. So many people want this, whilst others want that. For SI, there is no winning everyone over but, what they can do, is improve it yearly to win everyone round over time. 

Either with commentary or highlights, the enhanced match engine is quick to play through. It doesn't stutter every few moments; neither does it feel the need to stop and allow the world to pass by. If you play with only commentary on, you'll dash through games as if you're playing on the original match engine. 

What to say about the original? Well, what is there to say? It's what it is, and does what it says on the tin. The big news in this department is the enhanced match engine is moving forward, in the correct direction, and it's a huge leap forward. Oh, and we haven't experienced any of the 4-4-2 bug this year thus far. 

Going further into realism

I wouldn’t have been surprised if Brexit didn’t feature in FMM17. After all, a game doesn’t have to be an exact replicate of it’s real life form. In fact, I think I’m not the only one who thinks this - but I wouldn’t have minded Brexit being left out; I mean, I like being able to sign other players in the European Nation without having to be eligible for a work permit.

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Despite the fact I wouldn’t have minded it not being left out, the inclusion of it is fantastic. It makes the game that even more realistic, and makes you face challenges which our real life counterparts might have to face.

All of a sudden, if Britain do leave the EU, that means your transfer plans have to change. Yes, you might be still be able to get your number one transfer target, but you can bet you’re going to be fighting the odds in trying to sign that 18 year-old Italian who keeps catching your eye.

The distance between you and your players has been reduced

With player interaction being upped this year, it means we no longer feel like we have a restraining order between ourselves and our team. We can actually feel like we’re being more personal with them, and advancing our own images of ourselves.

Are you going to be a manager who constantly forgives his players if they get a red card? Or, will you be a lot more harsher, and risk losing the trust of your star player?

This will forever be an intriguing conundrum, because, it wouldn’t surprise me if people slapped a two week fine on a player quicker than you can say “OK”. But, have you thought about the consequences? What happens if this player doesn’t like your decision and his morale hits the deck? What happens if you let him off; will he suddenly feel like you’re wrapped round his finger and that he can go around, freely knocking the opposition's players out because he know you’re not going to punish him?

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There’s other things to consider too; how will your reputation to affect how a player receives a fine? Will he dislike the fine he has received - not because he is in the wrong - but more because he feels you’re not as important of an asset to the club and that you haven’t garnered the respect of x player yet to lay down a fine on him?

The game has kept to its morals

Whilst having added in an entirely new set of features, they’ve managed to keep the game mobile. It doesn’t feel like it’s an extra click, but instead, it only feels quicker. And that, is arguably one of the best things SI do. They continue to increase the gaming experience, whilst maintaining it’s most attractive feature of it being a quick play - whether that’s on a train, waiting for your dentist, or burning the time between ad breaks.

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“We want to make sure we improve the game whilst maintaining its speed,” Marc Duffy said during Football Manager Mobile’s Facebook livestream hours before the game’s release and I don’t think there is any doubting that with FMM17. It’s still everything we want from the game - and even more.

I believe this could be the best FMM that’s ever been released. So strap yourselves in, because you might end up blasting through time with the amount of hours you’ll spend on this.

What do you make of the new game? Let us know and post your comments below
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Problem with national teams, I looked at about 5 countries and they all had greyed out fake players. Countries I looked at, Nigeria, Russia, N Ireland. I paid for the game it's not fake. Thx

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3 hours ago, HalaDMV said:

Problem with national teams, I looked at about 5 countries and they all had greyed out fake players. Countries I looked at, Nigeria, Russia, N Ireland. I paid for the game it's not fake. Thx

This should rectify itself when the squad confirmation dates have passed. They haven't had a chance to pick their team yet!

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So far so good, just a bit disappointed with players missing. For example, when I start a save in England and look at Bayern's squad, Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa are missing. Is this solved by using a large database in the configurations? Also quite some missing players in Sevilla's squad like N'Zonzi, Ben Yedder, Sarabia. I get that not all players will be available to see in a single save but this is a bit too much IMO. While I'm going at it:

- Schmelzer and Kagawa missing for Dortmund. 

- Tah, Jedvaj, Julian Brandt for Leverkusen.

- Savic, Vrsjalko, Oliver for Atletico.

- Aleix Vidal, Digne, Mathieu, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes for Barca.

- Pione Sisto, Guidetti for Celta de Vigo.

I realise these players will be available when I load a Spanish or German save but at the same time some of these players I wanted to sign in my English save...

Edited by Giorgi
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11 minutes ago, Giorgi said:

So far so good, just a bit disappointed with players missing. For example, when I start a save in England and look at Bayern's squad, Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa are missing. Is this solved by using a large database in the configurations? Also quite some missing players in Sevilla's squad like N'Zonzi, Ben Yedder, Sarabia. I get that not all players will be available to see in a single save but this is a bit too much IMO. While I'm going at it:

- Schmelzer and Kagawa missing for Dortmund. 

- Tah, Jedvaj, Julian Brandt for Leverkusen.

 

I realise these players will be available when I load a Spanish or German save but at the same time some of these players I wanted to sign in my English save...

These teams unfortunately have very big squads and it's hard to fit them all in. All/most of these players should be in if you load their country as a secondary nation in startup.

Edited by Jack Joyce
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1 minute ago, Jack Joyce said:

These teams unfortunately have very big squads and it's hard to fit them all in. All/most of these players should be in if you load their country as a secondary nation in startup.

Will a secondary nation slow down the game significantly? 

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3 minutes ago, Giorgi said:

Will a secondary nation slow down the game significantly? 

Depends on your device, best way to check would be to start a new game with secondary nations and holiday for 1 week. Compare that with how long it takes to holiday 1 week in your current DB. In-match speed will be unaffected.

Edited by Jack Joyce
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1 minute ago, Jack Joyce said:

Depends on your device, best way to check would be to start a new game with secondary nations and holiday for 1 week. Compare that with how long it takes to holiday 1 week in your current DB. In-match speed will be unaffected.

Cheers, I have a Galaxy S7 so it shouldn't be too much of a difference in game speed but I'll check it out nevertheless.

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1 hour ago, Jack Joyce said:

These teams unfortunately have very big squads and it's hard to fit them all in. All/most of these players should be in if you load their country as a secondary nation in startup.

All these players are regulars though and Tah has one of the best potential's in the game. I reckon this should be looked at.

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5 hours ago, Chelsea8 said:

There is a side note: what if the changes aren’t on the board itself and instead in the players. What if the actual mechanics of the roles have changed, the players responded differently to the roles they’re put in and that the game has changed from the inside. After all, we wouldn’t know unless we played the game, studied our matches and assessed the situations.

 

But, no matter how I look at it, no matter how optimistic I am, I can’t feel but feel disappointed when I turn my back on the board and go back to my office. The idea of having new roles available to us make us wonder, make us ponder, and makes us think of new tactical revelations. It’s going to be another year of dealing with the same roles and same options available to us; but that doesn’t mean you can’t still think outside of the box.

Don't forget the footedness of the player does add a tactical dimension - IFs are usually best with a stronger foot opposite to the side they are playing and wingers the opposite. I *assume* that you now also have the option to do outswinging/ inswinging corners depending on who you select to take the corner on each side.

Haven't tested this yet, so I'm not sure if it works or if there is a particular scenario where each would be more beneficial? 

 

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2 minutes ago, Dec said:

All these players are regulars though and Tah has one of the best potential's in the game. I reckon this should be looked at.

So are all of the players chosen ahead of them, there's limited squad sizes on small solo DBs which makes it difficult. I'll have a look at Leverkusen but Bayern/Atletico simply have too many top players in their team to fit on this DB size.

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29 minutes ago, Bosco Tam said:

No. More league and players are needed.

Yeah, I agree. I really want MLS and side bar menus on mobile, whether it's their inclusion in FMM or the FMT team allow for plus size phones (which technically CAN run the app) to download and play FMT on those phones. The amount of detail and nations/clubs FMT has compared to FMM is crazy. The more options on a single device, the more sales. 

 

And yes, they say MLS is too difficult to include and keep the app small and running smoothly. But what if they allowed for FMM to have downloadable leagues depending on whether your device could run more or not? They could even charge a IAP price for each new league/nation. It could take the under 1GB app and bloat it to almost the size of FMT, and I would still have space left on my huge devices. And I'm sure they would run them just fine for my liking.

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5 minutes ago, curtneedsaride said:

Yeah, I agree. I really want MLS and side bar menus on mobile, whether it's their inclusion in FMM or the FMT team allow for plus size phones (which technically CAN run the app) to download and play FMT on those phones. The amount of detail and nations/clubs FMT has compared to FMM is crazy. The more options on a single device, the more sales. 

 

And yes, they say MLS is too difficult to include and keep the app small and running smoothly. But what if they allowed for FMM to have downloadable leagues depending on whether your device could run more or not? They could even charge a IAP price for each new league/nation. It could take the under 1GB app and bloat it to almost the size of FMT, and I would still have space left on my huge devices. And I'm sure they would run them just fine for my liking.

The problem MLS poses isn't just about speed, the PC game has a coder specifically dedicated to working on the MLS. It's a very complicated league to implement with all of its obscure/unique rules and we are a small team.

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43 minutes ago, Bosco Tam said:

No. More league and players are needed.

Yeah, I agree. I really want MLS and side bar menus on mobile, whether it's their inclusion in FMM or the FMT team allow for plus size phones (which technically CAN run the app) to download and play FMT on those phones. The amount of detail and nations/clubs FMT has compared to FMM is crazy. The more options on a single device, the more sales. 

1 minute ago, Jack Joyce said:

The problem MLS poses isn't just about speed, the PC game has a coder specifically dedicated to working on the MLS. It's a very complicated league to implement with all of its obscure/unique rules and we are a small team.

And yes, they say MLS is too difficult to include and keep the app small and running smoothly. But what if they allowed for FMM to have downloadable leagues depending on whether your device could run more or not? They could even charge a IAP price for each new league/nation. It could take the under 1GB app and bloat it to almost the size of FMT, and I would still have space left on my huge devices. And I'm sure they would run them just fine for my liking.

 

if the FMT engine couldn't be streamlined and used for FMM in the future, it would then be nice for SI and the FMM/FMT teams to allow the FMT app to be downloaded and run on large/powerful phones. Then those who want MLS or other leagues not offered in FMM could just get a new enough phone and play FMT on their mobile. That way the FMM team could point us all to that if we want a more robust mobile app. Eventually, all phones will be powerful enough to run FMT, so it would seem weird to not allow us the choice.

Personally, I love the user interface and gameplay of FMM (run on larger screens) the most. (Being that I have an iPhone 6 at the moment, I still have the small pop-up UI.) But in order to play some leagues, I've had to grow to like the FMT/FM user interface and gameplay. I wish I had the coding knowledge to help implement MLS into FMM. At this point, I'd probably do it at little or no cost just to be able to play my national league on my favorite device with my favorite gameplay. 

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Bear in mind that although FMT has the MLS it doesn't actually have a lot of the rules. Which is one of the reasons we went for other leagues this year. Although I can never rule anything out in the future so who knows.

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31 minutes ago, Jack Joyce said:

Bear in mind that although FMT has the MLS it doesn't actually have a lot of the rules. Which is one of the reasons we went for other leagues this year. Although I can never rule anything out in the future so who knows.

Cheers for discussing this. I appreciate the openness and communication. Other than MLS and having the pop-up UI on my device instead of the left side-bar menu, I'm enjoying FMM 2017 as much as I have in the past. I guess I'm just hardest on the things I love the most. ;)

Edited by curtneedsaride
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1 hour ago, curtneedsaride said:

Cheers for discussing this. I appreciate the openness and communication. Other than MLS and having the pop-up UI on my device instead of the left side-bar menu, I'm enjoying FMM 2017 as much as I have in the past. I guess I'm just hardest on the things I love the most. ;)

Did you have the left side bar on FMM2016?

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3 hours ago, Jack Joyce said:

So are all of the players chosen ahead of them, there's limited squad sizes on small solo DBs which makes it difficult. I'll have a look at Leverkusen but Bayern/Atletico simply have too many top players in their team to fit on this DB size.

Surely a player like Vidal should be available to see in an England save. I didn't feel like this was an issue in FMM 2016 at all, most regular players were visible across the top 5 leagues for an individual save.

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Just now, Giorgi said:

Surely a player like Vidal should be available to see in an England save. I didn't feel like this was an issue in FMM 2016 at all, most regular players were visible across the top 5 leagues for an individual save.

I believe in this case it was a choice between Vidal, Renato Sanches and Xabi Alonso? Either way, there was always going to be someone good left out unfortunately (blame Bayern for having so many incredible players! :P)

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3 hours ago, Jack Joyce said:

So are all of the players chosen ahead of them, there's limited squad sizes on small solo DBs which makes it difficult. I'll have a look at Leverkusen but Bayern/Atletico simply have too many top players in their team to fit on this DB size.

The thing is Vidal is a regular at Bayern. He plays every week.

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So are Xabi and Thiago, and there has been a lot of hype around Sanches and he has been playing too. In small DBs, there just isn't enough space for all of Bayern's incredible players unfortunately!

Edit: Just looked at the appearance stats - Vidal: 6(3), Xabi Alonso: 9, Thiago: 8(1), Renato Sanches: 4(2)

Edited by aligempf
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28 minutes ago, aligempf said:

So are Xabi and Thiago, and there has been a lot of hype around Sanches and he has been playing too. In small DBs, there just isn't enough space for all of Bayern's incredible players unfortunately!

Edit: Just looked at the appearance stats - Vidal: 6(3), Xabi Alonso: 9, Thiago: 8(1), Renato Sanches: 4(2)

So you favoured a youngster? So what about Tah who is one of the best potential centre backs in the game?

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Just now, Dec said:

So you favoured a youngster? So what about Tah who is one of the best potential centre backs in the game?

As Jack said, we're taking a look at Leverkusen.

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Crimea as a nation...Why

It is no more a country than Northern Cyprus is.

I thought it was annexed by Russia and not declared Independent

Edited by marxistafozzski
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Just now, marxistafozzski said:

Crimea as a nation...Why

It is no more a country than Northern Cyprus is

It's what we've been told to do by legal. Not up to us

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2 minutes ago, Jack Joyce said:

It's what we've been told to do by legal. Not up to us

Ah right...

I wasn't moaning or anything, was just surprised to see it...

Interesting that Crimea is included but T.R.N.C is not

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