An avalanche of defects
The biggest problems they make FIBA Basketball Manager 2008 bankruptcy mainly concern the game itself and its development. The first problem to mention is certainly the lack of stability. Tested on three different computers, two desktops and a laptop, with different configurations but all above the recommended one, returns to the desktop were frequent. Furthermore, the errors have always been sudden and random, occurring in different screens, including matches. The most frequent moment in which blockages have occurred is the one immediately following the planning of the workouts. This forced us to constantly save in order not to lose the progress made and, above all, not to punch the monitor.
in the end the matches are managed to win, but often it seems more the result of a clash between implicit numerical values than the ability to better prepare for the challenge
An avalanche of defects
The second big problem is the effectiveness of the choices made in the preparatory phase. In short, long minutes are spent deciding how to train the players, to position them on the pitch, to choose tactics and then, during the game, it is not possible to understand whether what was done previously made sense or not. The cause of this lack of feedback from the game is mainly to be found in the poor representation of the games, be it in 3D or 2D. Not only is the graphics ugly (a few poorly made animations, poor three-dimensional models, unrealistic ball movement), but the game action is at least woody and you can't understand what is happening on the pitch. The players move in a reckless way and often have absurd behaviors that are out of any possibility of intervention and any logic: very fast passages, rambling actions, surreal groupings and so on and so forth. Often a terrifying bug has occurred whereby all players have stuck in the middle of the field doing nothing more, while time has continued to run. Whole quarters of the game thrown away trying to revive some motionless textured puppets on the screen. Having said that you will surely realize how difficult it can be to give orders to the team when you cannot understand what the team is doing. But above all, what's the point of doing it if you can't see the influence of our decisions on the pitch? The 2D view improves the situation even if not by much and we have often been forced to change tactics confident that some "underground" effect had to be done by giving orders in bulk, rather than being aware of what we were doing. In the end, the games can be won, but often it seems more the result of a clash between implicit numerical values than the ability to better prepare for the challenge.
The slaughter continues
Another very annoying problem is the frequency with which we are called to intervene on the training in the field: the players get tired and hurt continuously forcing us to continuous changes that, incredibly, can also be made during an action. Imagine the scene: a player is shooting for a basket but disappears to be replaced by a teammate who ... takes the shot without batting an eye! There must be Harry Potter hidden somewhere, there are no other possible explanations for such phenomena!
Another big oddity concerns free throws. Is it possible that the players on the field are unable to put one on? Taken by great curiosity, we started counting how many free throws they managed to go to the basket during a match. In three quarters of a game there were a whopping forty-five free throws! The players, both those of my team and those of the opposing team, only managed to score three in total.
Another major flaw, given the general picture, is the bad translation into Spanish that we have already mentioned. Errors abound everywhere and incomprehensible sentences are wasted, especially in the text of the emails that are delivered to us every now and then. It seems the work of an automatic translator rather than a shrewd work of adaptation. But, of course, inaccuracies are not lacking even in the menus, which is far more serious than an ungrammatical sentence, at least for a video game.
System requirements
Recommended Requirements
- Processor: 800 Mhz Pentium III or AMD equivalent
- RAM: MB 512
- Video Card: DirectX compatible and equipped with 128 MB of video memory
- DirectX 9.0c
- CD-Rom player
- 3.0 GB of free HD space
- Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3,4 Ghz
- RAM: 2 GB
- Video Card: NVIDIA 7800GT
Comment
Forget it, even if you only breathe for the love you have for basketball. The management section could also be considered passable, it is a pity that the focus of the game, the match, was made in a disastrous and totally unsatisfactory way. Even if you want to turn a blind eye to the technical realization, which is certainly not central to the genre, the amount of defects that afflicts FIBA Basketball Manager 2008 it is so large that it does not allow any discount in the evaluation phase. Too bad, because after all it is a unique product of its kind.
For
- The nice packshot
- Unstable
- The 3D representation of the game is useless as well as of poor quality
- The tactical choices during the match seem irrelevant
- Games have alien dynamics
FIBA Basketball Manager 2008 is available for PC.
FIBA Basketball Manager 2008 is, as the name suggests, a managerial video game dedicated to European basketball and American Streetball. Before starting to play, you need to set some options, including how to represent the game (2D or 3D), the European championship (or the American Streetball championship) in which to participate, the type of game and other options that are often not understandable due to bad Spanish translation (more on that later). The most interesting mode is certainly that career, which allows you to examine the various aspects of the game and evaluate its realization.
The first thing to do is to examine the condition of the team, that is to study the players and their physical and moral situation, decide on their training sessions, rent a field to give them a structure in which to prepare and make a transfer campaign. In the same screens it is possible to read the statistics relating to the progress of the championship which, initially, leave you banned. That is, the items that make up the different tables are acronyms that are not explained. To know its meaning, consult the manual where there is a general summary table. Nothing wrong with that, it's a pity that the translations make it difficult to understand some items anyway. For example, the abbreviation "Fgm" is explained with "Percentage of the field carried out" ... what does it mean? Mystery. Unfortunately, this is not the only example of unclear data.
In addition to the team, in the home screens, it is possible to examine the condition of your stadium, the staff and the schedule of matches. Having decided on the training to be done by our men and spent some money to improve the comfort of the spectators, the time has come to take the field. Before doing that, let's go to the tactics screen to decide how to deploy our men. Unfortunately, despite its functionality, this menu is not very versatile and the compible choices are limited.
