Football management games have been around for as long as computer games have existed.

I remember the first Football Manager game on the Spectrum way back in the early 80s. I think there were only 24 players in the whole game and it was as basic as basic could be.

Since then of course new computers and gaming platforms have come out, and the football management experience has evolved.

These days you can play some very stat-happy, in-depth sims on your PC or handheld console. The modern reincarnation of Football Manager on the PC is the star striker which all others aspire to be.

With gaming getting ever more portable, mobile football management sims have begun to emerge.

No longer do players want to be tied to their PC or have to carry their PSP around with them for when they want to compete for the Premier League title or enter the Champions League.

Instead, football fans want to test their skills in short bursts whenever they want, wherever they are.

It was therefore inevitable that a footy manager sim would appear on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch at same point.

The first player on the pitch in this genre was Soccer Manager from Fizz Software, which allows you to compete in six European leagues each with two divisions.

Your Local Guardian: Soccer Manager for iPhone / iPod Touch

The first thing to note about this game is that it is not a particularly true-to-life sim.

Due to legal issues, it does not contain real team or player names. So you have the likes of Ranaldo and Raoney playing for Menchester United.

The stats for many top players in the game are also very strange.

These issues make it feel like you’re playing in some kind of surreal parallel football universe where everything is slightly out of place.

That said, once you get used to this element of the game it’s not actually a major problem because luckily the quality of gameplay in Soccer Manager is very strong.

Soccer Manager is a very fast-moving game. It’s easy to blast through several fixtures in one brief playing session.

This is down to the complexity level being set very low.

All the important duties of football management are there for you to take care of, such as team selection, tactics and training, but they are very rudimentary.

Setting tactics involves sliding percentages for how attacking and aggressive your team will be.

Choosing your team is a case of selecting a formation and then picking enough defenders, midfielders and attackers to fill the positions. You don’t have to worry about balancing your team – there are no centre-backs or full-backs, left-footers or right-footers.

Your Local Guardian: Soccer Manager for iPhone / iPod Touch

Playing fixtures does not take a vast amount of thought either. Goals pop up when they are scored and you get a single line of text whenever anything else major happens. There are bars for stats such as possession and shots, and you can tweak your tactics and make substitutions in response to how well your team is doing during the match.

Though it does create some big limitations within the game, this simplistic approach to football management actually works in Soccer Manager’s favour rather than being a negative.

The format is well suited to the iPod/iPhone platform where the emphasis is on casual gaming in brief sessions.

Football Manager might be the daddy of management sims but a game of that weight which requires you to ponder every micro decision just wouldn’t work as well.

Soccer Manager is a very accessible game. You don’t have to wade through pages of stats or worry about lots of little things all the time. It’s just good, clean, uncomplicated football fun which allows you to get straight to the action.

Your Local Guardian: Soccer Manager for iPhone / iPod Touch

The user interface is one of its main strengths. The unfussy menu system works very well and you can get to information you’re looking for very quickly.

Playing such a ‘lite’ football management game will be a bit of a shock to the system at first for veterans of the genre, but persevere and you’ll find Soccer Manager to be a very enjoyable experience.

There is something very retro about it - which is a very good thing.

One of the big benefits of the iTunes App Store is that game developers can make very quick improvements to their games using feedback from players.

Fizz has introduced a team/player name editor in its first update and said that stats will be fixed in a further forthcoming release.

One further improvement I’d like to see in the game is to the way the transfer market works. It’s not great at the moment. Top players can go very cheaply and mediocre players can command huge transfer fees. In addition, it is difficult to target any players outside of your own division or from overseas.

As it stands Soccer Manager is a very good football management debut.

It is going to be very interesting to see how it stands up against some tough competition over the next few weeks.

One other game has already come out since Soccer Manager appeared, and more are on their way apparently.

After a lack of games before Soccer Manager, it looks as though football fans will soon be spoilt for choice.

For now at least Soccer Manager is the number one choice for football fans.

Verdict: 8 out of 10

Good:
- Very polished presentation with easy-to-use menu system
- Easy to pick up and play
- Ideal for short bursts of playing or longer sessions
- Uncomplicated, unfussy football management fun

Bad:
- Depending how open-minded you are, lack of real team/player names and realistic stats may be an issue
- Transfer market too basic