Football Mogul 2011 (PC) Review

Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 09.20.2010

Sports Mogul releases their new Football simulator, Football Mogul 2011. Is it worth checking out? Read the full review to find out!



Game: Football Mogul 2011
Publisher: Sports Mogul
Developer: Sports Mogul
Players: 1
Genre: Sports Simulation
Rated E for Everyone

Football Mogul 2011 is the latest text-based simulation game from Sports Mogul, the same people who make the awesome Baseball Mogul games. Although Football Mogul 2011 is significantly improved from past versions it still feels like Baseball Mogul’s little red-headed stepbrother.


One of the biggest features of Football Mogul is that it gives you the chance to play any season since the AFL-NFL merger (1970-2010) with accurate ratings for every player. So if you want to play as the Raiders when they were in Los Angeles, relieve the Joe Montana era in San Francisco or play as the original Cleveland Browns you will get that chance. This is one feature that puts it ahead of the competition, because in most other simulators you are stuck with this year’s rosters.



The flow of the game is similar to Baseball Mogul, complete with the easy to understand interface and the clean menus. You still adjust prices for tickets, food, etc. You still set a lineup, sign free agents, work trades, draft players, and manage scouting budgets and so on. Obviously there are no minor leagues in football, but you still need to manage your depth chart. However, there is no clear way to place players in the second or third units, so you are limited to setting a starting lineup and ordering the bench by position and rating. To be fair, the game is smart enough to grab the most talented position player from the bench to replace anyone who gets injured from the same position (if you are letting the CPU sim your games) but a better system that would allow you to organize players in second and third units, much like you would assign players to AAA, AA etc. on Baseball Mogul, would be a welcome feature for a future version.



You can still “play” your games, choosing which play the offense or defense is going to run and letting the CPU handle the rest. Obviously your player’s skill ratings in comparison to the opponent plays a huge factor in the success of the play. One of the biggest improvements from the last time I played the series (back in 08) is the ability to customize your playbook and try to design a winning strategy that fits the talent that you have.

Other positive aspects includes the speed of the simulation (allowing you to simulate multiple seasons in minutes), realistic stats and player progression, the ability to play up to one hundred years into the future and how easy (and fast) it is to create play-by-play and box score files for every game.



As much as I loved my time with Football Mogul 2011, there are still quite a few things that left me wanting more. For example, the ability to play the games is awesome, but the presentation is lackluster. There is no animations or sounds like is Baseball Mogul, so you just watch your playbook, a few lines of text, the clock and other indicators (quarter, how much time is left, position in the field) and a small gridiron that marks your position in the field. That’s it.

The menus are cleaner and sharper than in Baseball Mogul (at least to my eyes they looked better) but there are no player pictures or team logos, forcing you to rely on mods. There is no “Headlines” screen like in Baseball Mogul, so if you want to be informed at all times you need to check the game results, leaders and other menus. The Headlines screen is one of my favorite aspects of Baseball Mogul and it is sorely missed here. Some of the newer features included in Baseball Mogul, like Free Agent Bidding, are notably absent in Football Mogul. Yes, I understand that both games need to be different and have their own identity, but that doesn’t remedy the fact that Baseball Mogul feels like the superior product all around.



The 411:

Overall I really enjoyed Football Mogul 2011 and I really believe it is a step forward from previous entries in the series. In terms of simulation speed, accessibility and the ability to play 30 years of Football history, Football Mogul 2011 has the competition beat. What this series needs is some of the love, you know, the bells and whistles that make Baseball Mogul great. If you are a football fan that has no problem with reading a few lines of text and crunching some numbers, Football Mogul 2011 will be your new addiction.

Pros:

-Accessible, easy to understand and clean interface.

-Fast simulation speed allows you to sim decades at a time in just a few minutes.

- More realistic player progression.

- The ability to customize your playbook is a huge plus.

- 30 years of Football History (1970-2010) at your finger tips.

Cons:

- No Free Agent Bidding

- Lack of pictures, animations and sounds.

- No Headlines screen.

Graphics	7.5	Clean interface is very accessible for newcomers, but the lack of pictures and logos is a real eyesore.
Gameplay	8.0	Easy to understand with the ability to play or sim your own games. Lacks some of Baseball Mogul's outstanding features.
Sound	0.0	No sound, no rating.
Lasting Appeal	9.5	With 30 years of Football history that can be played at any time and the ability to play 100 years into the future, this game will last you for a long time.
Fun Factor	8.5	There is no doubt in my mind that Football Mogul 2011 is a great game, fun, accessible and addictive. A few bells and whistles would have made it an even better game.
Overall	8.3   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 5 Football Mogul 2011 Screenshots