Franchise Hockey Manager 3

Even though it is officially licensed by the NHL, it doesn't have all the rules. In example, you are limited to a roster size of 23 players during preseason. Until basics like that is fixed, I can't recommend this game. More examples: Olympic break is not long enough. NHL season resumes before the Olympics are over. Submitting contracts is a bit wonky. For example, if you submit a entry level contract offer to a kid you've drafted, he will come back and say stuff like "I'd be happy to play for your team at these terms. But first let me see if there are any other teams interested in my services, before I sign. I'll be in touch." Sorry kid, this is the NHL and here we have rights. My team is the only team that can sign you. You are not allowed to talk to any other teams. Another thing about contracts, I traded for Trouba, who is an RFA. I met his demands, asked for response and submitted my offer. A couple of days went by, and he came back and said he was going to sign for me if he didn't receive any better deals. Being an RFA, it's not very likely another team would give him an offer sheet, considering what they would have to give up to sign him. However, it's not 100% unlikely, so I withdrew my offer, and was going to give him a better offer, but now he doesn't want to sign, let alone talk to me. ...Which brings me to this. There has got to be a way to talk to players in a game like this. Look at EHM or FM(!) series. Draft lottery rules are wrong. The top three top draft picks are part of the lottery. Not in the game, but not really a game breaker either. Trades should not be limited to five players/draft picks for each team. The UI is not the best. Now, it could come down to me being used to the UI of EHM, but it's surely not the sole reason of why I am not thrilled with the UI. A few examples. *Inbox screen, why isn't there a "read next unread button"? Instead of this, I have to click on ever item. *An option for saving different line and strategy setups is lacking. This should be a high priority, in my opinion as it is very time consuming the way it is now. *There should be an option where the assistant GM just fills out the rest of the line up instead of only rearranging every player.

A great game needs a great villan. In FHM 3 that great villian is Jarmo "The Butcher" Kekalainen, General Manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets and low-down traiterous F*#$ing swine! You see, having never played a game like this one I decided to work my way up. I started with no job and accepted the position of General Manager of the Cleveland Monsters, assuming Cleveland was a low as a man can start. It apperared to be good job. Playing with the awesome tools at my disposal I spend the first hour assembling my roster into elite and dangerous line changes. Satisified, I advance a few days. Suddenly an email pops up telling me that, argueably the best player on the team has been called up. Dammit, says I. I'll have to spend another few minutes tinkering. So I tinker away and right the wrong done to my team. I advance another day, and not 1, not 2, but 5 players are called up. Now for a persnickety fellow like myself this sets my anus to clinching. Deep breaths are taken. But, downing a beer, I decide to wait until just a few days before my first game to edit the line up again, lest it become broken by more call ups. Then it happens. Both of my Goalies are called up. Now, Im not sure how deep your knowledge of Hockey runs, but I can tell you that, that position is somewhat important. Another beer goes down. I recruit the best goalie on the market. I assume he was recruited using a local add in the classifieds next to the guy selling an old ridiculous large aquarium and the lady selling Yorkie-poo's, because he has exactly half a star of talent, and one whole star of potential. It is at this moment I wonder why this is happening. Im not an evil man. I don't beat my kids nor do I call my fellow man, "bro". I try to do good in the world. I like to leave large tips and ridiculously long reviews for the products that I enjoy. Why is this happening? Then I found my answer. Jarmo Kekalainen the Columbus Blue Jackets GM was f*&%ing with me. How do I know he was just f^$%ing around. Because after over paying the leagues least talented goalie and updating my line ups two day before the game, this son of ♥♥♥♥♥ sends 3 of the 6 called up players back. Only now each one of them is pissed the F*^$ off that his dreams of NHL glory were crushed and the take no solace is returning to the stately metropolis of Cleveland. So now I have some talent back, but said tallent does want to be there. My first loss is lopsided to say the least. It looks like the score of and NFL football game. I decide that I am not going to let this bring me down. I trade away all of my talented unhappy players for a goalie that isn't incompetent and 1 decent right winger. I win the next two preseason game and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Mother F*&^ing Jarmo takes my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Mother F*&^ing Goalie. He is kind enough to send back one of the ones he took. But that poor bastard is, of course, no longer satisfied with his lot as a Cleveland Monster and does, in fact, lose the next two games. So I have come to a decision. I will crush Jarmo. I am going to turn this nightmare in Cleveland around and get promoted to the NHL. And eventually I am going to replace his sorry ass in Columbus. Ill take the NHL's tiniest salary if I have to, but I will unmake everything that he has made. I will see him and his family on the streets. If he takes another job, Ill go and take that one too. He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up! 11/10 Would make a nemeisis again. PS. To the developer. That litte crown on the icon for guy with a coaching advantage...that...I have strong opinions about that... ***11/19/2016 Update**** HAHAHAAHAHA!!!! In the year 2023 The Columbus Blue Jackets finished 29th as I trimphantly lead the Florida Panthers to their second Stanley Cup. The fans waited anxiously for their beloved GM to accept a contract exension, but nay, I SAY NAY! He did not. He accepted the postion of GM and Head Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets as the Blue Jacks abandoned Mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Jarmo like a pregnant prom date.. Why would the NHL's Top GM do such a thing? Because back when he managed the Cleveland Monsters Jarmo stuck it to his team without even sending over some KY to smooth things over. Here is where I will build my dynasty! But first, I'm calling up every player on the Cleveland Monster that might even almost be viable...because...I can! I love this game! I would also like address some the negative reviews posted here. If you are considering buying this game, you absolutely should. I have had 3 game breaking errors since I started playing. I literally could play no more and within a few hours of posting the error on the developer site they were fixed. The developer is VERY invested in this game and many of the negative issues that are being brought up can, have been, or will be corrected. While they are pubished by the same company that does OOTP Baseball, it a completely different team that made this game. I have had nothing but positive experiences here. And no I do not work for them. I post as Jubal Early on thier forums too, you will see me there.

Good game for NHL fans who want more depth than what EA's NHL GM mode offers. + Improved Game Ratings for players + International Tournaments + Coach stat tracking + Lowever average star ratings for players with improved player development curves + Expansion Draft + NHL license and Facegen w/ NHL Jerseys + No Gary Bettman I'm not overly a fan of simming only one day at a time in the new "Path to Glory" mode. Luckily they offer the sandbox mode which lets you play the way you want. Wonder how hard the new GMs job is going to be in Vegas? Find out yourself in FHM 3

Got this game as an avid hockey lover and fan of the ootp series. I purchased the game for 29.99. Disclaimer: This review is based primarily off of one full Path of Glory season. Note these are not 'Cons' but more observances. - coaching is nearly impossible with the rating system. It does not scale. be prepared to never have advantages of any kind. (There appears to be a fix here and that is huge and a great sign for the future.) - penalties have brought some confusion for me. Several times I thought a PP or SH goal occurred but it did not. Also the majority of my team incurred greater penalty numbers than the years prior. (Again my be my coaching) - scouting is complicated and will take time to understand the nuances. (At least for me) - momentum works well except here and there, in the first 1-3 minutes it can shift to MAX and sometimes lead to a lopsided affair. - UI takes some getting used to. Colors can be tough on the eye for some teams (can be changed). I think Sebastian is right in some form and I am just used to ootp. - Countering roles - I am still figuring out. I think they have proven ineffective so far for me due to the coaching issues mentioned above. There have been times where I go into a game thinking 'I have got these guys pinned'...and don't see an advantage all game - Contracts are a mess of clicks. - I really want mail updates to be more interesting and more updates relevant to my organization. - I'd love more depth to the depth/farm system. I'd love to have more screens to track development, maybe see the cumulative +/- the players gain throughout the year. TLDR: The game has potential and is far closer to a success than it may appear above. It has its shortcomings but updates will erase a majority of the small ones surely. I can't yet give it a positive review but I hope to change that in the future. EDIT: I reread my review and it comes off unnecessarily harsh and I think ootp bias is creeping in too much. I have edited my comments to reflect my opinions in a more respectable and clear manner.

Played the game on and off since it's release. Loads of promising features, but everything seems left halfway done or just not thought through properly. Definitely an inferior product comparing to EHM, or even FHM2. Hoping for some massive improvements next year. Scouting report on FHM3 Potential : 5 stars Ability : 0,5 stars

I gave this game a try when i saw it on sale (50% off) but ended up asking for a refund. I loved the depth of the leagues, tactics, and mangerial/coaching options. The salary system also appeared to be very well done. Overall I can see that the game makes a solid attempt to deliver on its intention to be the most authentic hockey strategy game, however there are major downfalls that prevent it from reaching this goal. Most importanly, the user interface is extremely cumbersome. Whoever was in charge of it's development should be fired. clickable shortcuts to view important things like player attributes when setting lines are not present. Instead you have to navigate to a different menu to view what you are after (player ratings like passing ability, checkign etc.), memorize those and then navigate back again. This is really difficult to do and very time consuming. A useable interface is lacking in almost every aspect of the game. Imagine trying to assign scouts to free agent or minor league players without being able to see the individual attributes of your scouts. Unless you have them memorized, you have to leave the free agent/minor league roster, navigate back to personnel screen of your team, view the scouts attributes, memorize them or write them down, then navigate back to the free agent roster, repeat your search terms (I hope you memorized those too!) and then you can start assigning scouts to roles where they will excel. Tiring to say the least. Also huge amount of space in the UI are wasted. The player profile screen has a huge area dedicated to contentment and ability/potential which could easily be repesented by a small table, leaving space for more information on detailed ratings, stats, or anything else. It's frustrating to have such a great concept ruined by a lousy UI. If this UI is drastically improved I will definitely buy the game again, even at full price . I think the developers could achieve this by adding quick links on lines menus, popups in roster menus, and the ability to click on players to view their attributes when setting lines etc.

As a giant hockey fan, as well as an OOTP addict I was very excited to give this game a try. However, I have found there is still a lot of work needed for this game to be considered a realistic sim. Perhaps this game satisifes the average hockey fan, but for me there is a lot to be fixed. First and foremost are player ratings and positions. Too many players have terrible ratings (either rated much too low or much too high) and their positions are all wrong. I put hours into re-rating players and it still is hard to make accurate because of the numerous attribute listings and the uncertainty of their impact on overall rating and potential. Also in terms of positions, many forwards have center listed as their position when they haven't played one game in the NHL at that spot. Also, I'm assuming that LD and RD listed as seperate positions are in someway neccessary for the AI to set line ups because otherwise that totally complicates things and is sort of ridiculous. Off the top of my head, contracts aren't right. We often see a player being paid different amounts in certain years of their contract, but they still have a set AAV which becomes their cap hit. FHM missed the mark on this because then we have certain players (i.e Marian Hossa) already part way through their contract. Therefore, this game has not taken in to account their previous years and the cap hit becomes wrong for said players. Trading needs to be improved as well. Perhaps I would find it more acceptable with accurate player ratings but the AI is way out to lunch a lot of times. Finally, the player roles is a mess. Much too complicated and with too many roles to chose from (specifically you have basically the same role just described in 5 different ways). You also end up struggling to get good chemistry on lines and the only way to find it is by having a skater playing a role that is not realistic to their real life ability and style. In the end, a solid game for a new or average hockey fan. For myself, I want much more of a realistic game that I have become accustomed to by playing OOTP. I have high hopes for FHM4, but cannot reccomend FHM3 at this time.

Buffalo got Gabriel Landeskog AND a draft pick for Evander Kane. 10/10 would trade with Joe Sakic again But on a more serious note, this is a massive upgrade on the first two, bug-filled, installments in this series. For the first time in 10 years, I have a hockey manager game I really enjoy playing.

Have only been playing for so long, but I wanted to mention the things that I like and dislike so far. Likes: - Custom Leagues - Historic Professional Leagues Dislikes: - Unrealistic Computer Trades (Toronto traded Marner for Hamhuis... LOL) - Extremely Difficult Trades With Other Teams (Always need to fork up some crazy value to get a player that is only slightly better) - Have noticed that the game is crashing pretty often now, and at what seems to be completely random incidents. (I have chosen to autosave after every day now, to avoid losing any data. These are partial thoughts, and I will update as I notice more. For now, I can't reccomend this game unless you get it on sale, like I did.

This is one of the best Hockey Sims I have ever played. I have purchased all 3 iterations of FHM and they continuosly improved year over year. The speed in which you can sim seasons compared to old versions of EHM is fantastic. The new international tourneys are a great add - the game can be a little glitchy at times crashing from time to time after running the game for a while (usually multiple seasons).