Franchise Hockey Manager 6

To be completely honest, I've struggled with how to rate this game since the day I purchased. After two dozen hours (at the moment) of playing this game, I think I've finally arrived at my decision. Franchise Hockey Manager today is the best hockey sim on the market. It's fresh and serves a niche community that might otherwise go unnoticed. It excels in the GM aspect of the game. Managing contracts, players, and trades is always an enjoyable experience, especially with some of your favorite hockey players. Yet, where this game falls disastrously short is how it provides feedback to the player. As a veteran of the Football Manager series, I love the amount of information at my finger tips. I can analyze how my tactics are working, how my players are players, and make adjustments as necessary to keep my fine tuned machine rolling. This game does no such thing. I watch games go by with no clue on how my tactics are working, or how the other team plays. You can navigate the complex UI to find out your opposing teams tactics, but changing your own team's tactics to beat the other team proves to be difficult as well. Football Manager once again excels at letting the player changing their tactics easily. One or two clicks is all that you need to tailor your team and players to the roles that you need them to player. While FHM6 lets you do the same, actually changing player roles, unit roles, and team roles proves to be a confusing mess that only adds to the information asymmetry. All the issues outlined here mean that as a player, you'll often be left wondering why you're losing games, and why you're unable to get your teams and your tactics working. I'll be upfront and say that I've spent over 1000 hours in Football Manager games. 25 hours playing FHM6 will not make me a master hockey tactician. But the tools simply don't exist for you to improve in any significant regard. Let me say here again also, I recognize that hockey and football are completely different games. I can play Football Manager and lose 5-6 games while playing 55-65 across all competitions. I know that such feats aren't repeated in hockey. But, in Football Manager I know why I'm losing. My players had a bad game, my tactic didn't work, and so on. The simple abstraction of numbers that FHM6 provides telling you that your star center didn't have a good game but the opposing defenders did does not cut it. Why? And that's how I can sum of this review. Why are things happening the way they are in the game, and why can't I easily fix them? I don't know what the solution is. The game doesn't have to clone Football Manager. But something has to be done. Despite all these frustrations, I'll still keep playing this game. It still can be fun despite the frustrating lack of feedback, and I genuinely hope that we see some major improvements in the series going forward.

I see you still haven't fixed the issue where, upon a player receiving a penalty with no time left in the period, the game completely ♥♥♥♥♥ itself and the only way to finish and exit the game is to Sim End. Did we pay full game price for a roster pack and an unnecessary rivalry feature, or were any good and helpful fixes actually made?

Originally I said I wasn't mad, I was just disappointed, but you know what, I am mad. This is the 6th iteration, and for all the knick knacks that get added here and there the fact of the matter is that FHM6 is a failure. I had hoped that future versions would finally bring a fresh alternative to contest Eastside Hockey Manager, but holy heck you guys make it real difficult to play this game. Even with near 100+ hours of gameplay knowing where most things are I have incredible difficulty navigating. That's if I've even found all the damned pages, maybe I haven't, maybe the stuff I don't think exists really does and its just hidden somewhere that is near impossible to find. Nearly as impossible as using the navigation system itself, god forbid you use a filter and navigate back and forth because you'll have to setup your filter all over again. That's if the filters are even of any use because they are extremely limited. Can't filter for a goalie coach with above average goalie coaching ability, god forbid that'd be too easy. Sort like the tag you need like a regular person, but lets hope that the other things that interest you are on the same page because if you change the page from say Training to Info to look at the most widely regarded goalie coaches you entire sort is going to get thrown out the window. Much like I wish I could throw my passion for hockey management simulators. Because we're just starting folks. Do you know how to find UFAs? Me neither really, but that's okay, just spam the side menu until you eventually almost find what you're looking for and then be disappointed when what you're looking for is poorly made. Why are these 16 year olds listed as NHL UFAs? Why can I search for players who are over the age of 90 by default? Am I supposed to bring them out of retirement? Uselesss. Much like these segways, and contract negotiations, and trade negotiations. Still broken as hell. I don't think I've received a single trade offer or been able to convince a person to do a deal where it wasn't "They'll probably accept" Great thing that they'll accept my maybe top 6 center prospect for the generational young talents. Its also great that these generational young talents...or not, will all ask 3Mx2 then 5Mx3Y then 8Mx5Y as if its hard-coded or something. Want to know what else is hard...coded? My desire to play a game who's scouting system that says "add to shrotlist' actually adds to the shortlist. Want to know what would also be great, being able to see ISS rank at the draft table. Not that that would be of much use because it'd obviously be on a different page than the potential and other scouting information so its not like you'd be able to sort by ISS rank and then pick the most reasonable guy in the draft rather than some guy who is better suited to be picked up in the 3rd or 5th round. You want to know what else I figured out in the 3rd round? Why by default my coach was choosing to play the backup goaltender who was 2.5-stars rather than my 5 -star literal star goalie. Apparently its not on by default to use the best goalie, like why? What is with these stupid default settings? Like quite literally this could be a 10/10 game if you spent literally 1 of the update cycles making the damned thing playable. I find it difficult to believe that this thing is ever play tested for a considerable amount of time because its infuriating.

OOTP continues to add more features to the FHM franchise making it still one of the best manager sims for hockey out there (EHM probably still edges it out at this point). My biggest complain with this series is probably the fact that there is no 2D representation of the games going on for simming. Text is fine and all that but having a 2D representation at least would let me know which players are actually doing their job well. Another big one will probably be scouting\when the draft happens. It be great if we had a break down of each scouts personal rankings of each prospect.

I really wish I could recommend that game. I'm a big fan of sport management games ever since discovering EHM almost 15 years ago. Unfortunately, after giving it 2 serious tries (at launch and then a few months after launch) I just can't recommend that game. There's generally 2 aspects to sports management games, the GM side of building the team and Coaching side of setting the right strategy and picking the right players for that strategy to work. The coaching side has a lot of promises but is unplayable. The options to fine tune the strategies are there but you will never be able to evaluate if you made the right choices. Many other reviews have mentioned the lack of 2d or 3d representation of the games. This is more than a nice to have feature. Without it it's impossible to see how your own strategy choices are playing out but also what the other team is doing. Also in-game if you want your players to adjust during game there are no options to give general instructions to your players (i.e.: take more chances while behind in score or play more conservative while ahead). The idea of assigning roles to players is great but should be more flexible. Like being able to assign different roles on special teams. When picking a tactic the game will give you hints on what type of skills would be a good match for the tactic but that information is 2 clicks away. You have to repeat these clicks on each players for each tactical choice. They will also provide hints on what type of opposing tactics works well of not against but as already mentioned you'll never know what your opponent is playing so that information is useless. The GM side is ok, although finding targets is cumbersome. Player search feature is too limited. You can't even select what type of player you're looking for beyond overall skill, age and position. Looking for a potential mobile defenceman or a grinder left wing requires a lot of clicking through. Trade and contract negotiation windows are blend. In this age of advanced stats and analytics the amount of data available is also very limited. Possession time or time spent in offensive/defensive zones are totally absent. We're still far from having Corsi and Fenwick. Some features are interesting : Player roles; Although as mentioned, it would benefit from being a bit more fleshed out. Game Rating; This is as close as you get to an analysis of your game plan. However, I often find myself trying to understand why exactly a certain player got the rating he got. Historical Games and Challenges: It's not my thing but I can see why players dig that.

I have bought this game since FHM, 2,3,4,5 and now 6 and this feels like the biggest jump between versions. my favorite feature is the weighted ratings based on current and past 2 seasons giving a more organic feel. The sim speed is work well, the stats are accurate overall team proformance is where real life would be. I really like that the draft produces the correct amount of players that make it. Wish list: a option to customize the screens where you can include Ratings and stats a diamond or bust rating after the draft where 1st rounders were over hyped and 5th rounders under hyped maybe a draft timer put a little extra pressure when picking and UFA signings, I tend to get the top guy alot, I wish there was a little more struggle. Love the game and recommend it. GREAT JOB GUYS!

Recommended -- but with a caveat. I grew up playing Strat-O-Matic hockey and as such there are certain things I want in a hockey sim. Those things help determine my judgment. FHM6 is much better for those players who don't want to coach and would prefer to sit upstairs in the press box and watch the action. But I do want to coach, so that knocks an otherwise fine game down a peg or two. There just aren't enough options to actually coach a team. If you want to trade and sign players, throw them out there and watch them play, this is definitely the game for you. But if you're looking for more intimacy -- that is to say, making actual coaching decisions such as matching lines rather than expressing a percentage of ice time and waiting for an RNG to match for you, putting the hot players out on a power play or the cold ones just on a hunch, deciding whether to put out a tired checking line for one more late faceoff in the defensive zone or putting out fresher legs when you're trying to hold a late lead in the last minutes -- well, you can't do that yet. And for me, that's where FHM6 lacks. There's no soul in it, which you'll understand if you've spent hundreds of hours playing Football Manager, FHM's sister game Out of the Park, or most other sports management sims. You don't feel like you're there -- yet. My hope is that it will come, because if it does, the game in future versions will be truly special. That's because this game, statistically, is every bit as good as OOTP, a game I've played for some years. You can start at any point in history, play any way you like with whatever rules you like, and you can watch history re-created. That has immense appeal to me and this game absolutely does that. Technically, there are rough edges. The interface is not exactly intuitive, there needs to be an in-game tutorial to explain how player practice works among other things, and in general, the game needs to appeal to the fan who wants to feel like he's next to the ice. Better hands-on control of teams would do that for me, and I suspect for a lot of other hardcore puckheads as well. It's good. I hope it will get better. But for now, there is still room to grow. Keep at it. This is a game I want to really love.

Franchise Hockey Manager 6 is a good hockey sim game but, It's really nothing special. I would recommend Eastside Hockey Manager over this 9/10 times. I mainly bought this game for two reasons; the expansion draft and the summer sale and I'm really happy that I bought it when it was on sale because this is not a $45 game. It's not that the game is bad or anything, it just lacks that quality I would expect from a $45 game. Although my expectations may be higher than they should because I played Eastside Hockey Manager, the controls and menus are just not up to par, although the official NHL licensing is a nice touch. If you are new to the franchise like I was, the menus can be super confusing as there are just way to many menus and features with way to little direction. I'm not saying the amount of menus is a bad thing as I like to have as much information available to me at once but, at least give me a tutorial or something so I can learn the menus myself. Another major issue that prevented me from enjoying the game to its full potential are the player ratings. Although, about 70% of the ratings are fine, the other 30% were completely unrealistic and incredibly stupid which caused me to spend 30 minutes fixing all of them before actually being able to sit down and play the game. Overall, it's not really that bad of a game once you get used to it and I'll probably be going back to play it some more but, if you are planning on buying this game, I would recommend you buy it when it's on sale as it's really not worth its original price.

The main comparison for FHM 6 is EHM (East Side Hockey Manager). I have spent thousands of hours in EHM and purchased FHM 6 to look for something new. I have found that FHM 6 has many strengths that EHM lacks. PROS - The ability to add expansion teams or re organize leagues with ease, adding plenty of playtime - The historical game modes add the ability to easily play from any historical season with reliable rosters - The historical challenges allow you to face interesting hurdles that change the game experience - The customization of your GM and his statistics makes the game feel much more involved than other managment games - Straightforward system that is easy to pick up CONS - The simulation speed can be much slower at times than other competition games - The interface can be awkward to navigate. Certain menus are located in odd places - Too difficult to quickly find stats. - The simulation tends to be on the high side of scores and PIMS in my opinion and is not as great as others, however is still very enjoyable OVERALL I would recommend this game to anyone who is looking for an interesting challenge or more variety in their hockey management experience. If this is your first time picking up a hockey sim however, I would recommend looking into all your options before choosing this game.

Honestly, it's just still not great. Basics of the game aren't there, such as salary retention. Which is bizarre, as the game aims to be a hockey sim. The AI is wonky. You can offer an extension, have your player react positively and ask you to submit it, submit the offer, and then get a notification that they're holding out for free agency. It doesn't reach the excellent heights of OOTP, and it still sadly doesn't match EHM.