Franchise Hockey Manager 6 Reviews

Clunky. Six versions in. And it's still clunky. The interface still sucks. The online play is still terrible. They still can't match EHM - which is basically an update of a 13-year-old game. I buy this. Every year. Just to support it. But man, this game blows. 3/10

You know what, I've been very negative about the whole Franchise Hockey Manager franchise for a long time. The first FHM was a good starting point, the sequel offered excellent upgrades, but everything from FM3 onwards has been data updates at best. I even requested a refund for FHM4, and skipped FHM5 completely. I have never played OOTP, because I am not a fan of baseball, nor would I understand the tactics or the trading, or any of the players, but can see just by looking how much depth and how much effort the team put in to listen to community input, to make the best possible baseball game out there. Having said all this, FHM6 just feels that much more stable and dare I say it, fun. I am the sort of player who builds a team and skips days at a time, just looking back at the results and box scores, but with FHM6, I am finding myself actually watching and engaging with the text commentary and not trying to rush through seasons at a time, to see how certain players develop and who will be a bust/success etc. I am actually trying to actively build a roster for the future and understand that it isn't easy to win a Stanley Cup, nor is it easy to juggle the confines of the salary cap. I don't think I even went into this much detail and planning with other hockey games. There is so much more this game could be, there is so much more I would like to see implemented into this game, but that's for the future. For the first time since FHM2, I am confident that the development team will deliver on its promise to make the best hockey simulation game out there. For now, this is actually a really good game and I highly recommend.

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!

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 shits 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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.