As far as football management games are concerned, there's only one real player out there. Sports Interactive, creators of the original Championship Manager series (when it used to be good!) and now developers of the hugely successful Football Manager brand, have released their first footy management sim for the Sony PSP. They've managed to cut down the game to a manageable size for Sony's little handheld, so now everyone can be a football manager whilst on the move.

One of the first things that strikes you about the PSP version is just how much better it feels not to be staring away at a TV screen or stuck in front of a PC monitor. As an avid fan of these simulations for years, I'm well aware of the gut-wrenching guilt you feel when you stumble out into the daylight after a ten hour session. Using the PSP you can play FM Handheld whenever you like, whether on the train, watching TV or in the bath - and it doesn't feel like you've been jammed in front of the game for hours. It also lets you fill in those idle hours of the week such as lazy Sundays, in front of the Eastenders Omnibus or waiting in the dentist's waiting room, as well as being perfect for travel. During the course of reviewing FM Handheld I played it on the bus and the train, and despite the odd envious glare of a few shady characters here and there, I found the game to be very accessible and a good travel companion.

In the first couple of hours of play you'll find yourself getting used to the interface. If you've played the PC version, the first thing you'll notice is that things have been dramatically cut down to fit onto the PSP. One of the biggest omissions is the quality 2D match engine from the PC version. Why this hasn't been included is beyond me, having seen the power of the PSP vaunted in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Surely if the PSP can handle this then a 2D ball thumping about between 2D circles isn't going to prove too great a problem? Come on SI, get it sorted for the sequel! In place of the 2D engine, the matches are played out in commentary, much like the original Championship Managaer classics. The commentary works a treat and you can intricately follow your players as they graft through match by match. One complaint however is that often not much commentary appears as the match progresses, so you're limited to maybe two or three chances to score per game, limiting the chance of high scoring goalfests.

Outside of the match engine, it really is the absolute minimum regarding the interactivity in the game. You can buy players, pick the team, select the tactics and that's about it. Navigation in the game is very easy thanks to a superb and intuitive control interface that lets you zip between the different menus and jump back to previous screens through repeated use of the left shoulder button. It also uses a hyperlink system, so for example, if a news story appears informing you that someone wants to buy one of your players, clicking on the 'View Link' button shows you details of the club who's interested, your own club and the player who's up for grabs.

When it comes to picking your team, the whole squad is shown on one page and you scroll up and down to pick and unpick the relevant players for the match. This can be very irritating, as you'll have youth players on there who in the PC version you could normally exile to the reserves, but in FM Handheld they have to stay on your full squad screen, as there are no Under-21 or Reserve teams in the game. I actually found myself selling players because it pissed me off having to scroll past them all the time! For match tactics there are absolutely no customisable formations, but tons of generic ones to choose from. For me this is another huge omission. as you can't set up your team exactly how you'd like or even move their position on the pitch - something you could do even on the very first Championship Manager!

Team and player specific instructions such as passing and tackling settings are also not very easy to select, working with a clickthrough system where you roll through ten options to find the one you actually want. This all adds to a general feeling that you've had sod all to do with your team besides picking the names on the day, so when you lose, it's almost as if your hands are tied. I found myself feeling cheated when I'd lose a match, as there isn't the scope in this game to really let your management talent influence the outcome on the pitch.

Comparing this game to the PC version isn't a very good idea at all. There's almost no relation between the two, besides the same style of interface. To the PSP version's credit, the menu screens look exactly like the PC version. The loading times are also very short and a helpful progress bar lets you know roughly how long it will take. At no stage are you ever really left waiting for it to load, it's that quick! There's also no sound whatsoever, besides an annoying array of clicks as you scroll through menus (which thankfully you can turn off). Plus there's no crowd noises during the matches, which is a real shame.

Football Manager Handheld is a good game, but it's not great. I know that SI had to really strip it down for the PSP but I think they've gone a little too far. Football Manager is all about immersing yourself within the stats and customisable options and sadly this game feels far more LMA Manager than FM. It's been so trimmed down it almost feels like a crap arcade version of a great game. Football management sims are called sims for a reason, so sadly I'd have to say that FM Handheld would be better off stored in a cupboard rather than lodged in your hand. I'm sure that the sequel will be a helluva lot better and likely answer several of these problems, but in the meantime, I'd suggest doing something more productive instead - like reading a book (gosh!).

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).