The iPhone has just taken another step in becoming a serious handheld gaming console when the boys at SI Games and SEGA have jumped onto the platform. The accessibility and popularity of the iPhone has made Football Manager Handheld (iTunes Link) a must have game for app for all football lovers. Causing a lot of chatter amongst the Football Manager community as well as the world press.

Football Manager Britain has become so popular for the indepth knowledge of tactics and its over analysis of Football Manager in order to achieve their results. The iPhone version of the game though is a break from this giving a bit of ‘pick up and play’ action when you have a spare 10 minutes to kill or travelling the commute to school or work.

The graphical interface within is a joy to use, easy to navigate from your squad to your tactics or to search for players to sign. With big buttons across many of the screens where ever possible and the use of switches it becomes easy to get around and select your options. Although as Videogamer.com points out “when trying to move players around in your squad to pick your starting eleven or make substitutions. This is almost entirely down to the lack of screen real estate, meaning it’s all too easy to select the wrong player. There are various ways to view your squad, but none overcome this slightly annoying problem.” This is a problem that I think many people will have when using the iPod or iPhone, but with a bit of practice these problems come down to a minimum.

Putzy at Los Wonderkids also suggests: “having the continue button always visible in the bottom right corner rather than just on the news screen. Having consistent places for the back/forward and action buttons rather than having them move all over the bottom UI bar to get them to fit in. It’s things like this that makes it easier to play when you’re on the move, and you haven’t got to keep looking at where to click”. I think these are small things and I would probably advise most people not to try and play the game on the move in danger of running into someone as you intensely watch your FA Cup final on the go.

With 20,000 players and 34 playable leagues, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to the availability of teams to play and the players to buy. IGN hit it on the head when they say “Sports Interactive has crammed a stadium’s worth of stats and figures into FM on the iPhone, and then conjured up a slick and intuitive control system that enables you to easily access this information”. It is pretty impressive how much information is at the finger tips.

What is also as amazing is the speed in which it plays, making for a better experience during short commutes. My iPhone 3GS quickly moved from match to match effortlessly quick, getting in a good number of games between station stops. Putzy explains how quick the game is even on his 2nd Generation iPod, just showing you the achievements in speed that are made by this little app. The speed of the game is what makes it for me, it gives a nice pacey feel to the game which is something that Football Manager on the PC has lost and CM01/02 was so good for having.

For fans of FM Britain and the tactical think tank, the tactical interface will be a disappointment. It simply doesn’t give you enough options to influence the team to play a certain way. It is simple football though. If you have a big striker up top, you might want to play long balls. Want to get the ball back and work for to as quickly as possible you may want to press harder, tackle with more fury. The option either be more attacking, defensive or somewhere in the middle are pretty much the extent to the control you have on the pitch. This can be frustrating at times as I see alot of my goal mouth action from the 2D match engine as shots from the centre of the edge of the box, although much of this is aesthetics and wouldn’t be missed if you went to text only.

But as Pocket-Lint suggests this makes the game is much more of a pick up and play game with a wider appeal. It was never designed to match the indepth gaming of the PC or Mac version, but a fun mobile game that can fill a bit of time. Pocket-Lint suggest “It’s a game for those sitting on the train, at their desk, at the back of class. It’s a game that’s ideal for running on the side, whilst you are doing something else”. They are spot on, Football Manager Handheld 2010 is a fun game and will hold the value of £6.99 very well as we expect SI to only build on the foundations of what is a great game.

As an avid fan of the PC version of the game, it is good to have a break from that from time to time this game offers great management simulation that is a little less taxing on the brain. The game has only been out a matter of days and it has already shot up the iTunes top grossing charts with 109 reviews it is gaining 4.5 stars. Many of the reviews praising the game for the UI, the speed and the enjoyment to play. Some have already complained that the transfer budget are a bit off, and the graphics in the match engine, but given that I think there is a bit of balance as the value of players also seems deflated. But most will suggest that this is the best Football Manager simulation to hit the app store.

In short many Football fans will get alot from this FM installment of good fast pace football. But the limitations of the iPhone show through with crammed squad screens, poor match engine graphics and lack of many tactical options.

DOWNLOAD FOOTBALL MANAGER HANDHELD NOW FROM ITUNES FOR £6.99