By Jared Book, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
MONTREAL, QC — Have you ever dreamed of being the general manager of your own hockey team? If you have, Franchise Hockey Manager from Out of the Park Developments is for you.
The game includes 19 leagues from around the world so you can take over your favourite KHL team or CHL team as well as teams from around Sweden, Finland and of course, the NHL. So, if you think you can do a better job of running the Montreal Canadiens, or even if you don’t, you can try your hand at signing contracts, drafting players and making lineups.
The game is in it’s first edition, and understandably has some hiccups although most critical problems with the game have been solved shortly after release. The game is made from the makers of Out of the Park Baseball which is its baseball counterpart. That game has been around for 14 years, and a lot of that game is found in the hockey version. Players are automatically created at 14 years old, and spend a couple of years in the background before they can be drafted to the Canadian Hockey League and then the best will move on to professional hockey.
Another aspect of FHM that has immense potential is historical play. You can take any year from the NHL dating back to 1947 or the complete history of the WHA and play your way to the future. Want to take over the Montreal Canadiens after their 1993 Stanley Cup win? Go for it. Want to erase the Rejean Houle era? Absolutely. Real players can either appear when they made their NHL debut, or they can appear as 17 year olds. The latter is interesting when you play through the 1980s and 1990s with players from the Soviet Union who only appeared when they were older.
The game is available on both Mac and PC and can be downloaded and more information can be found here.