Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of professional football? Who is pulling the strings and making the real calls? If so, than Football Mogul is for you. This deeply detailed simulation from Enlight Studios puts you in the hot-seat of managing the teams you love, except you are making all the calls and pulling all the stops. It’s a surprisingly polished and terrifically realistic package, but only halfway entertaining.

When starting a new game, you are greeted with a simple, sleek interface with all the teams that give you warm fuzzies inside (as well as the ones that make you grit your teeth with anger). After choosing a team you can simply proceed to new game, or choose simulation mode. If neither of those suit your fancy you can head over to the fantasy draft as well. The amount of painstaking detail in Mogul is astonishing. Each team’s statistics from average touchdowns all the way down to minute facts including fan base, loyalty, income, franchise value, stadium capacities, player payrolls and a whole slew of others. Each of these details is very pivotal in choosing your team and should not be taken lightly.

After completing the “simple” tasks, you are taken to the game’s main screen. This screen consists of all the team’s ranks and records in each division as well as stats and schedule. This is about the only screen you see when playing Mogul. From here you can pick your starters, set your offense, defense and special teams, change salaries, manage medical expenses etc. One addition over the series’ predecessors is the complete control over the positions and plays of the team. Enlight Studies also claims that it contains more than 2,400 detailed statistics on players. One other feature that is very convenient and comfortable for anybody that watches sports is the scrolling news ticker at the bottom of the screen. This feeds you information as you are managing your team throughout the simulated year with stats and scores of other teams. Now granted, Football Mogul could easily be called “The Football Spreadsheet Game,” but then again graphics is not what Mogul is about. It is about realism, detail and accuracy, all three of which are achieved to perfection.

But I do wish that there was at least some kind of visual representation other than a progress bar as the season is being calculated. Maybe even some simulated high-light clips as the games are being played, or a couple of tunes to listen to while managing. Even button click sounds would be a thankful addition. But sadly it is a little bland.

All in all though, I must admit that Mogul is the most detailed simulator I have played to date. The interface is easy to navigate and look slick. But in the end I cannot recommend Football Mogul 2007 to anyone except the die-hard sports-sim fans. To all others, stick with your online fantasy football and enjoy actually watching the games.

Gameplay: 7.0
Painstakingly detailed with lots and lots of options; very realistic simulations with accurate stats.

Graphics: 3.0
Um ... yeah.

Sound: N/A

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game can be as simple or as difficult depending on how much time you would like to put into it.

Concept: 8.6
The idea behind being able to run your own team is some people’s dream. In this regard Football Mogul is a touchdown.

Multiplayer: N/A
You can run an HTML output to share but as far as multiplayer goes, there isn’t any.

Overall: 6.6
As a pure football simulation game, this is as good as it gets. From an entertainment standpoint, Football Mogul is an incomplete pass.