We’ve all sat there and watched our football team play, we’ve all screamed that the manager is wrong, come up with the best play style and formation, devised our own transfer regime and ultimately decided that we are the best manager to walk the Earth. Now your opportunity to take your team to the top or to prove you can take a failing club to glory has arrived. Here is Football Manager 2013.
Football Manager is the iconic managerial game, growing out from Championship Manager the franchise has an illustrious past and a huge fan base. In this latest instalment, Sports Interactive has responded to community views significantly, adjusting the gameplay to boost the speed of the game, allowing for much quicker seasons, but enough depth for you to retain significant control at the same time. These quicker seasons see games focused on highlights only, with each season lasting around 20-25 hours.
With staff within the game able to undergo many menial tasks for those not familiar with the Football Manager franchise, such as training and press conferences, the game is very adaptable for new players, but with the ability to retain full control through the tweaking of staff roles, you are able to take full control, from transfers to training and press conferences to board talks. This allows players to change the play style every time they sit down. Staff are now able to undertake the signing of new players for you, a feature that took me off guard to begin with, with the player only needing to accept or decline.
Developers have revamped many aspects of the game, not just visual but on a mechanism level too, especially in the way the player is able to interact with the in game staff and players with intonation in press conferences. However, all these changes haven’t detracted from the core gameplay, just emphasised it.
There is also a challenge mode that was introduced in the 2012 handheld version, where a manager is given a scenario, such as survive the drop being bottom of the table at Christmas. Pushing managerial decisions and prowess to the fore, and proving to be difficult from the outset, but a challenge that keeps you constantly trying to prove you can do it. This links into your global ranking, as does the online section of the game, which allows you to export a career team and play competitive matches against friends, ending arguments over whose team is best.
In conclusion, Football Manager 2013 is an awesome game that ensnares players, making you want to play just one more game in order to secure promotion or safety. The gameplay, with its quickening, makes it far easier to use as you spend less time in loading menus and more time actually conducting managerial aspects. This is, again, strengthened by the staff roles available. A great inclusion to an already impressive franchise.
