Football Manager 2017 Review: Sports Interactive have produced the best version of the cult game in years
* Sportsmail have spent 137 hours on the new Football Manager beta game
* The full version of the new game is released on November 4
* FM17 is a vintage game that will enthuse regulars and a new generation
We’ve all been there. You’re on a winning run, five, six games in a row without dropping a point. But you know, sooner or later, you’ve got to change things, lest injuries strike or opposing managers work out your tactical plans.
Do you stick with what you know until it goes wrong? Or make that tactical tweak ahead of time at the risk of unbalancing a winning formula?
So it must be for Football Manager creators Sports Interactive. How do you improve on a game year in year out, when the franchise is already so universally popular?
Sportsmail's Jonny Singer has invested 137 hours into the Football Manager Beta so that you don't have to
Make too many changes and you’re in danger of killing the golden goose, of making a game which is already complex that bit too much so, and alienating your userbase.
But leave it alone and there are accusations of going stale, of complacency, of milking your fans for money.
There is, of course, a balance. Keep what is good, but freshen things up. It’s an exceptionally tough balance to strike, but it can be done.
And this year, the men and women at Football Manager have done it.
I’ll freely admit that I wasn’t a big fan of Football Manager 2016. Too many of the changes felt cosmetic, the truly innovative features were hidden, and it was, in many ways, just too difficult to use.
Like any edition of FM, it was still much better than its rivals, but it was far from a vintage year – so far, in fact, that I barely played it after Christmas, returning to the much more satisfying 2015.
The new 'behind goal low' camera is ideal for replays on the new version of the game
Tactics are more responsive than ever, giving you more control and more options
This year it’s different. I was barely 10 hours into a my first save on the Beta version – and yes, it is only a Beta at this point, with the full game and all its updates coming on November 4 – when I sensed, for the first time, that this year’s game was going to be a classic.
From aesthetics to gameplay, it all just feels right. This might just be the best iteration of Football Manager this decade.
What’s so good? Well let’s start with the big fixes.
Last year saw the introduction of avatars, so you could see yourself in the game. As I wrote at the time, this was, in my view, a mistake.
It’s still not a feature I like, but, the introduction of photo-recognition technology means that it is now a mistake that need only occupy you for about two minutes, once, rather than taking up a substantial part of your life.
Much more important is the tweak to the inbox system. With the game getting more and more complicated, there have been times, in recent editions, that Football Manager felt too much like having a second job. A fun one, sure, but one which required a fair bit of admin, and had too many boring days.
Simplified scouting reports are now much clearer straight in your inbox
Suddenly, this year, while there are more clever features than ever, they are all much more accessible, with almost everything you need brought directly to your attention by a helpful assistant.
It’s a subtle tweak to the game that makes a huge difference, and veteran players will find themselves able to do much more, much more quickly, without sacrificing attention to detail.
Nowhere is this more apparent than with the introduction of data scientists. The new role (part of a backroom staff revamp that is generally excellent) is pretty basic, and there is no evidence yet that who you appoint matters at all.
But the advantage of having one is that before every fixture all that clever statistical data that was introduced last year but was far too complicated for the average user to find useful, is delivered, in bitesize chunks, to your inbox. No more need to go looking for it – it comes to you.
The introduction of data anaylists means comprehensive stats and graphics, without having to spend time searching around the game
The tweaks to the match engine, and this greater accessibility of statistical data like pitch maps and touch analysis, means you feel like you have more control over the result than in any previous year. You can see your team instructions happening out on the pitch more than ever – whether they produce results or not.
That alone makes this year’s game immensely playable, but there plenty of other good new features, including the social feed, which gives you an insight into fan and media thinking.
In truth, this feature – in the Beta at least – is a little half baked. The same items appear far too often, with every injury greeted with the same three messages.
Your striker pulls his hamstring? One fan thinks he’s too soft. Your goalkeeper breaks his leg? One fan thinks he’s too soft. Your left back loses an eyeball? Yep, there’s a fan who thinks he’s too soft.
In fact, the social feed feels a little bit like press conferences when they were first introduced – a good idea, but getting boring very quickly. But playing the press has become part of the game, and I’m sure social media will grow too. It’s a great thing to have, even if it’s far from perfect.
As ever, there is the fact that, despite SI’s insistence that the graphics in the match engine are much improved, they are still dreadful at times.
The social feed has the makings of a good feature, but is a little repetitive for now
Goalkeepers move like Subbuteo figures, the referees give penalties from a position in the centre-circle, and two-footed tackles are still comically animated.
But that’s not really what the game is about (in fact a large part of me still wishes the games were still only available in 2D pitch mode) and anyway, there are some steps in the right direction, including the new behind the goal low camera which is a must for goal replays.
As with any Football Manager game, there are too many new features to discuss them all, but if you like Fantasy Draft as an idea, and don’t have 30 mates available to join you every night, the AI gamers are a really good addition.
Every FM player, like ever football manager in real life, does things in their own, unique way, so there’s a chance that some will prefer last year’s game, or another old version, to this.
But, to my mind, this is the best Football Manager Sports Interactive have made in years, a vintage game that will enthuse regulars and bring in a new generation of fanatics.
Code:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3893642/Football-Manager-2017-Review-Sports-Interactive-produced-best-version-cult-game-years.html