As Sports Interactive puts out the fifteenth consecutive annual release of Football Manager, is there enough innovation to freshen the series and keep fans invested for another year?
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Can you remember the last time Football Manager had a genuine rival? If youre struggling thats no great surprise. Sports Interactive has had the market to themselves for a good eight years, long since beating off competition from Championship Manager, with Eidos Interactive pushing the last of its series out in 2009.
In truth, this dominance has existed for far longer and Football Manager remains the benchmark for sports management sims the industry over.
But no-one can deny that having competition is healthy for the series, even if it just keeps the developer honest.
Though competition is lacking, a passionate online community has always held Sports Interactive to task and ensured that each launch of the game is given the same treatment as its predecessor.
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Every year numerous suggestions borne on the forums make their way into the final version of the game and thats to the credit of the publisher. They listen, they engage and it ensures the title doesnt grow stale.
Yet even with that level of evolution, an annually released sports game leads you to wonder if its worth it? Are there enough meaningful changes to justify an annual release or should this time of year just be marked by a database update?
Sports Interactive began to whet fans appetites for Football Manager 2019 back in September, in their traditional slow reveal of the new features.
Beginning with interface changes, it wasnt exactly the thrilling reveal some were hoping for and that became a bit of a theme. When acquiring the Bundesliga license makes it into your top five new features, it was fair to wonder if a limit on potential innovation had been reached.
There were, thankfully, some subtle (and long overdue) features that improve the user experience immeasurably which, for a game that requires such a high level of micromanagement, is a godsend.
Take, for example, the ability to drag and drop menu buttons on your toolbar. Its a tiny change but it will make navigation around the many menus intuitive and quicker.
The new interface has had a complete makeover and though it might take some adjustment – they seem to have been inspired by the Premier Leagues fluorescent nightmare – it works and it gives the game a brand new feel.
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The two headline changes this years game brings its fans are overhauls to the training and tactics modules, two vitally important cogs in the machine that is a football club. As a manager, you simply cant avoid them so Sports Interactive have seen to it that they take on an even greater prevalence than before.
Football Manager 2018 was rightly praised for innovating a tactics area that previously felt set in stone. The raft of changes gave managers something new to try and coincided nicely with real world tactical evolutions. Though you couldnt quite replicate Jurgen Klopps heavy metal football, you could at least make a racket on the pitch.
The problem, as it later transpired, was that it was overly complicated for the average football fan.
It might seem anecdotal but Football Manager tends to attract people with inquisitive minds and the forums have regularly been filled with users trying to break the match engine, figure out the artificial intelligence and find the overpowered tactics. Whether it was the three-striker formations of last year or the diamond midfield from five or so years ago, there is usually a go-to approach.
That may well happen again but with the module being what it is, it doesnt feel like you need to be a data scientist to figure it out.
The presets are intuitive and actually do what they say on the tin. Find tiki-taka too boring? Vertical tiki-taka might be the one for you. If youre not quite able to park the bus Jose Mourinho style, then consider a bit of classic Italian catenaccio. The options are plentiful and the many specific tweaks you can make will ensure your tactic still feels like your tactic.
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Just like in the real world, you need to head to the training pitch to implement your ideas and thankfully this comes in many new forms. You have three sessions per day, all of which you can use to mould your team into shape.
You can split your squad into defensive, attacking, and goalkeeping units, have group mentors and tailor every session towards getting them fit and firing before the season begins. Once youre underway mix up the fitness, technical, and tactical work and team bonding and youll feel like youve never had so much control in Football Manager before.
Elsewhere, the scouting centre and dynamics return after their successful introduction last year, while the medical centre also makes a return despite criticism that it made injury management far too easy. This year its a case of wait and see.
Unfortunately there are still a number of areas neglected or flat-out ignored. Expected Goals (xG) has become such a staple metric in the real world, it leaves Football Manager feeling a tad dated that we still dont have access to it.
Commentary is largely untouched, although unless you play on only commentary this barely registers. This remains a matter of taste, much like the 3D match engine, which has again seen changes.
Though it has its charm, the 3D offering still feels as if it lags behind modern standards. Player models are clunky and the flow of the game is bitty. At times it can feel as if youre watching an animated Subbuteo match; it leaves a lot to be desired, even if the stadium models do look exemplary.
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Thankfully there is, as ever, the option to stick with only commentary or the 2D classic dots approach, something that was once removed only to have legions of old school Football Manager fans complain until it returned.
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So where do we stand on Football Manager 2019?
Its unclear if it will go down as the finest Football Manager yet, as a lot of the changes made to the game are user-experience improvements. This is, of course no bad thing. It feels more refined than previous iterations of the series and making a game of this depth as user-friendly as possible always leads you onto a winner.
It will take many seasons before we can truly judge it against its predecessors but the signs are good.
One thing is for sure: Football Manager remains the totem for sports management sims and Sports Interactive should be proud to not only develop it, but be recognised for the years of dedication to their fanbase, leading to oodles of minute but user-friendly tweaks and improvements.
The manager induction is a superb addition for anyone new to the series, whilst colour-coding the average ratings is something many other developers wouldnt bother with. It doesnt matter, but if it keeps their players happy, its important.
There are a few concerns but understandably there is only so much the Sports Interactive studio can do in a year – thats the issue with annual releases.
Whether it needs to be annual is another debate.
One of the biggest criticisms leveled at Football Manager is how inaccessible it is for new players and how overwhelming the menus and layers of data can be – hence the introduction of Football Manager Touch and Football Manager Mobile.
However, the full fat game remains the best in class and with so much to offer it has always been a bit of a shame that first-timers have been turned off by its depth. So its truly pleasing to see this addressed in this years game.
It isnt perfect but few games are held to such a high standard and thats half the reason this is another win for Football Manager fans everywhere.
Football Manager 2019
In short: A game you will lose hundreds of hours to and although you can criticise the lack of development in certain areas, it remains the thinking football fans go-to game.
Pros: Top of its class management sim with a welcome overhaul of the training module. More accessible than ever for new players and looks fantastic.
Cons: Once the charm wears off, the 3D match engine remains archaic, whilst a couple of the more tedious elements of the game have barely been touched – hello press conferences!
Score: 9/10
Formats: Mac (reviewed), PC, and Nintendo Switch
Price: £34.19
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sports Interactive
Release Date: 2nd November 2018
Age Rating: 3
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