Football Manager 2013 Review

Every year I buy the latest football management game from Sports Interactive, and never yet has the series failed to impress me.

When I discovered this year that if you pre-ordered the game you could get access to it as much as 2 weeks earlier than its scheduled release, I was straight to it in pre-ordering the game, and sure enough received access to the title a whopping 15 days before schedule.

The first thing I noticed about the game was that things had been moved around quite a bit. Having clocked up over 2000 hours on Football Manager 2012, I was definitely very used to the old layout, and the big change would therefore take some getting used to. After less than a week of playing the game though, the new interface now feels as natural as ever and it no longer even strikes me as being different anymore; the game is as comfortable and easy to navigate as ever, it just requires a little extra perseverance in the first few days of playing the game whilst you fumble around the new system like a young lad looking to undo a bra strap for the first time.

So how does the game compare to previous entries in the Football Manager series then? Well, truth be told, it's the best Football Manager yet! Press conferences are now more advanced than ever before, the 3D matchday engine of the game has been improved, and for those of you that don't have masses of time as your disposal, there's now a classic mode which enables you to get seasons completed much more quickly as you delegate certain roles and tasks to your backroom staff for a less hands on approach to Football Manager. There's more of an emphasis on the matchday tasks, less focus on controlling other aspects of the club which some people may find to be a little mundane (personally I love the hands on experience that you get with Football Manager, and very much enjoy controlling all areas of the squad, for those with less time/different priorities however the new Classic Mode is definitely a good idea and will no doubt be a much appreciated fresh new feature for the game).

I was hoping that with Football Manager 2013, Sports Interactive would perhaps seek to go a little further down the English football pyramid and offer us the chance to manage clubs below the Conference North/South level, unfortunately this wasn't to be this year however, although perhaps it's something that they'll consider implementing in the future.

Football Manager 2013 plays like an absolute dream; the 3D match engine looks slicker than ever, the game itself feels better than ever with the features that have been added/improved, and all in all I think that Football Manager 2013 might just be Sports Interactive's most addictive football management sim yet.

If you've played any of the past games in the series and been a fan, definitely give Football Manager 2013 a try as this really is a hugely impressive title, and a game that I can most definitely see myself spending a lot of time on throughout the next year. When I think about how much I play this game, Football Manager is most definitely the game that gives me more for my money than any other gaming title I've ever played. It's an annual investment, but one that is most definitely well worth making.