Football Manager 2012 Review

October 22, 2011 | Filed under: Supporters News | Posted by: admin

Let’s not pretend here. For some, a Football Manager 2012 review is almost redundant. Most of you already know whether or not you’re going to splash the cash on SI’s latest.

You know because there are three types of people in this world; people who are addicted to Football Manager, people who don’t get Football Manager and people who are trying to kick their Football Manager addiction for the good of their marriage/education/hygiene.

If you’re in the second group – those that claim Football Manager is nothing but a ‘glorified spreadsheet’ – there’s no hope for you and you’re probably reading this just so that you can have a nice big tut at the end.

If the third type sounds more like you, if your annual Football Manager experience usually ends with the CD in a wood chipper and the words “Never again” then this review is probably for you. Don’t kid yourself, you’re still going to buy Football Manager 2012, our words may just determine whether you buy it one month from release or two.

We talk about the monopolising Sports Interactive series in terms of its somehow engrossing predictability and yet this year sees probably the most radical jolt from the norm in some time. At least on the surface.

There’s been a pretty drastic user interface overhaul. While everything looks kind of the same, it feels like cooking in your kitchen after someone’s put everything in different cupboards. It’s all still incredibly organised and together, but the plates are where the glasses should be and now the knives have their own drawer for some reason.

Clicking on a player, for example, doesn’t just bring up the usual set of attributes, an illustrative polygon and a few menu tabs along the top. Standard player profile pages are now divided between attributes, physical condition, season form, career achievements and position, each in their own little box.

At first it all seems a bit crowded and overwhelming especially since there are similar examples of reorganisation running throughout the game (quick tactics now get their own column next to the players and pitch diagram on the tactics page, for example).

But what it means practically is that a lot more information is crammed onto the screen at the same time and, since all those boxes can be changed to show different stats, your screen is more customisable than ever.

A small learning curve for FM vets then but one that will ultimately be beneficial. Newcomers, on the other hand probably aren’t going to get too many favours from Sports Interactive this year aside from a more in-depth tutorial system.

So, there’s more information in your face in 2012, but there are also mechanical changes that give players more options and subtle control.

The biggest new ability that will save a lot of stress for long-time series followers is the ability to add and remove leagues and countries in the database on the fly. Previously, players with machines that couldn’t handle having every team in the world ready for use at any moment (i.e. most of us) had to predict where they might end up ten years into their career.

Now, should you decide you want a completely different challenge in the year 2020, moving from Man Utd to some lowly squad in a Slovakian league, you don’t have to start a new game and lose the football reality that has evolved in front of you over the past nine years.

Once you’re actually in the hot seat the most obvious addition comes with player interaction. Team talks, individual chats and (a new feature altogether) squad meetings now come with a whole new range of, hopefully, inspiring lines but also tones so that you can choose how exactly you deliver your message. A welcome feature considering that the five or six options to date have never really felt extensive enough in the kind of situation where your team needs a kick but not a completely morale-zapping one.

Now you can calmly tell the lads that they’ve never played worse so that they know where they stand but don’t go out dithering wrecks. We still don’t know how one delivers ‘I’ve nothing to say’ passionately, though.

What’s even more useful is the instant effect team-talks have on the players. The feedback of old, which told you that a player ‘Looked delighted’ by your last team talk is now sensibly put right in front of you during pre-match or half-time rather than some post-match report at your request. It illustrates the impact your team-talk has had instantly and, should you choose to do so, you can work on players who took your speech the wrong way with individual comments.

It may seem like a small tweak but it’s a sensible one and makes for a completely different dynamic in the dressing room. There’s a feeling of conversation rather than mechanical formality at half-time and you actually feel like your words have an effect.

Up until now, team talks were almost thrown into some great unknown. You were always told that you had an impact as your players trotted back on to the pitch but, with so many variables already present in Football Manager, you could never be sure just how much.

A similarly subtle but incredibly sensible change comes in contract talks with player agents. We’ve all screamed something along the lines of “I don’t have £56,000!” at a smooth-faced FM agent who refuses to budge on wage demands even though you’re throwing money at him from every other direction.

Now you can ‘lock down’ a particular part of the contract as a way of indicating that you can’t offer more wages, for example, but you’re willing to make it up elsewhere. Again, it’s a simple case of more communication with the game engine, allowing for more freedom.

In fact, this year, Football Manager is once again about ‘more’ – more information, more options, more freedom, more understanding. Like we said, you could table a qualm about the denser gaming experience making FM more inaccessible for newcomers, but if SI were to make concessions in the feature department for toe-dippers, it would mean a lesser experience for those the expert swimmers that have put so much into the series over the years.

For its core and incredibly strong audience, then, this year’s Football Manager is a useful step forward and one that’s more significant than we saw between 2010 and 2011. It’s no revolution, but why would anyone want to spin a winning formula on its head?

Outsiders prepare your cynicism, hardcore faithful rest assured. Oh and to the delusional reformed – we give you two months tops.