[amazon_link asins=’B0751S42SL’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’thevidgam0f-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’3cbc0743-d03c-11e7-8ad7-6d8e3d9f5390′]

Football Manager has taken over the plains of football simulation, the depth these games have is remarkable and 2018 is no different. When I was guiding Sutton Utd into the playoffs in League 1 last year I thought to myself what can Sega and Sports Interactive add to make this game better? I honestly couldn’t think of anything…but they have with this year’s installment.

I’ve been playing football manager games since 2013 on and off I’ll be honest, but I can just get lost in these games. I’m spent hours of my life sat in my kitchen with my laptop trying to sign the best wonderkids the world has to offer in my attempt to control the English leagues.

The depth this game has is unreal and would take a whole dissertation to explain so I’m going to focus on the major talking points and what is new in this year’s Football Manager (FM).

Dynamics

Like real life teams there are leaders on and off the pitch being a Chelsea fan I’ll explain to the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba were the most influential players for Chelsea in their best run, in FM you have a pyramid scheme where you (the manager) are at the top and the rest of your influential players are listed below. You have your team leaders, highly influential players, influential players and other players.

• Team leaders are the likes of your captains and players that you can lean on to extinguish any embers that may rise with unhappy players.
• Highly influential players are the players that are leaders on the pitch and can help motivate your team.
• The rest are just ranking and the more they influence your team the better they will be in the scheme of work.

Sports Science

This is something that has grown in football over the years and is a significant feature in the sport, sports scientists can identify fatigue in players and alert you to the risk of injuries to your players, these will be in the form of emails. You can comb over these in the new medical center and send the players to specialists if needed or give them injections to play through the pain.

Matchday Engine

The engine for the matchday animations has been improved greatly and the overview of the layout has been changed but not to the extent of previous fans of the franchise to shake a stick at. Minor tweaks to make it look and feel fluid have been made like the ability to shout instructions from the sidelines and tactics have been moved and the assistants advice panel no longer takes up most of the room on the right side of the screen, now it appears in a green bar under the timeline but it can be missed.

Football Intelligence

The transfer market has evolved in real life so why not in FM? With transfers like Neymar to PSG for £180m, FM has make quick work of including stuff like that in FM, I tried to sign Icardi to my Chelsea save. Now the asking price was £38m so I offered £60m and Inter Milan replied with a fee of £115m… £55m more than I offered are you crazy! But that is only because Chelsea are the kind of clubs that have the financial clout to back a deal of that stature.

Scouting

Scouting has improved with even more information given to you about the player you’re looking at through emails this also includes emails from scouts that recommend players for you and you then get the option to get an analysed report on that said player, the information is uncanny and the level of detail makes you feel like you’re actually scouting the player for real.

Fantasy Draft

This is again an option in FM with more features added to a bigger budget to build your fantasy team(£500m), a quick start option. So pick your dream team and play with your friends.

The way it works is you each pick a player from a pool of players, with the draft pool you can filter through nationality or ability etc.

Little touches I’ve noticed in game that really caught my eye, during matches I’ve had a player have a head injury to then get treatment and come back on with their head in bandages, players coming out as gay and the hierarchy getting upset if I sell an influential player.

Big thank you to Sega was letting me review this great game.