{"id":4968,"date":"2012-10-31T13:06:59","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T13:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/?page_id=4968"},"modified":"2017-08-17T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T13:50:09","slug":"review-football-manager-2013","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/review\/football-manager-2013","title":{"rendered":"Review – Football Manager 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Game Information<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Publisher:\u00a0<\/strong>Sega<\/p>\n

Developer:\u00a0<\/strong>Sports Interactive<\/p>\n

Genres:\u00a0<\/strong>Sports<\/p>\n

Platforms:\u00a0<\/strong>PC<\/p>\n

Release Date:\u00a0<\/strong>November 2, 2012<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

As you\u2019d expect, this year\u2019s Football Manager release matches expectations by bringing a mass of new features and tweaks while maintaining the core experience every FM player\u2019s grown accustomed to. Hours spent with the tried and tested formula for many is in the hundreds, if not thousands; mods have exponentially expanded the capabilities of the games if that were even thought possible beforehand. Football Manager games are glorious ways to waste away days and it\u2019s good to say that once again, Sports Interactive have released yet another reason to forego any form of social interaction beyond the virtual realms.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this year the focus is on improvements in accessibility above all else. This is apparent first and foremost within the first few moments of opening the game up: the start menu\u2019s more streamlined now and once you\u2019ve done the customary preferences tweaking and booted up your career you\u2019ll notice that the game more than ever is attempting to cater to more of your needs. Football Manager 2013 is the most approachable game in the series thus far, but thankfully within the core career mode the freedom to take complete control is still there.<\/p>\n

\n

The new Classic mode brings with it a\u00a0new simplified layout and greater\u00a0accessibility, but the\u00a0mode\u2019s largely redundant to\u00a0the masses who\u2019ll go\u00a0straight for the full-featured\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n

\"1x1.trans<\/div>\n

The game does do you the courtesy of asking you first though just how involved you\u2019d like it to be in your day-to-day running of the club of your choice. You can instantly get cracking with management or take the time to talk to your staff and selectively delegate tasks you don\u2019t want to bog yourself down with. You get the luxury of picking and choosing just what you want to do, but at the end of the day you\u2019re in charge. There are over 900+ new features apparently, but Sports Interactive know it\u2019s vital that maintaining complete control is an option always available.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the changes do enhance the overall quality of the game but, beyond the aesthetic and the tweaks to the formula, potentially these are to the detriment of the core group of loyalists who buy these games day one each year.\u201d<\/span>That being said, the biggest thing being touted is the addition of a new game mode: Football Manager Classic. The \u2018classic\u2019 subtitle is a little misleading however, though \u2018basic\u2019 doesn\u2019t really make the mode sound as appealing. The new Classic mode brings with a new simplified layout and greater accessibility, but the mode\u2019s largely redundant to the masses of pre-existing players. Most of your pre-match tasks are automated as are most of the match settings normally available to players. You can\u2019t give team talks or shout instructions in FMC matches, nor can you handle the finer points outside of games. A lot is taken out of your hands in a move to make a variation of Football Manager that\u2019s a \u201cless time-consuming way to play\u201d.<\/p>\n

A revamp of the calendar layout (which is better presented than previously and groups together several aspects of club management), more features for the match day experience and the introduction of a Director of Football are features spread across the entirety of the game yet Classic doesn\u2019t show much of the new beyond these since FMC is refined to be a much smoother experience that removes frills. In a first for the series, Sports Interactive are using Steam to handle the online portion of the game, which should prove mightily beneficial to those who choose to dabble in network play or in the new and intriguing Versus Mode.<\/p>\n

\n

In amongst the again significant\u00a0number of enhancements to this\u00a0year\u2019s iteration is a revamp\u00a0of the calendar layout, which is\u00a0better presented than previously\u00a0and groups together several\u00a0aspects of club management.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a little disappointing though is that this new Versus offering \u2013 which allows multiple players to compete in brief tournaments of sorts with imported Career teams or the standard crop available across all leagues \u2013 is in Classic Mode and as such limits what you can do with your team as you compete against others. This means that should you play against someone with a much weaker or more superior team you\u2019re unlikely to truly compete because your tactical options are limited, and you can\u2019t speak to your team directly in matches.<\/p><\/div>\n

A lot of the changes do enhance the overall quality of the game but, beyond the aesthetic, that\u2019s potentially to the detriment of the core group of loyalists who buy these games day one each year. Visually, the game\u2019s improved and surface-level functionality has been given a real boost, but with the new Classic-enforced modes preventing players from accessing the minutiae, one has to wonder just how much notice fans will pay to them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that FM Classic, Versus or the new short-term Challenges Mode \u2013 giving players the chance to temporarily take charge of a team in a range of different scenarios \u2013 but if long-term players are to notice changes they\u2019ll be in the core mode and network play first. While many of the enhancements will be appreciated some may take greater note of changes to the game engine and the restructuring of the club management options, but potentially a few of the issues too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been informed that the match engine has a few problems beyond those addressed by Sports Interactive in beta phase, which need ironing out before the full release; I myself have noticed for instance that crossing is significantly more effective bordering near-ridiculous efficiency, and player fatigue\/injuries occur like bus arrivals. Moments in matches this year can cause disbelief courtesy of bizarre player actions, and with team talk options unchanged providing the same predictable reactions frustration does occur. Fans will notice the good things too though: little new improvements like wage taxation (which can affect a player\u2019s decision to want to move to a country which a worse tax rate) and 3D view improvements definitely improve the realism, and the push towards a more realistic club structure has been noticed and is worthy of praise.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important though to note that Football Manager 2013 is largely the same experience as before. Sports Interactive\u2019s desire to expand the available content and introduce new game modes that offer variance to the typical structure is admirable, yet these inclusions may be ones only a few truly wanted. Versus Mode (with Steam server backing) has excellent potential to be a sweet refrain from the standard play though, and the Classic Mode skin is very sleek; as far as the core Football Manager experience goes though, it\u2019s getting better each year but Sports Interactive do have to be careful that they don\u2019t try too hard to fix what ain\u2019t broke.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game Information Publisher:\u00a0Sega Developer:\u00a0Sports Interactive Genres:\u00a0Sports Platforms:\u00a0PC Release Date:\u00a0November 2, 2012 As you\u2019d expect, this year\u2019s Football Manager release matches expectations by bringing a mass of new features and tweaks while maintaining the core...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4985,"parent":10,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4968\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onehitpixel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}