Another year has passed and the hit football management simulator game is back. Yup Sports Interactive are here with the latest game in their long running, award winning series, FM15 (Football Manager 2015) and it has a whole new look. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when it comes to games such as Football Manager, FIFA, CoD and many others that have a yearly release, it can often be hard to build on past successes and games suffer trying to live up to their predecessors. This time there will be no difference and there are two ways it could turn out; it’ll either be the story of Liverpool FC’s title push before the summer where they came so close to perfection only to be brought back to reality this season, or the story of Chelsea who have built well since the last campaign and strengthened in the right places to become what seems an unbeatable force.
The first noticeable thing about the latest edition to the popular football management simulation game is there is a whole new style to the layout. Personally I quite liked the old one and didn’t think it needed that many alterations, but all in all the new arrangement works well. Describing it is simple, it’s essentially an in game browser with an address bar at the top where you can type anything and everything in to, allowing for quick navigation and doing quick searches. This is definitely a massive improvement on the tiny little box you used to have in the top right of your screen, and it helps make finding what you need a lot simpler instead of having to click through various options. Another area where the style has changed slightly includes the tactics screen which now makes it easier to put your players in to their positions and assign their specific roles. This took a bit getting used to for me but it really helps save time which is great for starting a new career because personally I always found that so time consuming (if taking it as seriously as I do).
Other game improvements may not sound as big or impressive as the overhaul of the layout design but they do make the experience of the simulation that bit more real. For example, interviews are no longer just a bunch of generic questions asking if you want to be judged on specific philosophies, they also consist of background questions where you may be asked about your playing experience and past managerial duties. This makes the interview process more personal to each individual’s career rather than it being the same for everyone, and these aren’t the only interviews that have changed. Speaking with the media is now also a little more interesting with the addition of tunnel interviews and a wider array of journalistic papers. I usually just ignore interviews and pre match meetings, leaving them all to my trusted assistant, but for once I now enjoy it a bit more because constantly slagging off the opposition can create new rivalries, which is great because it creates that us against the world feel after you piss everyone off.
Slag off your own players though for poor performances, or even players you’ve gone for who turn your transfer offers down and you’ll see a more realistic reaction as to what we’ve become accustomed to in the real world today. I found this out the hard way when taking away the captaincy from the well-established one in the team when I took over as manager to replace him with a younger, fresher face that I had brought in. Now I knew he’d never be happy, but considering this was also suggested by my assistant it went a lot worse than planned. Firstly, he went to the press to let everyone know how I was such a horrible person and how upset he was. Then, due to his unhappiness and my unwillingness to reinstate his captaincy, the rest of the squad were in uproar to support him and I never felt like I had control of the team. Luckily the publicity of the whole situation meant people were aware he was unhappy and it was easy enough to shift him, even though it was at a discount price.
Another improvement to the latest game is how you manage your team, in Classic mode this is done by giving you more freedom and stream lining the game more so you can still make important decisions and board requests while not having to go into all the minor details. The other way that this is improved is by defining your managerial style by assigning attribute points to certain areas. Now there are two roads you can walk down for this; the Tony Pulis way, better known as tracksuit manager in the game, or the path of Brendan Rodgers who comes across as more of a tactician and wears a suit to every game. Depending on which side you go, one will be more focused on work done on the training ground such as improving attack and defence, and the other path is for a more forward thinking manager that has you upgrading attributes such as man management and how well you work with youth players; it is possible to balance out the two or you can favour one way over the other.
If you’re looking at ways to improve your skills as a manager then you’ll need to study for higher managerial qualifications than you already possess, and this can be done by going to your board. Sometimes they will accept your request for further learning and other times they may not believe it is necessary for you to gain more qualifications for the level you are at. Alternatively when starting a new career you could just give yourself all the qualifications available, but where is the fun in that? I much prefer starting with the lesser qualifications in a lower division and then working my way to the top while earning more qualifications along the way. It makes the game more difficult this way but all managers’ start that way in the real world so why should it be any different for us if we are wanting a truly realistic experience.
As it stands then, Football Manager 2015 has done that tough to ask task of beating the challenge set by the previous year’s instalment coming closer to perfection than ever before, a feat not easily accomplished. It has polished up last year’s release to make it not only look a bit prettier but to also run more effectively and efficiently, whilst adding that extra dose of reality by including player personalities into the game. The way you can now adapt your style even more by going down the path of a tracksuit manager or master tactician and earning yourself new managerial qualifications.
But what next? Well I recently read an article on the BBC about how women in sports don’t get anywhere near the same prize money as men for playing the same game and that it should be fairer. Now I don’t believe they always deserve it in honesty, I mean the Australian and US Tennis Open’s both pay out equally (yay for gender equality the feminists cry), but do they deserve it? Well the maximum length of a game a man plays is five sets yet a woman only plays three sets, is it fair that the men have to push themselves harder and further for the same money? No, but that’s what gender equality is nowadays, giving women more for less. That said, it’s all well and good saying they need equal pay but why do men get more? One word….advertisements.
Yes, thanks to advertising and TV deals the Premier League saw a massive increase in the amount of money clubs earned last season, the majority of which is thanks to the latest BT Sports deal to show more premier league games. It was so much of an enhancement on the previous season that teams in the bottom three had actually earned more than the then chumpions Manchester United (yes chumpions, not champions. I’m a Liverpool fan). Then on top of league revenue each club has their own commercial teams that also work on sponsorship deals to increase revenue such as the deal by Adidas to sponsor Manchester United worth in the region of £750m. Where am I going with this? Well other than BT Sport who show the Women’s Super League there aren’t any other real sources of income for female football teams as sponsorships aren’t worth as much due to the lack of publicity compared to the men’s side.
That’s why I believe in an effort to help bring more publicity to the women’s game and in turn more revenue, people like EA and Sports Interactive need to step up and expand their games to include women’s football. It create a whole new opportunity for both developers to potentially expand their fan base because as far as I am aware no other game, as of yet, includes women’s football and it also increases the number of opportunities to create new and innovative features for their games. Thus giving more for the gamer to do than just play the same game year in, year out with just a few little upgrades here and there. So come on developers let’s see a real shake up in the works and not just another clone wearing different make-up.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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