Football Manager 2018 (PC) Preview

Veterans and those obsessive about the franchise will know what to expect - a comprehensive database update, as well as bug fixes and enhancements, alongside the usual galaxy of stats and tactics that make taking a team from bottom relegation contenders to kings of Europe so enjoyable and addictive. Football Manager 2018 loses none of its addictive qualities, yet anyone will acknowledge that genuine innovations to the franchise are hard to come by and the last few versions have been slightly dogged with a sense of drift.

One thing that is immediately sure is that the disastrous launches from the last two versions seem firmly in the past. The beta runs incredibly smoothly with a lack of bugs. There is the possibility of crashes and it is not unusual to experience one or two, however, generally this is so much improved. Secondly, the match engine, which typically took until January to fix with a patch, has launched in very fine form. The goalkeepers seem to be better and now save shots well, and there are exceptionally fewer instances of daft pieces of play from defenders leading to comical goals.

Sports Interactive boasts about improvements to the match engine, generally, as one of the main updates this year and it is true to say that the lighting is more realistic and the animations of players are noticeably increased for a truer representation of play. What everyone wants to know, though, is what has been added to the meat of the title. Here is when it gets a little harder to pin down. Certainly, upon initial view, the scouting and medical departments have had a bit of an overhaul. Scouting has been streamlined and a lot more information is present in the various reporting of players. It makes it easier to get more information up front.

Additionally, team budgets have also been separated out in order to enhance the realism of scouting teams by providing them with budgets that increase or decrease their quality. The medical teams are the same, but more information is available on the likelihood of injury and this then feeds into training methods to get the best out of each player.