Football Manager 2015 (PC) Review

First off, the core Football Manager experience remains unchanged in this 2015 version - there are no radical departures as far as gameplay is concerned. The concept is still all about joining any club from over 50 countries and managing the club, or indeed country, to glory in their league, or on the world stage. Most of the major European leagues are fully licenced with logos and club emblems, barring the notable exception of the English Premier League.

The amount of detail within these clubs is staggering and for any football fan, Football Manager 2015 provides all the education about the beautiful game that could be required. Every real world detail there is, down to members of the board of directors being shown. When it comes to the players in the game it is even more impressive, with literally tens of thousands of real world sportsmen having actual scouted attributes and stats in 36 categories.

All these attributes can be changed through the detailed training system that allows them to be increased and the player shaped into a potential world superstar. It is an endlessly compelling system with addictive role-playing qualities. There is something endlessly satisfying about seeing a player joining a club as a 15-year-old and becoming one of the greatest players there is through careful management.

There is no endgame with Football Manager, as per the norm. The game begins in 2015 and anyone can manage for the rest of time if so wished. It is a truly addictive process, just as it always has been. Building a club up and putting a team together to win leagues and trophies is as fun as always.

Some of the major changes to the 2015 version of the game include a revamp of the scouting system, which brings it more in line with reality. In previous Football Manager releases the scouting was just a mindless process of hiring the best scout for the team and finding the best players he recommended. There are a few more steps added this time around, forcing a scout to spend a realistic amount of time watching a player to measure his full attributes.

Additionally, the other big change noticed when entering into the game from last year's version is a radical change to the general menu UI, with an all-in-one hub bar that now extends down the left-hand side of the screen and reduces the amount of mindless clicking required. This is a welcome change for ease of use, but what is definitely not welcomed is the entirely needless change to the tactic screen UI, which was widely regarded as perfect in Football Manager 2014, in favour of a muddled mess and vital information that now takes more time to uncover.

Furthermore, there is yet another layer added to the role-playing part of the experience, specifically job interviews and media interaction. However, even with the additional depth, this feature is largely irrelevant and lacking a significant point.

The match engine, which is usually notoriously problematic for the first few months after release, does not disappoint in that regard, although it has to be stressed this comes with the assurance from Sports Interactive that it will work much better. It underwent its biggest change in a few years, namely the addition of more than 2,000 new motion captured animations that should have brought the game of football to life. Instead it has thrown up more problems to an already sometimes fragile system with ridiculous things happening on a routine basis, most maddeningly involving the goalkeepers and ultimately resulting in ludicrous goals.