Football Manager 2018 (PC) Preview

By Chris Leebody 05.11.2017

Review for Football Manager 2018 on PC

The business end of the season is here again - no, not the drama of the football season, rather the autumn gaming season. Of course, with that comes the now annual tradition of the slew of football related titles, primed and released to coincide with the ratcheting drama of the top leagues around Europe. No title is more anticipated than the ever present Football Manager 2018 from Sports Interactive and published by SEGA. The game is due for kick off on 9th November on Steam; however, Cubed3 has had a sneak peak at the upcoming iteration courtesy of the beta before the full review upon release.

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.

Screenshot for Football Manager 2018 on PC

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.

Screenshot for Football Manager 2018 on PC

Final Thoughts

It will take a longer view and Cubed3's full review to tease out some more improvements, but the headline evolutions this year are admittedly quite thin on the ground. Frankly, some of the fans might say that this is okay, after all why tinker with a good system. However, it would be great to see some further refinement when it comes to training or a total rethink of the tactics engine, which has stayed the same for many a year now. Additionally, it might be one of those things that has to grow but the UI changes when in a match have become a little cluttered and cumbersome, especially when trying to get information on players' best positions and tactical roles. This is one of the aspects that may or may not be able to be tweaked by release so it could improve - and hopefully will. Keep your eyes peeled on Cubed3 for the in-depth review of Football Manager 2018 ready for release on 9th November.

Developer

Sports Interactive

Publisher

SEGA

Genre

Simulation

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

Comments

This seemed to go too complicated, then into a rut, then they started with the Touch line that made things easier to stomach. I'm very intrigued in this new edition!

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

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