FOOTBALL MANAGER 26

I'll skip the introduction because we have a lot to say and I want this review to be relatively short and concise. We were all waiting for Football Manager 26 to get a taste of the new era of the series and the first feeling that comes out of this year's edition, especially after last year's skip, is one of disappointment. For many it is so strong that exaggeration prevails and they consider the game a disaster. After about fifty hours of playing I can responsibly say that Football Manager 26 is neither broken nor unplayable. In fact in some areas it has been improved compared to previous years. but it was clearly released before it was ready and has some structural problems that cannot be fixed with patches. Let's take a closer look at them as calmly as possible.

Your first contact with the game will be the new interface with a fresh structure that was supposed to make it easier to explore the game's features, but ultimately all it managed to do was cause headaches for veterans of the series and confusion for newcomers. The six sections at the top of the screen were supposed to provide easy at-a-glance access to basic information and functions so that the player would not have to go in and out of specialized screens. In practice, what happens is that these sections are so full of elements, numbers, and information that are incredibly tiring on the eye and the mind and in order to perform any action you have to go to the appropriate screen anyway, resulting in unnecessary screens and clicks to perform even the simplest actions. It seems that Sports Interactive itself realized the problem late in the development process, because one of the latest additions was the bookmarks feature which allows you to pin specific screens to a small bar at the top right of the interface.

It is surprising how this interface went through two years of development and reached release without anyone at any stage saying, "Hey, this isn't practical, it's tiring." Many say that the root of the problem lies in Sports Interactive's desire to design an interface that would be suitable for both consoles and tablets—I don't think so. Out of curiosity I connected a controller and played for a few hours using this method to see if navigating the menus actually makes sense this way. No way, using a controller is a nightmare and I really feel sorry for the poor souls who bought this year's FM on console with the intention of playing with a gamepad on their TV. On top of that, the interface is heavy and cumbersome, much more so at launch and somewhat improved in responsiveness with the latest patch. No, we're talking about a complete failure in all areas here and the current system will need to be scrapped and redesigned from the ground up. My advice for playing as smoothly as possible without getting frustrated with the interface is to ignore the main sections completely and navigate the menus only through bookmarks.

It's hard to make a final judgment on the world simulation and gameplay so close to launch, especially since there will be multiple patches in the future. What I can say is that I played full seasons in two leagues (England and Greece), made transfers and sales, achieved and missed targets and did not notice any serious problems beyond the various bugs and glitches that occur frequently (e.g., I made an enquiry about a player who was transfer listed and the team's response was "not for sale"). If you can get used to the interface the game itself is totally playable and generally enjoyable and addictive, just like in previous years, depending on what kind of player you are of course as some advanced features from previous versions are not available this year (e.g. heatmaps).

But enough with the negativity and criticism for now, let's move on to something more positive. Football Manager 26 brings a significant change in the area of tactics by separating the system (and player roles) into in possession and out of possession. The game now allows us to set different formations for the phases of possession and non-possession while we can also outline in detail the tactical behavior of each player in both phases of the game. This feature is undoubtedly one of the most successful additions to this year's edition and in combination with the new match engine (which we will discuss below) it made me feel more than ever that the team I was watching in the matches reflected my choices and commands before and during them. This type of finetuning of player roles and responsibilities proved to be very addictive and I spent many enjoyable hours experimenting until I found the most functional formation.

And finally let's move on to the match engine, perhaps the most difficult part of this review. Why is it so difficult? Because I have to find a way to fairly evaluate the obvious improvements over previous versions without succumbing to the intense disappointment I felt from the fact that some long-standing issues were not fixed even with the change of graphics engine and will either never be solved, or we will all be in nursing homes by the time they are. The main selling point of Football Manager 26 was porting the game to the Unity Engine and the significant graphical upgrade that would come with this change. So, do we actually have an upgrade in graphics? Yes, definitely. The matches have greater detail, the animations are better, the textures are mostly clearer and the stadiums are more realistic. The match engine's fidelity is clearly better, no question about it. However... Ah, that classic "however." I was hoping I wouldn't have to say it this year but here we are. I expected more. Mainly, I expected certain issues that have plagued the match engine since 3D graphics were first introduced to be addressed, but alas. So, for another year the ball physics are not as realistic as they should be, for another year the players seem to be skating on the pitch when they dribble or change direction, for another year the players' acceleration seems unnatural, for another year the goalkeepers' animations are out of sync and detract from the realism. My suggestion is to watch the matches from the tactical camera which is positioned further away from the pitch and hides some of the flaws due to the distance.

The second thing I noticed that has been improved in Football Manager 26 is the alignment of tactical options with what is seen on the pitch. I don't know if this is due to better AI or the increased control offered by the options for the role of players in and out of possession, but I was left with the distinct impression that this year the players follow my instructions more faithfully and, as a result, it is easier to identify what is wrong in a game that is going badly or to correct tactical flaws that are causing problems in the team's build-up. The combination of improved graphics and a closer link between tactics and the match engine makes watching games much more interesting and the role of the coach more influential, even with the removal of shouts. My main complaint in this area is that some player quirks that existed in previous versions have not been eliminated, such as the annoying habit of wingers to shoot from very difficult angles instead of crossing the ball towards the center of the box.

In conclusion, Football Manager 26 is a game with significant improvements but also glaring problems which, among other things, was released before it was ready. As much as I appreciated the improvements in tactics and the match engine, without the latest patches my rating would not exceed 60%. The score you see at the end of the text is, I think, representative of the quality of the game at this point in time, with the latest patch speeding up the interface and fixing some of the most annoying bugs. However, Sports Interactive still has a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of it to bring the game to a state where I can recommend it for purchase. For now, my recommendation is to wait for additional patches and perhaps a discount before making a purchase, while I hope that modders will also lend a hand to bring us closer to the fresh Football Manager we have been dreaming of.

Thanks to Zegetron for providing the review code.

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