Football Manager 2012 review

Formats: PC, Mac
Format reviewed: PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sports Interactive
Made2Game Football Manager 2012 review score: 10/10

Football fans everywhere rejoice. We are at that special time of the year when we can once again don the virtual club tie and blazer, dust off that copy of Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson and lose countless hours sleep deliberating over the merits or otherwise of the diamond midfield. Yes folks, this week Football Manager makes its annual appearance with Football Manager 2012, and with it the dreams and aspirations of thousands of armchair managers can become a digital reality.

But one question begs to be asked, and that question is ‘does this long running franchise really need another update?’ The simple answer is yes.

It truly is incredible just how many layers there are to Football Manager 2012. Every time you think you’ve delved into every nook and cranny of the manager’s office, some other sneaky little side menu catches your eye, and that's no bad thing. If I was pressed to use a single word to sum up Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, the word that would leap from my lips would be ‘depth’. Two words? ‘Overwhelming depth’. With Football Manager 2012, depth equals realism.

As in previous iterations, Football Manager 2012 will, if you wish, hold your hand through the early stages of your adventures in football management, and this time there’s even a proper tutorial to explain, in nice quick bursts, the huge variety of options at your fingertips. This could well prove to be invaluable for first-timers; newcomers can easily suffocated by Football Manager 2012 as there’s just so much that can be tweaked and tampered with throughout proceedings. I found myself spending a good two hours simply exploring the options and menus before finally getting on with things and reaching the season opener.

Trait expectations
Anyway, time to get under the skin of Football Manager 2012 and there's no better place to start than with a look at some of the new features. Let’s start with personality.

Personality is of course a massive factor within the real footballing world when it comes to managers, and you only need to look at any selection of press conferences or post-match interviews to note the differences between, say, Kenny Dalglish, Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho. All three are hugely successful but all have diverse personalities. In Football Manager you can add your own personality, with you choosing the tone of your responses during team talks, player conversations, chats with the press and so on. It’s a superb addition. These tones cover a range of emotions and there’s one for every scenario. The responses come in six flavours: calm, cautious, reluctant, assertive, passionate and angry. So whether you fancy hurling football boots around the dressing room at half time or would rather take a more relaxed approach, Football Manager 2012 has you covered. Individual team talks have the same range of choices and the whole thing works really well, managing to add yet more depth to proceedings. Incredible.

During press conferences you’ll now, from time to time, be asked to comment on opposition or rival managers’ upcoming matches, or respond to comments they’ve made about your own games. It’s a brilliant way to further immerse yourself within the day-to-day life of the football manager and is also an easy way to make enemies of your managerial foes, which let’s face it, only adds extra spice to future encounters.

Leagues and looks
Another very welcome inclusion is the ability to add and remove leagues as and when you want. Boiled down, what this actually means is that you’re no longer tied to your initial league choices. If you get a few years down the line in your career and suddenly find you have a burning desire to manage in Holland, simply add the Eredivise to the active leagues, it’ll become active from the start of the next season and you’re good to go. It seems like the simplest idea in the world but will undoubtedly enhance the game for many Football Manager veterans and newcomers alike.

The match graphics have been slightly improved. The crowds, weather, animations, lighting and so have all undergone the yearly enhancement and we also have two new camera views, Director Cam and Behind Goal. However, if there was ever a game in which graphics were genuinely the least important feature then Football Manager is it. (In my opinion, graphics should always be bottom of a gamer’s priority list behind the likes of gameplay and the plain old fun factor but that’s something to discuss at another time.)

Graphically, what we have for Football Manager 2012 does the job. The visuals capably show the action as it happens and while obviously not being as sparkly as 99% of other games out there, they’re functional, and with Football Manager that is honestly all we need. The game once came graphics-free, with matches played out via text, and that remains an option, as does playing the games via the 2D engine. It’s true that the action in your imagination is sometimes richer and far beyond what the graphics are capable of illustrating, so the text and 2D options remain totally valid inclusions.

Tactics and transfers
During the match itself the options to quickly change things remain in place. There are added shouts for those moments when the only choice is to get up from the comfort of your dugout seat and scream at the players, a quick substitution option for replacing players who pick up an injury, quick tactical changes like counter-attack or overload are also in there as well as the multitude of ways to tweak the team and try and swing play back in your favour or further humiliate the opposition by banging in a few more goals.

Next up, the transfer system. Transfers within Football Manager 2012 have been improved since last year but still follow the tried and tested route of previous games. There’s a new ‘lockdown’ feature, which allows you to lock your top offer in terms of wages and suchlike before submitting a bid. This makes managing your budget easier and also lets you put a bit of your own personality into negotiations. Add to that little touches like loyalty bonuses and you quickly see that it all works to make the Football Manager 2012 transfer centre the best yet.

As to team matters, it’s fair to say that there’s a ridiculous amount of readily available information about every single aspect of your squad. New additions include the ability to hold team meetings to address issues, and you can see an immediate response from the players to your words. The team report has been updated brilliantly and makes comparing players in various positions and checking the effectiveness of different formations an absolute breeze. The player stats screen is also now much clearer and despite containing more information than previous games it actually makes weighing up a player a simpler process.

There’s also a screen where you get to compare your team to others in the league, which while not hugely important (obviously you can only use the players available to you, and the chances of a last-minute deal for Lionel Messi is unlikely), it’s still interesting to see how your squad compares to every other team.

These new facets aside, we’re served the usual banquet of tactical options. There’s a huge amount to digest but gradually you’ll realise what works for you and what doesn’t and be happily tweaking formations and player roles on the road to silverware and glory. The transfer centre itself is looking sleek and straightforward, the options are there to fire updates on your journey via Facebook and Twitter and there’s also the chance to record sections of gameplay and send them straight to YouTube for public consumption.

At the end of the day...
It’s funny but despite devoting myself entirely to Football Manager 2012 over the last few weeks, much to my long suffering wife’s disgust (it doesn’t help when I ask her to not disturb me when I’m in an important meeting with the backroom staff), I still feel like I’ve missed things the game has to offer. To be fair, there’s just so much great stuff packed into Football Manager 2012 that I almost certainly have. Let’s pretend I missed them on purpose so it’d be a lovely surprise for you when you make the discovery.

All in all, what Football Manager 2012 delivers is one of the most complete and realistic depictions of the beautiful game ever seen. In fact, make that the most complete. It’s a game that will once again have armchair managers drooling and be the cause of much debate about players and tactics on the world’s forums. Football Manager 2012 is one of the deepest and most immersive gaming experiences ever to grace our screens. To the veterans of the franchise this latest incarnation is an assured step forwards and actually delivers game-changing improvements, while to newcomers Football Manager 2012 holds the key to realising those dreams of footballing glory and open top bus parades you’ve been harbouring for so long.

Sega and Sports Interactive have once again presented us with a game that will make grown men (and no doubt some women too) cry tears of both joy and dejection. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Words by Neil Bason (Twitter: @BaseAllstar)

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