Windows Central Verdict
Football Manager 2024 continues in its tradition of being the premier football management game.
Football Manager 2024: Too familiar or just right?
The first thing you notice upon booting up Football Manager 2024 is how familiar it feels.
Me as the manager of a football club. Can only go well.
This is a game that does not change much at all.
I haven’t played for a few years, but it doesn’t feel very different.
I actually think for the most part that the lack of change is a good thing.
I found out very quickly in this situation that I was saying all the wrong things.
Familiarity is important and beneficial in this case.
There’s more variety in appearance choices than before but it’s not a lot for the most part.
Then there’s the Match Engine.
Ryan Reynolds laying out his expectations for the club with me in charge.
This shows 3D models of the players on the pitch with the highlights playing out.
Animations are quite basic and there’s a clear lack of graphical fidelity.
I have a friend who has played Football Manager for years.
Yeah, the graphics in the match visualizer doesn’t look great, but you very quickly stop caring.
He played on an old laptop that wasn’t capable of playing many games at all.
But Football Manager always ran just fine.
Many people that play FM do so on quite dated hardware and some rarely play other games.
Keeping the required graphical configs low keeps these players onboard.
The lack of change doesn’t matter
Now hear me out.
I know we all want shiny new features and graphical changes whenever a new game comes along.
Of course, there are some changes.
No longer do you have to scrap everything you have achieved to start over.
Just continue where you left off.
You very quickly forget about those mediocre 3D character models and animations.
The only thing you might question is whether this game really deserves a yearly release.
But standing on its own, this is every bit as good as you might have hoped.
Fist pumping when we scored, cheering on the players, screaming at off-side calls after we scored.
It was like I’d gone back in time ten years to when I was an avid football viewer.
Immersion at it’s finest.
It’s clear to me that Sports Interactive and Sega know that this is what makes their game special.
Why would you want to make big changes to that winning formula?
I just wish Ryan Reynolds would let me spend a lot more money.
