Review at a glance
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★★★★☆
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Football Manager, the moreish strategy game responsible for the break-up of more marriages than office affairs, returns to put a further strain on domestic harmony.
This game’s often criticised for changing little from one year to the next, and although many of the new features this year are hardly revolutionary, there’s enough here to justify spending another £40 – or downloading the game on Microsoft’s Game Pass service for free on day one.
The best new features in FM23 are the tweaks to the match engine that make the game both more realistic and less predictable. Players now have a more realistic first touch, so your Non-League clogger might scuff a ball to an opponent, while your Grealish-esque show ponies can take a deft touch before unleashing a volley. It’s still done with the kind of low-level graphics that even a 10-year-old laptop can cope with, but it feels more authentic, less like computerised Subbuteo.
AI managers have upped their game, too. If you’re holding a narrow 1-0 lead as you head into the final 15 minutes of a game, you can expect your opponents to start throwing players forward, to tweak player instructions, not to passively sit by and accept defeat as they have in previous versions. It makes it harder to see out entire games without fiddling with your own formation, which is bad news for those who like to download the killer tactic from their favourite YouTuber and stick with it relentlessly.
There’s a definite added gloss to FM23. New official UEFA competition licences mean fancy cup draws, as well as television-style graphics and stirring anthems as your players take to the pitch. Some of this presentational polish just gets in the way, but you’re an emotional breeze block if your spine isn’t tingling as the Champions League music blares out at the start of a final.
Transfer tweaks
Preparing your raids on the transfer market are also much easier in FM23. A new squad planner makes it simpler to identify weaknesses in certain positions, while the superb ‘experience matrix’ reveals the age balance of your squad. My West Ham side, for example, has far too many players at the wrong end of their careers, which means Aaron Cresswell and Craig Dawson should be contacting East London estate agents, while my scouts have been instructed to spend more time hanging around Little Kickers sessions.
There’s still some disappointing dead wood in FM23. Manager press conferences are crying out for a revamp, with the same old questions that have been in the game for years being asked ahead of every match. Setting up training routines and set pieces is still as hideously laborious as watching a Jose Mourinho side. And it’s disappointing that the touted addition of women’s football didn’t make the cut this season, although it’s better that Sports Interactive takes its time and gets it right, rather than hand ammunition to the Neanderthals who will doubtless claim it’s ‘ruined the game’.
Verdict
Football Manager 2023 is by no means a must-have update for those who bought last year’s edition. But there’s enough here, just, not to leave you feeling cheated – the same might not be true of your neglected spouse.
