Like every year, the Sports Interactive managerial game has arrived, to the delight of all aspiring managers in the world. Football Manager 2023 is now available, let’s find out together in our review
Sports Interactive has spent a great deal of time over the years perfecting its football manager series, to the point where each new release has been modified beyond belief to give fans the most realistic game possible. While the game doesn’t feature major changes, it adds a few improvements that keep the franchise above all others. But let’s see in detail what’s new in Football Manager 2023!
The beautiful game
Playing Football Manager has always made us better and more prepared fans. It allows us to understand patterns, meet new prospects and above all it makes us look cultured talking to friends at the bar about a promising new player in the Austrian league. On the other hand, there is a large world outside the Premier League full of talent to be seized. In Football Manager 2023 things do not change, quite the contrary. If you enjoy managing your small hometown club to the Champions League, there is nothing better on the market.
The ultra-realism of Football Manager 2023 this year is enriched by a respectable AI, which makes learning the game directly proportional to real football knowledge, like no other sports simulator has done before. Like every year you are president, coach, financial director, human resources and much more. Micromanagement can be customized thanks to the staff available, or you can choose to manage everything yourself. Nothing new under the sun, but improved.
More features, more difficulty – Football Manager 2023 review: ready to kick-off?
The FM 23 gaming experience it’s really overwhelming, despite the gaming experience being almost identical to that of Football Manager 2022. Both for better and for worse. The 3D engine struggles a bit this year, it’s true that FM fans don’t play it for the graphics but from a new product one would expect something more technically. The sound also doesn’t feature much progress, except for the new one UEFA licensed Champions League anthem. Although technically and as an interface the game remains similar to the previous one, the game simulation has some substantial differences.
There is a term in the Football Manager community: “You’ve been put on FM”. This saying means that whatever you do, RNG will give better performance stats but still cause you to lose the game. This also often happens in real football, just think of Leicester’s Premier League victory, but the randomness and uncontrollability of this feature is disarming. The biggest change to the match engine this year is that the AI manager is smarter and changes his tactics throughout the match. An aspect that makes the game more difficult and, at times, even more frustrating.
Game engine – Review Football Manager 2023: ready to kick-off?
The match engine this year it works well, despite the few “graphic” variations from one game to another. Accepting the previously mentioned issues of difficulty and randomness, the game once again feels like a good game of football, with players reacting to every change that is made from the sidelines, for better or for worse. From a tactical point of view, the new defensive systems they made blocking even smarter, especially playing with the now abused 3-5-2.
New options have appeared for offside traps, restarts and defensive width on crosses. However, we find some crucial flaws in previous editions. Set pieces still feel like a lotterychanging corner kick routines results in more mistakes than goals and the ‘default’ setting is always the best in the end.
Management – Review Football Manager 2023: ready to kick-off?
Off the pitch, FM 23 makes us feel at home despite some changes in club management, notifications and transfers. Let’s be honest, the 24/7 news setting surrounding global football revolves around transfers, and it’s also our favorite part di Football Manager. Squad planning has changed, as well as the management of engagements, with the introduction of experience, a single sheet on the distribution of age and level of adaptability within your team. It’s useful to see where the gaps will occur in certain seasons when experienced players leave and there will be no emerging or developing players. This way you avoid compulsively buying expensive players at the top moment.
At each transfer window, the scoutmaster calls us to recruiting meetings to tell us what to improve and where we are doing well. Sports Interactive has edited these matches to make them think better about what’s going on in the world of football, but the extra ‘conversations’ and changes that occur with recruitment focuses seem to have made this process even longer. Too bad, because in FM 23 the situation had improved, we don’t really understand this return to the origins. The (seemingly insignificant but nice) integration of a dynamic timeline with club hits, it allows us to retrace our successes.
Let’s sum up
Net of what is analyzed in this one review of Football Manager 2023, we are ready to sum up. New fans will find the ultimate football manager in their hands, but they may find the package intimidating. Seasoned Football Manager managers however, won’t hear the game revolution they played last year (but they will play it anyway). At the beginning of each save there are introductions that try to make FM easier for beginners to use, which could make it easier to enter the FM world.
While the latest iteration of Football Manager has fueled my football addiction, I can’t help but think that Football Manager 24 needs to add something more drastic to stay relevant. Years of tech debt and an annual release mandate are preventing the Sports Interactive team from forging a new era of its bestseller, and that could threaten the game in the long run. We have to ask ourselves at this point: the game is worth the candle? What form this revolution will take is not known, but as fans we hope for an ace up our sleeve.
We hope we have provided you with an enjoyable read and as always we invite you to stay connected on TechGameWorld.com for more reviews, guides and much more. Also, don’t forget to check out Instant Gaming for always discounted games. Hello and happy gaming!
Good, but a change is needed
Plus points
- Always updated and with a strong identity
- Improved AI
- New in-game management and manager
- UEFA licenses
Points against
- Frustrating in-game AI
- Random and penalizing RNG
- Too similar to FM 22