Football Manager 2014 Beta Impressions - kelvinmak's Blog

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kelvinmak's Blog

Football Manager 2014 Beta Impressions Stuck

Posted on October 29, 2013 at 03:22 PM.

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Usually I spend about a week on a game to write up the impressions. For the FM 14 beta, as you can probably tell, I needed a little more time. The biggest reason is because I can�t really figure out where I stood�I still can�t, actually�with the new tactical system. Honestly, it�s quite a change, and it can take some getting used to, especially for those of us who've gotten very comfortable with the old system.

If you haven�t played the beta version, here�s the quick lowdown: the slider-based (and the occasional check box) team and player instructions are gone. Instead, we set player roles (for example, a deep-lying playmaker), and then compliment them with �shouts��essentially instructions on different facets of play.

Now, for the uninitiated, it's important to note that the player roles and shouts aren't new concepts, as they were introduced in 2012, except they used to work alongside the sliders, as opposed to replacing them. As well the player role is essentially a preset of sliders anyway, so it�s not like the two concepts are totally different. So why the hoopla, you ask, since we�re still essentially doing things we've done before, with the same general idea (giving the player a role, and then further customizing it) albeit through different ways?

Transparency, for one. I have a feeling SI wants us to stop thinking about player instructions in terms of sliders, but as somebody who�s spent so much time pouring over them (and I suspect this may be the case for a few more FM veterans), that�s not the easiest thing to do. So essentially, I�m still coming to terms with interpreting a role through the text based description, as opposed to old �looking under the hood�, if you want to put it that way, by checking out the (now eradicated) sliders and trying to know every facet of that role�s behavior.

Again, all of this may just be that I�m averse to change. If you are new to the game, I totally understand if you ask what all this fuss is all about. Because ultimately the shouts, combined with the expanded assortment of player roles and team mentalities, actually do a good job of replacing the sliders, making things more efficient (though I wish the option for playing counter attack no matter the mentality remained). It�s just that, psychologically, since those shouts are also much more simplified as they�re categorized in simple intervals (do more of x, do less of y), there does seem to be this sense of loss of control, whether real or not, as the previous sliders were in intervals of 1-20, and they gave us much more to fiddle with.

Elsewhere, it seems the beta is still going through some issues with the match engine. The most obvious one is on the defensive side, where defenders (fullbacks, especially) are too lax in their closing down. The strikers also fluff too many easy chances for my liking, but this isn�t a new issue�ultimately the numbers (shots, goals, etc.) look right, so I guess it�s just that the engine isn�t up the snuff yet in terms of portraying them in a realistic fashion.

Otherwise, it�s business as usual for the franchise, which is to say stellar. Many facets of the game received improvements. Press conferences, for example, seem much more varied and contextual, and they feel less repetitive than in years past. What�s even better is that managers will now be offered a chance to respond to more comments than in the past-- there are just more changes to interact, in general-- making the game world seem that much more alive.

So if all those words at the beginning dedicated to the tactical stuff are giving you a mixed impression about the game, fear not. That was just the first thing that stood out to me, and probably the only element of the game I�m not totally sold on (or used to) just yet. Overall, Football Manager is still an incredibly fun and addictive game if you invest your time and attention to really explore its depth. In fact there are plenty more little positives that I don�t have the space to list, or, I'm sure, I haven�t encountered just yet (the latter is, in my opinion, what separates the great games from the very good). If SI can fix the various little booboos that are currently in the beta, we should have another great edition of the game on our hands come Thursday.

Meanwhile, I�ll go and spend more time with the game (or maybe a licensed professional) to see if I can make up my mind on the new tactics stuff before then.