Football Manager 2014

The Football Manager series has been around for quite a while now, constantly providing its fans with better and better releases every year. Moreover, the developers also listen to their fan base and try to add certain features, as well as remove those that do not sit well with the players. Hence, you can be certain that every new episode is at least better than the previous, even if it doesn't revolutionize the genre in any way.

Football Manager 14 is the latest yearly release and it certainly brings forth a large wave of changes, most of which are aimed toward improving the overall mechanics and the gameplay itself. A lot of attention went into the 3D simulation as well, in order to make the matches more exciting and realistic, while also improving the atmosphere by quite a bit in the process.

Probably the biggest changes concern the game's tactical creation menu and the player transfer mechanics, because even hardened fans of the series might need a while to get accustomed to them. Hence, almost everything about how you create a tactic and put it into practice has been reworked, while the transfer market now includes some more realistic gimmicks to increase the challenge, such as new contract clauses and more difficult negotiations.

The media presence has also been improved a lot and you can now receive news from a lot of categories, as well as sort the items any way you like, in order to make it easier to filter out the important information. Naturally, the newspapers have an even greater impact on your reputation and they really try to capitalize on your mistakes, or your achievements, depending on how you fare in the lead.

Most of the user interface has been changed as well, but it is still somewhat familiar and it should not pose any problems to those who are accustomed to the franchise. New players will find it to be quite easy to navigate the menus and get to the desired section, since everything is very intuitive and well-explained in the tutorial. As you go along, it is also possible to customize most of it, in case you want to personalize the experience or make it even easier to access the desired information.

While most of the improvements might go unnoticed for those who are not familiar with the series, Football Manager 2014 certainly delivers when it comes to actively trying to please the audience. Moreover, the new addition are exclusively helpful, especially when it come to the transfer market modifications and the tactics.