Football Manager 2024 Review (phlex)
This should be renamed to Director of Football 2024.
I'll tell you why.
This game is absolutely terrible in simulating actual football. Simple as that. To know why, let me detail a few things:
1. The match engine is absolutely idiotic. They market animation updates as "match engine changes" when its just graphical updates. It doesn't change the way the actual football is played. The same crazy idiotic sequences happen, the same horrendous passing, the same issues that have been in this match engine for many editions. But hey, if your player can now do the backheel animation WOW AMAZING ALL NEW MATCH ENGINE! Yeah right.
Emiliano Buendia with 5 heading and 8 jumping can score towering headers vs fullbacks, but my striker who has 16 heading and 15 jumping can't score any headers. Alex Iwobi is pretty much Rivaldo's dad, but Fermin Lopez can't beat a man. This game's match engine is nonsensical. Spoiler alert: the striker problem is still not solved. Your strikers will rarely score, even if you put chances for them on a plate.
2. Tactics. This game's tactics engine is so bare bones. Not kidding, Championship Manager 4's tactics screens (yes that game was out in 2003 or so) had options which made sense. You can go look at some youtube videos to see for yourself whereas here they drew up these needlessly complicated UI nightmares and filled it with options that don't even make sense, and then you'll your team not even apply them even if you've coached them to fully understand the tactics. Want an example? I'll tell my players to pass short, but they will yeet the ball when there are several short options available (and no the player trait doesn't have that quirk). Another example is when you tell your defensive line to step up more which says they should push up to the halfway line and stay tight to the opposing strikers, but they will let the guy get the ball, have a snack, talk to his mom on the phone, maybe take a nap, then turn and peel them like the ripest banana in an ASDA.
So TLDR, the "new" tactics options they put in the game, they don't work, and even if they do work, it's so watered down from previous games that it's a massive downgrade. And, before I forget, these tactics aren't even close to realistic. Teams nowadays play different systems: one in possession and one out of possession. PES 2021 (of all games) had this feature and it was realistic and challenging. Here? This is supposed to be the best "sImULaTiOn" of football management, and they don't even have this feature! LMAO. Yeah but include another useless toggle button which has the most confusing description and slap the "BRAND NEW" tag on it.
Another point I just remembered, they basically make it so only one system actually works (gegenpress/Guardiola-ism basically somewhere in that spectrum), and every other thing is just dead-on-arrival.
3. Quality of Life. This game has some of the most sickening UI choices I have ever seen in gaming, and yes I've put 1500 hours into Rainbow Six Siege. That's saying something.
What's one positive about this game? Squad building is still fun, buying and selling players. However, given how they've been putting in zero effort and innovation in the other areas, it really just makes one wonder if they had a competitior, what other major deficiencies could be found in that too!
Anyway, rant over. This game is a joke. Don't buy this game until they explicitly mention that they have revamped their tactics engine and their match simulation engine. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THEIR TEENY TINY GRAPHICAL UPDATES AS A MATCH ENGINE UPGRADE.
TLDR: SEGA/Sports Interactive whatever they're called are just EA DLC.
My advice? Get FM 2012, get a mod with the latest seasons/database and just play that.