Football Manager 2010: Preview

Football Manager 2010 is back and set to improve upon some key features. The biggest new addition we saw from last years game was the inclusion of an all-new 3D match engine; that finally took the game in the direction fans had been hoping for, and this has been hit with a whole host of new animations, more variation in stadia, more realistic looking crowds, much-improved lighting, and even pitch degradation. All culminating in a much more enjoyable and immersive gameplay experience.

The user interface – as is an almost yearly occurrence for the series now – sees yet another overhaul, only this time you’ll navigate your way through the menus via tabs located at the top of each screen, apparently making it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.

There’s a brand new Tactics Creator which is set to make instructing your players individually and as a team much less of a chore. You can also ‘shout’ at your players from the touchline, this allows for more effective results. Your assistant manager and backroom staff will now also be more prone to giving you good advice, depending on their pedigree of course.

There’s also now a Match Analysis option that gives you a more in-depth overview of what’s happening in your matches, including where you’re players are going right or wrong. This includes where shots, passes, crosses, headers, tackles, fouls and interceptions have been made on the pitch.

Finally, it seems the database editor feature has received a few key additions, including the ability to add new divisions to existing leagues, as well as add completely new leagues of your very own. This now makes it the first football game in history that allows you to create and play your way through every single tier of any given footballing nation.

There are also set to be a few ‘hidden’ features in the games final release, as is usually the case with Sports Interactive. So look out for those. The game is released October 30 on PC, Mac and PSP platforms.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed