Fans of the Football Manager franchise look forward to the release of a new installment each year, with the latest addition to the series, Football Manager 23, coming shortly. Although the beta versions are routinely available for players to try before the main game's release, anticipation for the latest installment of the game always hits new highs from the very first day of November every year. The opportunity to see new signings playing for a favorite club and the quest to lead a team to the summit of football's competitive mountain proves irresistible for players. To keep fans invested in the franchise, Football Manager 23, like all its predecessors, will be sporting some new features to enhance the players' gameplay experience.
Newbies may not notice any drastic changes to the game's engine, but Football Manager savants know that each release is packed with new features to give fans a better touchline management experience. Franchises can find it hard to keep players happy, and Football Manager knows all too well about the complaints of its fan base. High on the priority list of players is the level of graphics presented by the game engine, which many believe is outdated and desperately needs a revamp to compete with other football titles like FIFA 23. While Football Manager 23 may not have proposed any improvements to this glaring flaw - much to the dismay of its supporters - it introduces some key features that players are sure to love.
Licenses Are Finally Coming
The UEFA Champions League is the cream of the crop in club competitions in Europe, and winning the competition is the ultimate aim of any manager in the game. Being called the 'European Champions Cup' due to the absence of permissions from governing body UEFA was a tiny annoyance to players, but a noticeable one nonetheless. Another competition that suffered from this licensing rights challenge was the UEFA Super Cup, which had to be renamed the 'European Super Cup'.
Football Manager 23 finally rights these wrongs, as Sports Interactive and Sega has just gained licensing rights to the UEFA organization. Finally, players can be serenaded by the legendary Champions League anthem as their teams walk onto the pitch. Matchday screens are decorated with the famous Champions League logo and city backdrop, complete with blue and purple color schemes. Also, in addition to the competitions, licenses for certain clubs like Manchester City and Juventus are finally available, allowing the Football Manager series permission to use their real names in the game.
An All-New Squad Planner and Supporter Confidence
Recruitment is a huge part of football, and Football Manager players dip their toes into the transfer market every simulated year, searching for ways to improve their team. In the past, some gamers have used the traditional pen-and-paper method to highlight holes in their squad to fill and then search for players to address these squad needs. Football Manager 23 addresses a need for a transfer planner, showing gamers how a particular player fits into a squad setup. Players are ranked according to their abilities, giving gamers insight into what positions are weak in their teams.
The impact of fans in football cannot be overstated, as seen in popular football series Ted Lasso, and the last thing managers want to do is lose the backing of their team's fans, as the next thing that usually follows is the boot from the club owners. Football Manager has had a supporter's confidence feature in the past, but it didn't have much influence on the game. In Football Manager 23, gamers can now view a breakdown of supporters' loyalty levels, and how much sway general fan sentiment has on club ownership. Unhappy and impatient fans will spell doom for a manager, so players must strive to keep supporters happy, not just on the field but in other areas of importance.
The Tactical Engine is Getting Some Much-Needed Improvements
Players who enjoyed blitzing one tactic throughout a season and storming to the title in previous editions of Football Manager might want to look away for this one. Football Manager 23 is making the AI managers even more intelligent, enabling them to make game plans specifically tailored to the human player's system. Apart from this, more instructions are coming to the touchline, making for a more immersive management experience for gamers to enjoy. Perhaps most noticeably, some of the mechanics behind the animations in the game engine have been rethought. For instance, the goalkeepers in Football Manager can now physically influence one-on-one situations by making themselves a bigger target for the opposition, heading simulations are impacted by the placement of defenders, and dribbling motions got retouched to seem more human-like.
Dynamic Manager Timelines
Reviews at the end of the year can be nerve-wracking for most employees. For successful managers in Football Manager 23, however, the dynamic manager timelines can serve as a nostalgic memento of a season's achievements. This is not the first edition to have these timelines, as Football Manager 21 introduced this change to give the season overview a more formal look. Players can relive their moments of glory through a season in the timelines and look over their team's finishes in several competitions, as well as the stats of the team's best performers. There's also a section for the best signing of the season voted for by the virtual fans. Moments of the season are featured as well, along with the best goals scored by players on the team.
Another exciting prospect for Football Manager 23 is the return of Football Manager to PlayStation consoles. Perhaps, due to this new introduction, gamers might get their long-term wish of a graphically improved gaming system. Some fans argue that the number of new features is just right to advance the game, but others think the series is starting to tread water and needs to revamp the graphics sooner than later. Either way, Football Manager 23 promises to be another interesting addition for football fans to enjoy worldwide.
Football Manager 23 releases on Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 8, 2022.