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Football Manager 2024 review: One last iteration of the most comprehensive management sim goingSeason Finale
Season Finale
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
Like when Sir Alex Ferguson oversaw his final game at Old Trafford, there’s a complicated atmosphere surrounding this year’s Football Manager.Football Manager 2024is the last iterative game in the series before Project Dragonfly arrives next year, through which Sports Interactive plan the most radical overhaul of the game since the introduction of the 3D match engine in FM 09. This includes a complete rebuild of Football Manager in Unity, implementing brand new animation technology, and the inclusion of women’s football. But there is a reason why the studio has stuck with this tried and tested formula for so long. Big changes come with big risks, and as any Man Utd fan will know, those changes don’t always pay off.
But such concerns are for the future. FM24 is with us right now, and while it may be swapping the dugout for the stands ninety minutes from now, this isn’t some ceremonial exhibition match. It’s business as usual, and in mostly good ways. Sports Interactive have made meaningful changes to themanagement gameboth on and off the pitch, all built on top of fundamentals that remain as complex and compulsive as they have for years. That said, FM24 also demonstrates why a change is welcome, as in its current form it can struggle to strike the balance between authenticity and fun.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
One of the focal points of this year’s update is the match engine, which is surprising given what’s happening next year. Nonetheless, Sports Interactive have made several adjustments to how they simulate on-pitch action. At the heart of this is a new “motion-matching” system that can pull animations from the game’s database and deploy them with better context. Transitions, like a player shifting from receiving a ball to sprinting, are noticeably smoother than before. It also lends greater personality to off-the-ball action, like players half-heartedly raising their hands to claim corners they obviously didn’t win.
In terms of representing how football moves, I’d say FM24 is about 85% of the way there. There are still areas where it is noticeably unrealistic, the primary example being tackles. On-foot interceptions are often realistically depicted, but when two players collide it all turns a bit Action Man. Other weakspots show themselves when play suddenly shifts direction and everyone has to about-face, alongside more isolated incidents of players visibly shifting animation, or gliding across the ground slightly to reach a designated spot.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
As for those smaller changes, FM24 brings a tentative introduction of positional play, where certain players like Advanced Playmakers will move into new positions when you’re in possession, opening up new passing opportunities to move the ball forward more smoothly. Tying into this is the introduction of Inverted Full Backs, who move forward while your team is in possession to play a more central defensive role. It’s a fairly limited implementation, only really affecting certain positions in higher-tier clubs. But it’s a welcome addition regardless.
All of this results in highly watchable match simulations that better reflect both the technical and human qualities of football. There’s still plenty Sports Interactive can improve upon, from the basic character models and crowd simulation, to minor details like more elaborate manager animations at the end of the match (I’ve grown weary of seeing my manager raise his arms above his head like a tickled Slow Loris when he wins.) But it’s elaborate enough that you can enjoy not just major events like spectacular goals, but little moment-to-moment details, like a winger slipping past a defender on the half-turn.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
There are new features off-pitch too. But before we slide-tackle into those, I should point out the introduction of two important quality of life features. The first is the ability to transfer your save file from FM23 to FM24. It’s a bit daft that this is only happening now, just as the series is about to undergo a major overhaul, rather than in all those years of iterative continuation. But it isfinallyhappening. The other is the ability to start your career in three different ways. “Original” starts the game in preseason 2023 with all players at the appropriate clubs. “Real World” starts your career on the current real-life date, with all players at their respective clubs. Finally, “Your World” sets squads and budgets at the date your game starts, with all future transfers cancelled.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
All of this is designed to better-reflect the reality of modern football, and perhaps it does. But it also makes transfers more of a headache than they already were. Adding an intermediary might help you sell a player, but it also further drags the process out. The fun of signing a new player is signing a new player, everything that gets in between that makes it less exciting. Which isn’t to say I should be allowed to sign Erling Haaland for five quid and a bag of chips, but that FM can sometimes be overly concerned with the reality of football management in favour of providing an entertaining experience for the player.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega
