Football Manager 26 marks the iconic management sim’s return after two years off, but longtime FM players are going to struggle as it is a bit of a confusing mess.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of football fans get to live out their dream as the boss of their favorite club with Football Manager. I’m one of them, with over 340 hours in FM24 alone, and countless others in years gone by. Plenty of conversations with friends revolve around iconic Football Manager saves with Celtic, Aston Villa, Fulham, Everton, and Crewe.
Well, that was the case until Sports Interactive broke the annual release cycle by scrapping Football Manager 25. SI ended up taking another year off, focusing on Football Manager 26 instead.
It is full of bugs; that’s just the nature of a beta. And while Sports Interactive has already moved to fix a number of them, there is one overwhelming issue – how confusing the new user interface is.
New layout isn’t very FM-friendly
Veteran Football Manager players were well-versed with the layout of things. Every year may have brought bug fixes, new features, and a database overhaul, but it looked and felt the same. It was comfortable, without being groundbreaking.
FM26’s new layout, however, is confusing and overwhelming. The latter is especially true if, like many players, you quickly skip through the introductory part of a new save. The left-sided menu was very easy to navigate; the new layout isn’t.
After a few hours, it isn’t as daunting as it is when you first start, sure, but there are still plenty of headaches with the six portal dropdowns. Some menus are just pop-out boxes and can be hard to navigate, especially if you misclick.
Bookmarks make things a little better, but constantly searching ‘captains’ to add a new player into the mix for those just feels like continually running into a wall. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten lost trying to find instructions and penalty takers too.
There is also the removal of the usual numbers for attributes and abilities. It makes it frustrating when searching for a new coach or scout, selecting outstanding instead of an actual figure.
It feels like a change for change’s sake, rather than adding anything of value.
Gameplay is better than ever
The match engine looks and feels great. It is, ultimately, the saving grace of FM26. Sure, there are still predictable moments where you just know you’re going to concede, but they aren’t as crazy as years previous. That is helped by the new graphics, too.
FM26 looks great. It’s no EA SPORTS FC or even eFootball, but it is a vast step forward graphically. There aren’t any awkward-looking looping long balls. Players will get to the byline and cut passes back, and it looks just as it should in real life. That’s a big bonus for the new game. Even if you’re a hardened 2D Classic fan, you should give 3D a whirl for a few games, just to appreciate the impressive graphical upgrade.
On top of that, I’ve sunk a lot of time into the women’s football side of the game. Managing Everton in the Women’s Super League has been a lot of fun. The shorter contracts and smaller wage demands make player turnover a regular thing, and recruiting is challenging, but it feels rewarding, too.
That is also helped by being able to find players who could be swayed to join you, instead of just being told they’re not interested. Transfer sagas feel a bit more saga-y, which isn’t a bad thing.
Verdict
Football Manager 26 takes time to get to grips with; it is a challenging update to the long-time series. However, it is going to push a lot of fans away with just how different it is from what they’re used to.
Continued updates throughout the year will, undoubtedly, address a number of the big problems with the game. However, they’ll need to come sooner rather than later to keep everyone around.
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