14 DAY TRIAL // 
There are times when I look at the time I have spent playing Football Manager as a series and wonder how I could have used it to enhance my life, to make my friends happier or to contribute significantly to the society I live in.
Around May of each year, after hundreds of hours played, I try to convince myself that next year’s version will be just a small upgrade and that I should give it less attention.
But there’s no escaping the behemoth that developer Sports Interactive has created over time and Football Manager 2014 has already crawled under my gaming skin, with more than 100 hours played before it was officially launched.
Yes, this year’s version is not a leap in any category, but the studio has found a lot of areas, including crucial ones like tactics and the 3D matches, that could use improvement and it has delivered a complex and complete football experience that will keep true fans occupied in the long term.
Story
There’s nothing left to add to the core of Football Manager 2014: players can choose teams from the most important football leagues in the world and then lead them as they see fit, towards glory in continental competitions or towards relegation, which comes pre-packaged with being out of a job.
The level of detail remains as impressive as ever, with no less than 51 nations represented, with 5 lower divisions simulated to make sure that the immersion is as good as possible for the gamer who wants to play more than one season.
Once of the big story-related changes in the current installment of the game is the extra emphasis placed on the various members of the club and how they can interact in order to affect the long-term fortunes of the team.
Talking to fragile superstars after each match, carefully considering how to respond to a rival coach and trying to discern whether a journalist is honest or lying creates a lot of tension and shifts the focus more towards man management.
The narratives that emerge from Football Manager 2014 are now more complex than ever and its beautiful to see how the various actors evolve over time and create complex ways of interacting with each other.
Gameplay
Sports Interactive knows that it no longer needs to tinker with the core formula of the Football Manager series and that means that for this year’s installment, the team has been careful to examine the game and improve the most lackluster areas.
But the studio has introduced one huge set of changes linked to tactics, designed to simplify the overall experience and to give players more options to tweak approach without having to navigate numerous screens.
The system of sideline shouts that were introduced last year has been expanded a little and has taken the place of the sliders and tick boxes that made up the team-focused tactical controls.
They all come with clear explanations and gamers can simply visualize how they want their team to play and then implement the appropriate instructions.
The simplified team tactics are complemented by the fact that there are more options for players and an increase in the number of roles they can try out, which means that the overall level of complexity will not disappoint long-term hardcore fans.
Other noticeable changes are linked to the way press conferences work, with more variety and the ability to create long-term feuds with other managers, and morale also seems to be more important for the big teams, which can enter a tailspin if a few defeats are allowed to affect the players.
Sports Interactive has also made transfers more realistic, even if the sums asked for some players seem a little too high, and it is easier to see the program of a team at a glance.
The FIFA Financial Fair Play regulations are also implemented, which level the playing field and make it impossible for powerhouses like Monaco or Manchester City to simply buy their way to glory.
Football Manager 2014 also changes the dynamics of its virtual matches and there are more mistakes, even from the best players, and changes in tactics seem to have a bigger impact.
The Classic Mode has also been improved, diverging even more from the core Football Manager 2014 experience, and it now allows gamers to use a cloud-based save to move the same season from the PC to the Vita version of the title.
Graphics and audio
I always use the 2D mode to play matches in Football Manager 2014 because it speeds up my seasons somewhat even if I use the full game mode, but there are many players who judge a new release in the series based on the quality of the 3D simulation.
The quality is improved over last year’s game, but no one should expect anything close to what FIFA offers on the PC.
The animations are somewhat awkward at times, as is the buildup for some attacking moves, but the game still does a good job of showing how the tactics a gamer has selected play out.
The sound design is barely changed from last year’s installment and that’s probably because the developers understand that the best soundtrack for Football Manager 2014 is live commentary from a gamer’s favorite championship.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer elements of Football Manager 2014 allow a player to add more than one head coach and compete directly with their friends, but the structure of the game means that it requires a well-connected group of players to run multiple seasons.
This is still an experience best enjoyed alone, taking in the many ways in which the virtual version of your favorite league diverges from reality.
Conclusion
The tactics-related changes introduced by Football Manager 2014 are truly significant and it will be interesting to see how fans react to them and to the way they change the simulation experience.
I like the fact that I can quickly change the shape of my team if it performs badly, but I know that long-term fans might be disappointed to hear that they have less control than they are used to.
Other aspects of the game have received enough changes and improvements to make it feel new and different while remaining entirely familiar.
And, of course, all the transfers and the roster updates of the current season are implemented for all simulated countries, which for many gamers is reason enough to pick up the title.
I love the increased variety that I get from Football Manager 2014 and the pressure it puts on those who want to lead big teams to glory and I hope that Sports Interactive will react to fan feedback and deliver patches that tweak aspects of the transfers and the morale systems.
