The venerable Football Manager series is back for another season.

This year for FM, developer Sports Interactive has ditched the tried and tested layout of having the menu on the left and the content in the middle, and replaced that with an extremely well presented design. The main menu is now spanned across the top of your screen, with everything below that used for content.

The FM 2010 match engine continues to improve on a scale any fan should be appreciative of. The vision and pas ... more >>

The venerable Football Manager series is back for another season.

This year for FM, developer Sports Interactive has ditched the tried and tested layout of having the menu on the left and the content in the middle, and replaced that with an extremely well presented design. The main menu is now spanned across the top of your screen, with everything below that used for content.

The FM 2010 match engine continues to improve on a scale any fan should be appreciative of. The vision and passage of play of your team will raise the sincerest of smiles, whilst defensive blunders will have you fuming.

Other changes include the fact that with the new tactics creator, SI has listened quite extensively to its community in an attempt to improve the level of control the player has over their team and how it plays. The Tactics Creator Wizard takes you through eight fairly simple steps: Introduction, Formation, Philosophy, Strategy, Player Roles, Player Duties, Adjustments and Summary. Once completed you can quickly edit the formation and instruction for your players, such as stating which centre back will challenge and which will cover; making your central midfielder a deep lying playmaker; having your wingbacks pushing forward for support when on the attack.

Also new to the game are Touchline Shouts. Examples include: Retain Possession, Get Ball Forward, Pump Ball into Box, Shoot on Sight, Play Wider, Play Narrower, Drop Deeper and Take More Risks.

These are complemented by Backroom Advice. This highlights a number of elements that were previously never obvious enough, allowing the player to combat it accordingly. For example, it will display the advantages and disadvantages my squad has against the upcoming opponent. When, where or how do they tend to score their goals? Are they particularly dangerous at set pieces? What kind of defensive line do they tend play better against? Can they be beaten with pace? These statements are essentially hints, but provide only enough information for you to absorb, analyse and then counter in which way you see fit.

All this comes with a 3D engine, online play, training, tactics and even the ability to make your assistant manager handle the press conferences. << less