To the uneducated this may sound like you’re paying more for less but that’s not the case whatsoever. Switching formations becomes an easy task, changing tactics isn’t a long and drawn-out affair and you’re not required to individually train each member of your squad with specific instructions and regimes.

Much like the handheld versions everything is a lot simpler across the board, with no need to stress about team-talks, the board is more lenient with you and the interface overall is a lot cleaner with many of the options of the full mode either cutback or removed completely. You’ll still have full access to over half a million players and coaches, but now the process of signing a new player or an addition to your backroom staff is a lot less intricate and for the most part comes down to the right price and the desire for them to join your club. The best place to begin is with FM Classic that takes the game back to its roots and cuts out all the nitty-gritty and clogged up inboxes in favour of a more streamlined and direct approach to how things progress.

However, when you get into the habit of adding more and more into a game that already has so much it can get pretty damn confusing as to what you’re supposed to be doing and when, but as you read on you’ll realise that it’s both ends of the scale they’ve tweaked and it serves to please all. This year they’ve done quite the opposite in an ongoing quest to maintain a supernatural level of success with the introduction of some new modes and options. With this sort of hold on a community the team at Sports Interactive could easily rest on their laurels and simply churn out some updated rosters and a new interface and know that people would go out and buy it in their droves. It isn’t just an exercise in simulation though, it can become all-consuming and for those who play into all hours of the night it can blur the lines between game and reality as it suddenly dawns on you that Liverpool haven’t signed X, Y and Z up front and actually have quite a limited set of strikers at their disposal. Football Manager has been at the pinnacle for quite some time now destroying the social lives of many who adore the beautiful game.

Download football manager 2013