For many people the football season hasnt properly begun until the new Football Manager game comes out. Football Manager 2014 comes with many updates to the highly regarded sports organisational game.
That would be more than 1,000 improvements and enhancements from the major to the hardly noticeable but effective. The first and most obvious is the addition of cloud save technology, which means that managers can take care of their team from any internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world.
This release of FM also comes with Steam Workshop tools that enable the customisation and sharing of content and items such as photo/logo packs. Using the new Challenge Editor players can even create and share custom competitions and even tailor-made in-game challenges and these can then been incorporated into the free-to-download Pre-game Editor.
Other improvements include: tweaks to the 3D Match Engine. Enhanced AI, improved lighting and player animation, individual player character and kit models, more realistic player reaction to on-field incidents.
The creation and implementation of tactics and strategies has also been improved for FM2014 with player roles and team strategies. Roles for players using multiple positions, new player roles and instructions have been updated but so has the rival manager AI.
A revamped transfer module and more sophisticated board interaction and contract negotiations are also included so that managers and boards can now make demands and lay down their respective visions for the club in both initial job interviews and contract renewal discussions.
In order to keep pace with the other changes, the news system has also been overhauled so managers can now deal with many club matters directly from their inbox.
All this and the ability to choose more than three playable nations in Classic mode are wrapped up in a new-look and user interface, with key areas redesigned including the training overview page, the transfer centre and the news homepage.