Football Manager 2013

Ultimately they’ve got the balance just right and introduced enough new modes and features to keep everything feeling fresh and desirable. For me, FM Classic is the pick of the lot and I find it a pleasure to play. Offering up the right combination of nostalgia, simplicity and fun without having to dumb the whole thing down and is sure to keep me going for many a month. In all, I take my hat off to them on a splendid job and all that’s left now is to explain to the missus why my future sleeping patterns are going to be seriously messed up.

What we’re all looking for in a game of Football Manager is that almost intangible ‘just one more game’ addiction, that feeling that you need just one more game. It’s the X-factor that separates Football Manager from the rest and the good news is that this version still has it. Sure, it’s a deep and complicated beast and occasionally it’s impossible to not feel powerless when things aren’t going your way, but that happens to managers all over the world in real life too, and that’s the point. Football Manager’s relentless strive for realism is sometimes its biggest fault, but with new modes and...

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It's Football Manager, and chances are if you liked other ones you'll have snapped this up already or are planning to.

Anyway, there’s next year for that. For 2013, there’s more than enough to keep fans happy, and while it sometimes seems worth it to skip the latest version of Football Manager, the overhauled multiplayer and game mode variation makes this an essential purchase as ever.