Is Football manager 2013, which probably speaks a lot to the general quality of games this year but man, I frickin love Football manager.

It is my civ, the type of game you go "just one more game" and boom you are finding yourself still playing it at 5 in the morning, and no game this year has had me more invested than this game, the adrenaline rushing when you are holding on to a lead with 10 minutes left knowing full well that all you can really do is pray, the exhilaration when you succeed, Scouting and developing new players, it is just endless amounts of fun.

Now what makes FM 2013 better than FM2012 you might ask (you probably aren't though), and well it cleans up the interface and has a lot of smart improvements and it just seems more stable than 2012 which crashed on me kind of a lot.

They also streamlined and improved a lot of stuff like the training system, added the possibility of hiring a DoF which is a godsend as you can finally get someone else to renew contracts as there is literally nothing worse than offering new contracts to 30 people at the same time.

Anyway, FM 2013 was the most fun I've had with games this year, partly because I feel I may be falling out of love with the medium and partially because.. Well it's awesome.

Football Manager continues to be the best sim on the market each year, it's recommendable even to those who don't like futbol(soccer), it's that good. Despite this, I've put nearly 500 hours into the series at this point, I refuse to continue to do so. Too many other games worth playing.

It's a good game, and compared to earlier versions of the series it has some major improvements on the interface-side. I'm not very fond of the match-engine, however. Defenders seem to be all over the place and when the ball is near them, they refuse to kick it. But nonetheless, it's a great game.

Wish I had more time playing this, cause you do need a lot of that if you want to play Football Manager.

This thing has been on the front page of Steam for months now. I wanted to see if there was any buzz for it on GiantBomb and this is the only thread.

Please, explain this to me. Maybe do an unofficial quick look or something.

@Toxeia: Its a simulation of the job "manager of a football club". The role can be as expansive and as narrows as you want it to be. In general the manager has the responsibility of picking the players for the first team, picking the tactics and the strategy of the team and the individual player roles and duties. Other aspects are your relationship with the players when you have team talks or private one to one chats. Mainland Europe clubs have a "Director of Football" person who is in charge of negotiating the transfer in and out of players, but most of the time the manager will have control over who goes into the club.

Think of it as the football equivalent of Gran Turismo. FM goes into very deep details of the football world, and everything you do goes into the team's ability to win games. I have been playing it since 2007 and i still find something new to learn. Since then It has enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of football.

Its an emotional roller coaster that punishes mistakes and rewards dedication. Just remember that its not all your fault when you lose, everything happens for a reason and it can be improved.

Do you actually play the games or are you just managing and the game crunches some numbers to decide a winner?

@ThePickle said:

Do you actually play the games or are you just managing and the game crunches some numbers to decide a winner?

You don't play the games, you are the manager. You can watch though, in either 3D, 2D or text commentary.

So how would this be for someone such as myself who loves PES and plays the crap out of that every year. I mainly play the FL as the manager. I do control the team and play every game. So I have always been hesitant about trying this.

I play about every other football manager that comes out, and the funny thing about it is that I don't even watch football. I used to watch football about 8-10 years ago so my football knowledge is really outdated. Still, I find them to be great fun and they have, as you say, that very addictive quality just like the Civ games.

@oulzac: Try out the demo. See how you like it.