It’s like clockwork – a few weeks before the full release of your favorite yearly footie title, players who preorder are able to dive into the beta. The beta for Football Manager 2019 released this weekend, and anyone who has plunked down their cash for the game has access. Check out the release trailer below:
In case you aren’t familiar, Football Manager 2019 is a yearly release that tasks you with guiding your favorite football (that’s soccer for Americans) squad to fame and glory. However, this isn’t like Fifa where you get to master the controls to school your opponents. In the Football Manager series, you take on the role of a coach. You set up training schedules, set piece tactics, scout opposing teams and free agents, and manage contracts. The game has a massive database of real world teams and players at its disposal, and a huge amount of research goes in to the game to make it the most realistic and lifelike football simulation around.
If you play Franchise modes in other sports games and find yourself enjoying everything outside of playing the games the most enjoyable part, then Football Manager is the game for you. There is an insane amount of things to keep track of in this game, and it is very easy to start playing during the evening and not look up until the sun is starting to rise.
Just like more traditional sports titles like Fifa and Madden, Football Manager tweaks its formula every year, updating rosters and trying out two or three big changes alongside some quality of life improvements. This year iteration is focusing on:
- Training: This seems to be the main focus of Football Manager 2019. One persistent issue with the series has always been being able to transform your players to fit the system you want to run. The developers want to give managers more options to develop their players with this year’s training options.
- Tactics: Another focus this year is on the creation of custom tactics. While you are developing your squad, you can slowly change the way the team approaches every contest until they play as a well-oiled machine.
- Bundesliga License: The big “get” for Football Manager 2019 is all the official kits, player faces, and trophies for Germany’s top league (and the lower Bundesliga 2).
- Tutorial: New or struggling managers will have a lot more options to learn the game with an interactive tutorial mode in Football Manager 2019.
There are other small quality of life improvements coming as well, but these seem to be the main focuses of this year’s game. Last year’s iteration of Football Manager was one of the strongest in years, and Football Manager 2019 looks like it is more a baby step than a giant leap forward. However, you can find out for yourself: the game is available on November 2, but you can jump into the beta now if purchase it.