FM26 Review - Is Football Manager back with a bang or a whimper?

Sports Interactive built themselves quite the obstacle to overcome the second they rubber-stamped the cancelation of FM25 last year. At the time, fans were left bitterly dissapointed, worried about the future direction of their beloved franchise, and as such excitement - and most notably, expectation - would skyrocket for whenever it was to return.

Enter Football Manager 26. Much of the marketing and the early access ahead of its eventual release on November 4 would be dominated by controversy. Gamers took to the fancy and new User Interface (UI) with a mixed reception, while fellow fans and content creators alike would dominate social media channels with their anger and dismay at missing features, as well as bugs, glitches and game crashes. And while they're more than entitled to their own opinion, all I can say is that I'm happy FM26 is back - but it's very much far from perfect.

As a massive Southampton FC and football fan, Football Manager has dominated a large majority of my life. After all, it made it possible for me to live out my dream of being in the dugout at St Mary's, and guiding the club to Premier League and Champions League triumph.

So to no surprise I went into FM26 ready to love it no matter what, because it had been way too long without it.

Unfortunately, however, I soon noticed that there would be a very steep learning curve thanks to the new UI, and to be honest I don't like it, not one bit.

It's ever so clunky, the text is small, it's hard to find what you're looking for, and if you do it probably took two or three clicks too many.

Plus, it's missing so much stuff that I, as a FM lover, adored using to help me manage my club, like heat and passing maps during games, the ability to compare two different players at a time. It's gone and this game suffers from it.

But that's not to say the UI is all bad. On the face of it, it's pretty, largely functional, and I know that with time and regular updates, Sports Interactive can make it much better than the threadbare interface it is at present.

Now here's the biggest positive I can give FM26 - and this is great news for the 'ball knowledge gurus' among you - tactics.

Wow. It has been completely redefined this year with two different set-ups: when your team have the ball, known as In Possession Tactics, and when they do not have it, Out of Possession Tactics.

That, along with all the alterations you can make to set-pieces, player instructions and much more, mean that in this FM more than any other, you can truly make your squad play the way you want to.

This does mean that I found FM26 very difficult, especially at first. In the end, I found there were so many different combinations and toggles that it took me an age to find something that worked for me, but when I did, my enjoyment levels surged.

Next, the match engine, another huge improvement in Football Manager 26. The graphics are the best they have ever been, edging the game ever closer to the likes of EA FC 26.

It is helped along the way by the improved audio which made me feel like I was at a real-life football game at times, bringing never-before-seen levels of immersion.

Another new feature I love is the ability to skip a match by clicking the 'Instant Result' button, something incredibly useful in pre-season, and for those pointless mid-week cup games.

On the flipside, I encountered weird game-breaking bugs quite regularly, such as an endless team meeting and being stuck on the Goal Replay camera for an entire game.

But I understand Sports Interactiveis continuing to bring out regular updates fixing these issues, so it's definitely possible these problems will have been resolved by the time launch day comes around.

On the whole, Football Manager is largely back with a bang and an ever so slight whimper. It's not perfect. When it's good, it's one of the best FM games of all time, but certain creative decisions, like the absence of international management at launch, and of course that frustrating UI, leave a lot to be desired.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5