Football Manager 2010

Sports Interactive, the legendary developer of Football Manager, have been attempting to open the series to a broader audience, no easy feat considering the franchise's unparalleled depth and realism. First there were loading screen tips, then an increasingly honed advisor system. In Football Manager 2010, the series introduces a complete navigational and visual overhaul that utilises a tabbed interface and cleaner screen layouts, which bear more than a passing resemblance to EA's FIFA Manager franchise.

First impressions are mixed. As your eyes scan the new visual style your mind churns, first rejecting the startlingly uncommon visual approach, then, just hours later, welcoming the overhaul as it begins proving its worth. Never before has it been this simple to navigate the game's myriad screens, which themselves are more pleasing on the eye.

Football Manager remains a game of brilliant though daunting depth. But to its credit, Sports Interactive hasn't stopped there, with the developer also injecting FM2010 with far greater levels of player feedback that will undoubtedly prove as useful to veterans as to Football Manager virgins.

Your backroom staff members now have an opinion on just about everything, from how certain players can raise their game to which coaches you should target to improve your coaching set-up. Pre and post match feedback has also been improved, notably the latter thanks to a solid new match analysis tool that enables you to analyse every kick, tackle, pass and shot that your team has performed during a match, then watch each instance in all its 3D real-time glory.

As has become the annual tradition for the Football Manager franchise, this year's offering is again rammed with small polishes that help hone and refine the series' tried and tested template. A quality, easily customisable media page helps keep you abreast of football-related developments from across the globe, while setting up your team's tactics is a far more intuitive process than before thanks to a step-by-step tactics creator, though veterans may not find much need for it. Of greater use is the ability to define player roles more easily than in previous years. Stick a pair of central midfielders in front of your back four and you can order one to play as a holding midfielder and the other to adopt the role of a playmaker or box-to-box dynamo.

So if you think you are up to the challenge of running your own team and challenging for honours in the beautiful game then Football Manager 2010 is one hell of a way to learn your trade. It’s either that of having a crack at running QPR!