Soccer Manager 2021 is the newest release in the SM series developed from the house Soccer Manager LTD. The series specializes in producing a realistic football-manager experience for mobile players, similar to that of Football Manager on PC. This new edition brings a ton of changes and improvements, which will certainly impress the fans of the series. Here in this article, we will focus on the review of Soccer Manager 2021 and all its new features.
Visuals and UI have been revamped
Visually, you can see a very obvious difference between SM 21 and SM 20. The color scheme is much brighter and the UI is much cleaner. There are a lot of menu items in the Soccer Manager, and organizing them would definitely be a difficult task.
However, the developers have done the job well. Navigating through the UI is much easier and the controls are very responsive. Overall, this Soccer Manager release feels much brighter and cleaner than previous versions.
Tactics management is now much better
In any football management game, tactics are essential as they are the only settings you can alter to help your team win matches. SM 21 sees a completely different type of tactics management.
You are now given full control over your formation and you can drag and drop players to whichever position you want them to play in. The system is very fluid and responsive, and it gives much more satisfaction whilst handling the tactics.
Although the team instructions are the same as previous, as a little additional feature, there is a little diagram to show how your team will move about. This helps as sometimes tactics get a little confusing, seeing the arrows will help organize your team easier. This is a small feature, but it is very helpful nonetheless.
Finances and transfers have become much more detailed
Unlike in previous editions, SM 21 gives you full control over your finances, this includes all the details of money coming in and money going out. All of this is broken down to the smallest of sub-sections, including merchandise income, TV revenue, ticket revenue, tournament prize money, and even expenditure from maintenance and administration.
You can handle this by upgrading facilities, signing sponsorships, and upgrading your stadiums. You truly are given complete control over the entire club as the manager. Contract offers are now much more detailed, as well as giving them money, you will also have to determine the role the player will have. whether they will be for backup, or if they will be starter players.
Unlike in previous SM games, other teams will put in smarter offers for players, even if they haven’t been listed. To add to this, SM 21 introduces bidding wars, where multiple teams can go for the same player. The only feature missing is player-swap deals, however this is probably already on the list of features to add soon.
Players are now much smarter
In previous releases, the players usually had very little control over their careers. As the manager, you could simply move them around however you wanted. But this time, the players are much smarter and they can make their own choices. The biggest example of this is player conversations. If a player would like to talk to the manager, they will send a message to your inbox which you can respond to. This feature is similar to that In FIFA 20 Career Mode. Players could be uncertain about the role they have in the team, or they may feel uncertain about you as the new manager.
This means that you really have to be careful over the players, keeping them all happy is an additional task for you. Even in games, you can see the player’s reactions to fouls/bookings, goals, and more. The players seemingly have their own virtual lives in SM 21, which gives the game much more realism.
Actual match footage is improved
There is a heavy focus on the actual in-game match footage in SM 21. There are a lot more cutscenes and replays, which again, make the game much more realistic.
In SM 20, there was no replay, a goal scored would be forgotten immediately after. However, in SM 21 a goal is viewed in multiple camera angles, allowing you to admire your team performance. Not only that, but they’re also are a lot of new cutscenes that range from foul reactions to trophy animations. It really feels like you are watching a real football game.
Final Thoughts
We had always expected a lot from Soccer Manager 2021 and it surely has delivered as discussed in this review. There is a countless number of new features and improvements which all contribute to making the game a complete realistic managerial experience. Almost everything the community had asked for and more has been added to the newest release.
For any long-term fans of Soccer Manager, this edition is, of course, a must-have. However, for anyone new to the series, this is definitely a game to try out if you are a fan of football. Previously available for pre-registration, the game is now live for both Android and iOS in their respective app stores.
Did you find this Soccer Manager 2021 review useful? If you have any question or suggestion, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
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Think it’s a good game but think it be better if you can start unemployed like football manager