Sports Interactive’s long-running Football Sports betting site B Sports Manager series is at its best when you’ve been with a team for a handful of seasons–once you’ve managed to stamp your mark on a club, imbued it with your own philosophies, and adopted an anomalous way of putting your opponents to the sword. Sure, you’ve dealt with your fair share of volatile personalities throughout the years–perhaps you were forced to sell a star player after a heated argument over his eagerness to join Barcelona–but you always had a plan.
All of the franchise’s disparate systems–transfer dealings, player scouting, tactical tinkering–coalesced into an endlessly engaging whole that creates some memorable tales. It’s no surprise that with each new addition to the series, we see plenty of improvements and new features in these areas. Yet it’s the on-pitch action–which usually takes a relative backseat in Football Manager–that really holds it all together.
In that regard, Football Manager 2016 was a decidedly flawed game. Its 3D match engine was flushed with blemishes: god-like crosses com…