The genre of so-called football managers has actually been considered almost extinct for a long time. The younger generation of players sometimes no longer knows such titles – apart from the endlessly complex Football Manager from Sega – while older generations mourn the days of the Bundesliga Manager and Kick-Off. But those who are said to be dead live longer: True to this motto, developer Winning Streak Games is now actually sending a new representative of this genre into the race with We Are Football 2024. Of course we had to take a closer look.
Three years ago, the German development team Winning Streak Games released the football manager We Are Football, which was intended as the spiritual successor to Anschlag & Co. Even back then, the game did a lot of things right, but due to a few mistakes, it didn’t get beyond a place in the upper midfield. With the current 2024 edition, the team wants to learn from these mistakes and finally set their sights on the Champions League ranks.
As with its predecessor, you shouldn’t expect a game in the style of Sega Football Manager. Although both basically come from the same genre, We Are Football 2024 chooses a more accessible path than the brittle series from England. The focus is on a somewhat relaxed presentation of the tough business of football with all its ups and downs. We Are Football 2024 is certainly complex and anything but lightweight. However, you don’t have to worry about every little detail of the team and their tactics, but rather keep an eye on the big picture – similar to the venerable kick-off series.
The truth isn’t just on the pitch
At the beginning you choose one of numerous clubs. You can either start right at the top or fight your way from the lower leagues into the tough professional business. The developers didn’t have the money for expensive licenses, so you have to make do with fantasy names for teams and players. These sometimes give an idea of the real role models, but of course it still scratches the atmosphere a bit.
But back to the actual gameplay: You take care of almost all of your team’s needs. This ranges from organizing training to contract negotiations and expanding the club premises. There are various levels of expansion and expansion available, some of which have a greater or lesser impact on your team.
Even the first glance clearly shows that the developers have cleaned up compared to the first We Are Football. The menus are clearer, so you no longer have to scroll through numerous screens unnecessarily. The overview “What is good? What’s bad”, which informs you about current problems. This helps in faster decision making.
Another interesting innovation is the cabin seismograph. This shows which players support you as a coach and who are dissatisfied. Anyone who steadfastly ignores the current mood in the team may soon have a big problem – and an unwanted mole in their own ranks. Little things like this come very close to the real world of football and contribute to the believable atmosphere of We Are Football 2024. The situation is similar with the trainer family, which you can now take care of. However, this falls more into the “nice to have” category.
Where are you walking?
Aside from that, you can work on a variety of tasks: putting together training, putting together the squad, targeted regeneration of individual players in practice groups, fine-tuning tactics right before match days and a hell of a lot more. It would go beyond the scope of this article if we were to list every single point. There is no shortage of work, features and setting options – an El Dorado for every hobby nailer. Not all of it has a noticeable impact on the team and their performance, and the controls in the form of controls can sometimes be a bit fiddly.
We Are Football 2024 – Like kick-off back then! Trailer for the new football manager
We Are Football 2024 exudes the charm of the classic football manager games à la Kick-Off.
It’s also a shame that scouting, for example, is rarely really effective; some of the player stats seem to have almost no influence on actual performance. But the developers have mostly turned the right screws to make the manager’s life more manageable and therefore more authentic. Everything feels more rounded than in its predecessor – which, by the way, wasn’t a bad game either.
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Speaking of design: the representation of the games from the predecessor, which took a lot of getting used to, has given way to a new 3D presentation. This cannot even begin to compete with modern football games like EA Sports FC and exudes more of the charm of the 90s. Nevertheless, it represents a clear improvement and lets you get more excited about what’s happening. There are also various activities available to you during the games so that you can have a little influence on the course of the game live – just like in real life as a coach.
2024-03-08 10:01:51
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