SI's latest installment in the Football Manager series is as good as ever.
However, it can also make you scream in delight as well as in fury. Managing Ipswich into a 3-1 lead against Liverpool, the scousers peg you back to 3-3, until with 1 minute left, Danny Haynes completes his hat-trick to lead the Tractor Boys to their 4th win over one of the big four in 2 seasons.
The gameplay is as you would expect. Choose your club, buy the players, pick the team, scout out future stars, then go through a season. Then another, and another. And then another. You may get bored eventually (or give up in frustration as you get work permit applications for Lebohang Mokoena, Freddy Adu and Nicolas Millan all turned down), but it will last, and you may take it up again later anyway.
The graphics annoyingly lack in the match department (though it is understandable, since as it is doubtful they would be able to get player models for Nationwide Conference North/South, Singapore, India and the like), but it has good enough visuals for the menus, which are easily navigatable for a game this size, so no complaints. The sound lacks, but it means you can play your own music in the background with iTunes rather than putting up with the rubbish EA would give you.
So, all in all, it's as quality as you could predict, and for a football fan, the game for taking a go at managing.