The sad fact is that most of us won’t ever be good at football in real life. Nor are we ever likely to manage a professional team (let alone take them to Champions League glory! Yet the best football games can take you into a fantasy world in which you’re a world beater, either as a player or as a manager.
Football themes capture the imagination to such a degree that such games are among the most popular sports slots at Royal Vegas. In fact, there have been so many football games over the years for wannabe players and managers. With this in mind, it may think it hard to choose your favourites…
Management simulations
Football Manager is quite simply the best and most immersive football management simulation ever made. In our opinion, the latest incarnation, Football Manager 16, is the only game of its kind with which you ever need to bother (until next year). Some players complain that it is hard to get good at the game. Yet this realistic reflection of what it takes to be a manager in the beautiful game is unlikely to be beaten.
You have to deal with injuries, suspensions, contract disputes, training, the transfer market, press conferences and everything else that rests on the busy shoulders of real-life managers. While there are no real surprises in the latest edition, the game offers more realistic injuries, while the Football Manager Touch option streamlines the game to save you time (and your social life!).
Player simulations
Despite producing two of the best player simulations ever in the form of its fourth and fifth editions, Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) has taken a back seat to the FIFA series for the best part of a decade. Yet with PES 16, it seems that the series is witnessing a resurrection.
While FIFA is the official game and uses the likenesses and names of real players across its many leagues, we would argue that PES 16 is the best player sim out there. PES 16 uses Konami’s Fox engine to create better animations and more realistic gameplay.
FIFA suffers from a sort of hold-sprint-and-dribble style. On the other hand, PES gives you moments to poise your next move, slow the play, read what other players are doing and gain more control over the proceedings.
Other games to look out for in 2016 and beyond
Many men in their thirties believe that Sensible Soccer remains the best football computer game ever made. With this in mind, those who cut their gaming teeth in the 1990s will be crying tears of joy in response to the announcement that the game is set to make a return in 2016. Jon Hare, the man behind the original game, has set up a Kickstarter campaign in a bid to raise £300,000. This money will allow him to create Sociable Soccer.
