Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
It's a shame that the menu system is so labyrinthine and twitchy (as an example, flick the stick diagonally by an increment of a couple of degrees and you'll immediately default to the top of the list, which is teeth-grindingly inconvenient while navigating a veeeeery long transfer list), because the 3D match engine itself has a lot going for it.
While Football Manager's flashing bars and sprinting pogs are all well and good, it can't compare to actually seeing the Notts County back four step on the ball or Lawrie Dudfield blundering into the offside trap for the eight millionth time. It's a convincing game engine with decent weather effects and nice stadia, with only flatpack fans spoiling it.
But it's very easy. Within a couple of hours we'd smacked Barnet 7-0 and Torquay 7-1, this with only rudimentary tactical tweakings. You can make things more difficult for yourself in many different ways, and this is why it's a shame LMA isn't better, because some of its ideas are brilliant.You can turn off visible player attributes, thus requiring more reliance on scouting reports and your own managerial intuition.
