Here’s some great news for all fans of great football games who don’t own a high-end Android tablet: SEGA hasn’t forgotten about you. It took ten more days after Football Manager Touch 2017 hit the Google Play Store, but Football Manager Mobile 2017 is now finally also available on Android. This release pattern slightly differs from the ones Sports Interactive and SEGA opted for in previous years. Namely, the phone version of Football Manager usually launched simultaneously with the tablet “Touch” edition.
But that’s all in the past. What’s important is that Football Manager Mobile 2017 is now available for download and that it introduces some significant changes in comparison to its predecessor. For starters, much like this year’s desktop version of this sports management simulation game, Football Manager Mobile 2017 debuts a plethora of user interface improvements designed to make your managerial career significantly easier. This mostly pertains to notably richer stats screens which now present a whole lot of additional information. Not only does this year’s edition of Football Manager Mobile features the largest amount of stats in the series so far, but it also manages to find a way to display it without adding additional menus to an already complex UI. For example, this year’s player screen shows all of the attributes and records the old one does, but also manages to present you with a player’s preferred foot and a detailed breakdown of his favored positions. To make matters even more impressive, this richer interface still doesn’t feel cluttered.
As for other changes, there really aren’t that many. Polish and Turkish league are now playable, scouting results are somewhat more detailed, the player interaction menu is a bit more versatile, and rosters have obviously been updated, but this is still the good old Football Manager that we all know and love. Frankly, when you have such a successful formula which managed to carve its own niche in the market, there really isn’t a good reason to fiddle with it too much. Of course, Football Manager Mobile 2017 doesn’t boast the 3D match engine and cross-play feature present in Football Manager Touch 2017, but other than that, it’s the same game, just 55% cheaper. So, if you’re an avid fan of this sports management simulation franchise, you’ll probably find the $8.99 price tag a bargain considering the number of hours you’ll be able to put into Football Manager Mobile 2017. As always, the latest iteration of Sports Interactive’s long-running series features a few in-app purchases, but all of the unlockables can also be obtained by playing the game and earning achievements.
