For anyone who has stuck with the series year after year, seeing the same depth of information presented and harnessed in a slightly different way can be initially quite alarming and raises more than the odd question about why this mode is being introduced at all, and whether the game will be streamlined further from here on out. Underpinning Classic mode is the same set of algorithms and painstakingly categorized data that sits at the foundation, meaning the same level of flexibility is afforded to you when it comes to judging, buying, and selling new members of playing and backroom staff. Classic mode or not, good and bad managers still exist. Yes, you can fully simulate matches in seconds and completely remove yourself from player training schedules, but success and failure still ultimately rest on the work you put in over the days leading up to each match, and whether your team actually wants to play for you. This may sound like Football Manager for Dummies, but to think of it in such a way is to do the mode a great disservice. This is largely thanks to reduced levels of media interaction, the complete removal of team talks, and the option to auto-resolve matches, taking you straight to the end of each game and displaying the final result in a matter of seconds.

Without exaggeration, it's possible to complete a season of Classic mode in a day or less. Designed to streamline the playing experience for veterans and provide an extra helping hand to newcomers, Classic mode is seemingly an admission from the developers that the core game of Football Manager is perhaps becoming too big, too complex, and too time-consuming for anyone with a job, partner, and/or need for sleep (or, at the very least, aspirations to experience such things).

It's odd, then, that-in a gesture of what is likely supreme self-awareness-Football Manager 2013's biggest new feature is Classic mode.

The new Classic mode features menus that are simpler and easier to digest. Addicts who want more detail, more leagues, and more chances to turn an underperforming minnow into a blossoming goliath of the game. By focusing on stats and raw data, Sports Interactive has distilled the beautiful game down to a form that has created a 20-year line of addicts. It's one of the beautiful things about the Football Manager series-every game is different, every player plays differently, and every team provides a different challenge.

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