Tennis Manager 26

I'm going to start with something that probably makes this review a little unusual: "I don't really like tennis. I don't watch tennis. But I love management games, and I really enjoy Tennis Manager 26." For me, that's probably one of the biggest compliments I can give the game. What keeps me playing is the management side. Player development, tactical decisions, running and developing your academy, scouting and watching everything you've built gradually progress make for a genuinely enjoyable management experience. You don't necessarily need to be a hardcore tennis fan to appreciate what the game is doing. I particularly enjoy developing players over the long term. There's a satisfying feeling when the decisions you've made start producing results, and the combination of tactics, development and academy management gives you plenty to think about. My biggest disappointment is with national teams. If your country doesn't have a national team represented in the game, you don't get the opportunity to take your country to the World Cup. I'd really like to see this expanded because it would add another great long-term objective, especially for players who want to build a career around their own country. Apart from that, I haven't encountered any major issues that have significantly affected my enjoyment. Would I recommend Tennis Manager 26? Yes. And that's coming from someone who doesn't even watch tennis. If you're a fan of management games first and tennis second, or even not a tennis fan at all, don't automatically overlook this one. The management experience itself is good enough to keep me playing.

It is smoother and I found better on lower graphics. A fun game and good for tennis managing. It needs a doubles mode/tournaments though, so you can have your academy players play doubles. Even in MyPlayer being able to play doubles and trying to become good at both.

The last TM I played was 23, so I can't evaluate this as a yearly update from last version. That being said: this game is a really good sports sim. The 3D match presentation is really high quality, and the tennis action is intense. There are TONS of options for strategy and gameplay, and a really indepth system to setup training programs for your players. Facilities have lots of different upgrades so managing your academy has plenty of meaningful decisions. It's clear this was heavily inspired by FM, but considering how that series has fallen off, TM26 might actually be better than the original at this point. Even if you're not a tennis fan, this sim can suck you in. 5/5 clay courts