EFootball 2022 review in progress

eFootball, Konami’s rebrand to the long-running Pro Evolution Soccer series, could have signaled a bright new beginning for soccer games. Switching to the more modern Unreal Engine 4 and ditching full-price annual games for a free model with promises of sizable content additions and a “pay-as-you-can-eat” structure felt like steps in the right direction away from frustrations that accompany the annual sports games. Instead, it’s hard to think of a more difficult start to life that you might have had. Released essentially as a demo with very limited modes, choppy gameplay, ridiculous crowd models, and more than a few bugs and glitches, it’s very difficult to recommend eFootball in its current form. Then I won’t. All we can do is hope that Konami cleans up your mess with the big updates it promises.

Things start out promising when you first start eFootball. Gone are the outdated menu screens that Konami had been hanging around like the ’70s wallpaper that your grandmother refused to replace for all those years. A touch of color and a slightly more modern feel arrives in the procedures. Sadly, what’s inside these menus is far less exciting.

eFootball launched with two main modes, one offline and one online. The first is your standard exhibition match, allowing you to play with nine different teams from Europe and South America. This is a good place to get acquainted with the gameplay of eFootball, but it quickly loses its appeal due to the limited number of clubs on offer and the minimum stakes associated with each match. Also, surprisingly, only regular and superstar AI difficulties are currently available, with the other four options grayed out and not selectable. Haven’t they scheduled yet? It’s weird to say the least, but it gets really frustrating once you find yourself comfortably able to beat the regulars, just because your only other option now is to get your ass turned over for eFootball’s toughest difficulty setting.

Naturally, I have found myself spending more time with the online mode as a result. With no way to play against friends currently offered, the only way to match is through the Challenge Event mode, which sounds a lot more exciting than it is. During this 10-day celebration of all things mundane, you must win one game out of three to advance to stage two; The second stage involves winning two games out of three to win a 10,000 GP prize. However, it is currently not completely clear what this in-game currency will be used for, and there is no way to spend it as of now.

A major difference between online and offline modes is that there are over 200 teams available to choose from when online, making it even more confusing why the selection is so limited in offline friendlies. However, there is a catch: although there are a large number of options available online, you will not have room to experiment with them as your first team will be locked out for the entire 10-day event once you have chosen them. It’s another baffling decision that, no matter how deep my love for unlicensed ‘Tottenham WB’, made me yearn for any semblance of variety. Online servers have also been a problem, with an in-game notification informing me that currently known issues include both matchmaking can’t find opponents and matches “not ending properly.” So even if it could start, is it possible that it can’t finish? Sounds a bit like a metaphor for the eFootball as a whole at this point.

Some of this could be forgiven if action on the field were regularly engaging and fundamentally fun to play. It is not. While it doesn’t feel like a million miles from the PES of yesteryear, it’s also not near the peak of its powers. Matches often descend into attrition wars in which unresponsive players cannot pick up the ball if it is outside their six-inch radius. What should be quick short passing moves actually turn into long, drawn-out affairs. Everything is so slow; everything from swift extremes that run like ten-ton boots to flogged cross attempts that float nonchalantly through the air toward grateful gatekeepers.

EFootball Screenshots – September 2021

Once in the blue moon, a moment of magic will emerge to remind you of the joys that Konami football games have brought in the past, whether it is a precise pass around the corner to free an attacker, or a player who let the ball roll satisfactorily. his legs so as not to interrupt the step when receiving a pass. However, all of these are very rare and feel more like anomalies than intentional greatness.

It is not only the players who fail to distinguish themselves in this regard, but also the referees. What is and is not considered a foul is wildly inconsistent from one tackle to the next. I have done a full assault with my elbows on some poor attackers and received no punishment for it, while I was penalized for the equivalent of hitting them on the shoulder to make them look away. In one memorable fight, I counted at least four fouls the referee should have exploded for when the center circle turned into a lawless bumper car circuit. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense and needs to be addressed pretty quickly before it can absorb any remaining enjoyment that can be gained from eFootball.

Then there are the things that seem should committing faults, mainly because people’s arms seem to go out of their sockets, but they are actually faults. It is disconcertingly common to see two players running side by side, fighting for possession, only for one of their arms to bend in a way that Houdini would question the feasibility of. Another particularly funny example is the face some players put on when celebrating, which really pushes the limits on how big a human mouth can credibly open. Truth be told, these visual glitches show up more than you’d expect, but they never really affect the gameplay to their detriment, which means they don’t bother me too much. However, they have already created some funny memes.

From the ugly to the beautiful (don’t worry, we’ll be back to the ugly soon), we can credit eFootball for the stadiums where the action takes place. All of these are beautifully rendered, and never before has the Allianz Arena in Munich, the Allianz Stadium in Turin, or any other non-Allianz-related field looked so good.

However, no amount of architectural beauty will prepare you for the beasts that reside within your stands. You’ve likely seen the haunting images of the eFootball crowds by now, and frankly it’s mind-boggling that this kind of inattention to detail exists in games like this in 2021. Glancing over the terraces can seem like they’ve been brought 50,000 sketches by Edvard Munch. to life and told to jump up and down in unison to the beat of a lone drum. Hit pause, hit the instant play button, and look them in the eye at your own risk.

Then there are the player models. To be completely fair, some do look pretty cool, be it Leon Goretzka in all his sculpted glory or a fresh-faced Pedri. However, there are a couple of exceptions; which is to say, an unflattering depiction of Manchester United captain Harry Maguire, bearing more than a striking resemblance to a larger Waluigi. It says quite a bit that a supposedly AAA soccer game can even confuse some of its most famous players, into fully sponsored teams, no less.

So eFootball is off to a very slow and unimpressive start. Only time will tell how different it will look in a month, or six months, but the omens are already there when it comes to microtransactions. A pre-order of a premium player pack is currently available in the store which costs the not insignificant sum of £ 32.99 / $ 39.99. This contains premium in-game currency plus six Chance Deals (effectively loot boxes) for Creative Team mode that … don’t even have a release date. So any hope that free play has been a positive step towards the consumer can turn into an illusion. But before we can get into all of that, eFootball has a lot of work to do on the court so that people really want to play it in the first place.