eFootball 2023 is a better offline experience, on the pitch, than plenty of Fox Engine PES installments.
Of course, these are my impressions from playing it for a little while, so my perspective on the whole thing could change as I play more of it, but for now I stand by my statement... and I need to emphasize that I'm talking exclusively about how it is on the pitch, which to me is the most important aspect of a football video game... but not the only one. I feel this is where Konami is seriously dropping the ball, especially with offline players. In the past few months they've been able to take something that was downright broken at launch and turn it into a worthy PES installment in its playability. I just wish there was more to do here with said playability... I loved playing leagues and cups with my dad, and it's still not in it, it's not even something complex like Master League or Become A Legend, just basic leagues and cups, something Winning Eleven installments on PS1 had! I'm sure PvP players are enjoying their time with eFootball 2023, because Dream Team is sort of fun so far, and you get so much GP that there's not even a real need to spend money on it, which I appreciate, but forgetting the entire offline fan base, which turned Winning Eleven/PES into what it was, just feels so wrong, it's been a year already...
Now, on a more positive note, Konami keep impressing me on the pitch, which is what matters most really, they've stuck by their idea of making a simulation that feels like football, I'm even getting a lot more fouls that any Fox Engine PES against the CPU! All players feel like they have true weight to them, momentum plays a key role in your movement and decision making, there's a lot of nuance to its realism and mechanics, they've done a good job, it plays well, it flows well. I'd rather play this than something like PES 2018 and PES 2015, perhaps I'd take this even over my beloved PES 2012, they've really impressed me here. All I want now is for them to keep going in this direction while polishing it up, and introducing offline modes... also they need to change the UI/HUD as soon as possible, I though that going from eFootball 2022 to eFootball 2023 would mean a new UI/HUD but those awful colors and shapes are still there, it's such an eye sore... another small issue I have is with the club I support, the kits have been updated, but they were lazy yet again and gave the home and away kits the same pair of shorts and socks, it feels so amateurish, if you have the license to a club then respect it and actually try, please.
I feel like we could have something special here... when eFootball 2024 comes out, they've been too slow.