In the last few days I've given eFootball a few matches with the national teams, before Konami inevitably takes them away now that the World Cup is over, because they're the worst at making their product appealing in the slightest. Overall it was frustrating, for both good and bad reasons. I've finally adapted to FUMA on eFootball and, while it's not as good as previous PES titles, because of the CPU sometimes mistaking who I want to pass to and choosing the wrong player by quite a lot, it still feels quite good to pass the ball around, which for a possession player is just the best.
On the pitch I had some genuinely good matches, and by the end of every single one I wanted to go for one more, which is a good sign, it made me consider getting the offline modes when/if they ever come out, depending on how much they charge, of course, they have to be reasonable, or else I'm not giving them a single penny. What was frustrating, on the pitch, is that a lot of potential feels wasted, this feels like just another FOX PES, which is good in a way, since FOX PES was always at least serviceable, but it's disappointing since it could've been a lot more, it should've been a lot more.
I'd say fouls are the main problem for me, they're still lacking, as they've been for a long time, if only there were more, if the AI was more aggressive on its tackling and made mistakes more often, resulting in free kicks and penalties, the realism would be downright impressive, as it is now almost all fouls are for the CPU, because I, unlike the AI, actually make mistakes when tackling. Overall the AI played in a varied manner, even on Regular difficulty, which I went for since Professional and Top Player are locked for no reason whatsoever, it was good to see and felt like a real football match.
Now, when it comes to off the pitch, they actually have so much going for them, which frustrates me because they're wasting so much potential. I mean, they have Messi, someone who just completed football a couple of days ago, as their main marketing man, and what do they do? Konami puts him in awful looking pajamas and sometimes releases a few special cards on Dream Team, what a waste. Also, eFootball is a good name I think, it sounds sophisticated and calls the sport by its real name, I know it reminds people of eSports, but having "e" stand for "Electronic" is a common naming convention, like in "eMail" and "eShop", the name itself is professional, it's Electronic Football, it sounds even more official than FIFA does. One more thing they're wasting is the UI, I like the direction, with rectangles and rounded corners, but the colors and fonts make everything an eye sore, if only the colors and fonts were more like PES 2011's UI, it'd look decent at the very least, maybe even good. One last thing no one seems to mention, but that matters a lot to me, is the OST, I quite like it, especially "Wild", "Everything's Electric", "Be Sweet", "Anti-Glory", "The Rhythm" and "3D Feelings", it feels like a PES OST.
When it comes to things that are off the pitch, but are actually on it, they're also dropping the ball severely, as usual. I mean, it's been over a year... where's the rain? Snow? Afternoon? It still feels bare bones, and both the turfs and lighting, which they had gotten so right in PES 2019, look so mediocre here, there's no excuse, these things aren't licensed, and there are people in the community who have been making mods for years that do these things well, why can't Konami hire someone who'll do it? Speaking of licenses, where's the editor? Again, it's been over a year already, Konami...
Where I'm trying to get at in this essay I'm writing is that, well, this had so much of what we'd expect from a PES installment, I know it might be blasphemy to even suggest that for some, but this feels like a spiritual successor to PES a lot of the time, it just fails to truly fulfill its potential in pretty much everything because Konami are a joke nowadays, but regardless of Konami being in charge, of the awful marketing and direction, it's clear that eFootball has talented people behind it that love this sport and want to make something good out of it, they just can't because their bosses are awful.
If only they made a sophisticated UI, a new visual identity and logo, realistic lighting and turfs, weather conditions, a referee strictness and/or CPU tackling aggressiveness setting, offline modes, a good use of Messi as their marketing man since he's arguably the best of all time, a yearly physical release with all offline modes included when/if they come out for a fair price, a rich editor like before, kept the good OST, etc... we'd have a worthy follow up of FOX PES, perhaps a worthy follow up of PS2 PES even, but Konami's in charge, so my expectations are low as always. What a shame.
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