LONG COMMENT ALERT!
Copying my comment from Reddit:
I’d give the gameplay a rating of 8/10. For game modes, I’d give a rating of 1/10. I don’t want my positive review of the game (for the gameplay) to be understood by Konami as a reflection of my satisfaction with the game because I’m not satisfied at all. For the time Konami have taken, they have underperformed like crazy. Through their incompetence, they have managed to set the bar so low that even a regular gameplay patch feels they’ve gone a great job. Sorry.
Going further into the two things that need to be discussed and assessed here:
1. GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is EF24 is brilliant. It’s a significant improvement over EF23 and it’s fun to play and enjoy. It’s not perfect (there’s no midfield battles) but this is the best we’ve had with an EF game. The game is such a joy to play.
2. CONTENT: The game lacks content. It’s an absolute scandal if people look past this.
OFFLINE: If you’re an offline-only player, you’re not wanted. Go away. That’s Konami’s message. Here I’m not even talking about what they haven’t yet released like ML or Cups or League or Edit mode. What I’m referring is the bare minimum, bottom of the barrel requirement of having unlicensed teams in the trial match mode which already existed until a couple of days ago. So there’s literally no game mode for an offline player.
Its clear that Konami thinks that the offline players don’t bring in the money. If money is what they’re after, they could also put it up in their shop where you can buy the ability to unlock teams. What’s instead happened is, they have pulled with zero communication on why and when will it come or whether it will come.
ONLINE: Even the content for online players is a bare minimum. Are you able to play a day match in an online game? Are you able to enjoy the new additions of rain and snow in an online game? Can you pick a stadium of your choice in an online game? Can you create a custom tournament to play online? Is there co-op matchmaking? Even if you want to use the 12 or so available clubs and if you want to do a friend match, can you play 2v2 with your friends? Do you have an online mode like Pro Clubs in FIFA where you play as a particular player and develop him through online games? But we’ve got boosters! Good luck enjoying playing as a team of 100s vs 99s. Transition from a football video game to a video game complete.
The only thing you got is what you had in EF23 with better gameplay. Even the online players are done dirty and they don’t even realise it because there’s an improvement in gameplay.
You should demand game modes for both offline/online and more freedom in game settings and a half decent-UI. Even the indie games created by a couple of mates from dorm have better UI than EF. If you don’t make your voice heard for these, you won’t be getting any modes for the next couple of years. Can’t believe this is even something that needs pointing out.
Also, the ‘players complaining’ are also the reason the game has at least gone this far. Otherwise, they’d have just changed the wallpaper and game title and released it as a new version.