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Championship
- 13 July 2020
The base gameplay is (imo) the best the series has seen since the PS2 days. Unfortunately the lack of content, awful presentation & UI just put me off playing it. An Edit Mode wouldn't go a miss either.
Did anyone else complete the survey?
Wait... Huh? Sorry mate, but is this sarcasm?
Because I genuinely believe this is the worst update since the inception of the PES and eFootball series. They've removed or ruined more features than they've added, and even the user interface and colors are almost identical to before. At least with eFootball 2022 and 2023, we got some minor updates like new icons and color changes.
As for the gameplay, let's start with passing. I'm a PA.3 player, and compared to eFootball 2023, it now feels overly assisted, often selecting the wrong player or applying incorrect power. Long-range shooting has become ridiculously overpowered, and what's worse is that long-range first-time shots are now even more broken. Everyone just spams shots with Haaland from all over the field, especially to near corner , because the goalkeepers consistently position themselves poorly, right in the middle for no reason.
Dribbling has taken a huge hit as well, mainly due to this new "Auto-Shielding" feature. For players who enjoy dribbling, it’s a massive handicap. Instead of allowing free movement, you're forced into pushing and fighting animations when all you want to do is run into open space. Why can't they implement it as they did in PES 2021?
Finesse dribbling is another major disappointment for me, for many reasons. First, there are fewer animations compared to eFootball 2023. Players now awkwardly turn forward just to perform the move, and you can't execute it in all directions like you could before, which is a huge step backward. If they're going to bring it back like it was in the older PES games (PES 3 to PES 2019), then why not make it as good as it was back then?
Overall, I believe the old mechanic, where you could tilt the left analog slightly, was far superior. Yes, it was more difficult and only a few players mastered it, which created a skill gap. But now, Konami seems intent on removing anything that creates that gap. The previous logic with the left analog made much more sense—they could have simply tweaked the angle, instead of overhauling everything.
In defense, I feel like the game punishes players for trying to defend itself. The "Match Up" mechanic doesn't seem to function properly anymore—my player often fails to react to either the ball or the opponent, especially when I'm using Match Up, or pressing X. I’ve had to resort to more unconventional methods to defend, but overall, those who rely on AI to do the defending for them tend to be more successful, which is unacceptable for a supposedly competitive eSports game.
With every update, Konami subtly increases AI assistance and control over player actions, but it’s done so gradually that it’s almost imperceptible—like the frog in boiling water that doesn’t react as the temperature rises. Now, they're trying to normalize these absurd mechanics as "SMART" assistants. If this had happened 5-10 years ago, there would have been outrage, with people practically tearing down Konami's building. Yet today, the sheep somehow "like the gameplay" for reasons that are beyond me.
Yes, I’ll admit there are a few new animations—particularly for fake shots and cut-behind moves that look nice, along with some improved grass textures and player faces—but overall, these changes are grossly insufficient. I don’t even want to get started on how they gutted the CO-OP mode/event, which was the only fun that I had with the game, but now feels like just another platform to push the "SMART" Assist. We all know why it’s there, but no one dares to say it out loud. A large portion of the people buying coins and packs are really bad players, those who consistently make poor decisions, and Konami is keeping them in the game by essentially playing it for them. Yes, it’s brazen and downright cynical, but that's why they label it "SMART"—because the ones who rely on it aren’t exactly "smart." But as usual, money trumps everything.
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