Completely agree with this but I've found it really difficult to verbalise, excellent shout.
There's lots to like, I just really struggle to get past the physics in general - it feels like kicking a cushion or a marshmallow sometimes, when passing or shooting.
For me, there's very little variety between one pass and the next (i.e. no zippy pass followed by a slower pass to allow a little more time for players to run forward, they're just all quite slow) - which is identical to player movement (i.e. every player runs at the same moving-through-mud speed for the entire 90 minutes IMO). It just feels off to me.
But again, not as "off" as the other game, which is the total opposite. eFootball feels like every player weighs 120kg and the ball is a balloon, where the other game feels like every player's an alien the weight of a feather and the ball is a bullet... and most frustratingly, neither feel close to a next-gen game. There are no "wow" moments in my experience. Other than "wow, I was playing FIFA and my player kicked the ball through his own standing leg".
While our overall take might differ you will not hear me debate you on that lack of next-gen chops.
Given the nature of the beast now I would've been a bit more accepting if they said from the off (and the "off" here should've been version 1.0.0 and an April release at the earliest):
"Listen folks, this is a product that is free to play but will evolve visually and in physics and other assets via a planned bi-monthly "key update" schedule, especially for our planned paid single player content, as we look to try a different method to the traditional release cycle for football games. Right now what you will get will be closer to that which you are familiar with, but we were keen to get something out, free of charge, that will be more demo in form regards modes (though we will have an early version of our Dream Team mode in place) for our existing fans and hopefully new fans and take in their feedback and ideas."
I really would've run with that and then, I dunno, they gave us a glimpse of what might be to come via the replays (or end of game highlights if a real-time transition is too demanding) utilising next-gen technology. A proof of concept/teaser actually in the game.
As it is I am blessed/cursed with other distractions so this admitted mess of a release format hasn't impacted me like it maybe has others. That is a very individualist take that, but I am not ignorant to how shoddy it has been, especially given this is a product released in the reasonably early stages of a next-gen era yet to truly take off. These games used to be and can be showcases.
I honestly wonder if they are capable of taking advantage of recent developments by EA/FIFA. From what I can tell Konami has a free-run of it regarding a free-to-play football game for another year and quarter. If it were up to me all hands would be on deck to get the paid single player content out and re-evaluate what that should be regards it's technical ambitions. They can do it. They are using as good an engine as there is out there regards its flexibility and scalability. Online play only dudes will take something that is only marginally more technically ambitious than this, of that I am sure, as their focus is on other somewhat less appealing stuff to me.
They need to embrace splitting the fanbase. As do EA, quite frankly.
