It's a shame, the more I play PES2021, the more I realize how much we needed a proper PES2022. It's a fantastic installment, don't get me wrong, but there's so much wrong with it that, if they had just fixed it on a next generation PES2022, it would've been perfect. I feel that nothing shows off the flaws in this than a rival/derby match, and if you're on anything above Regular or Professional difficulty, it gets 10x worse... it can really feel like a chore, especially the defending, no one marks properly, the CPU just skips the midfield with a few passes, the striker receives free, turns and shoots, their accuracy for shooting is superb, on the slim chance you manage to get near one of them on the ball, before they make a pass to someone who's free, they'll just shield it, and you won't get that ball no matter what, you can try to press with another player, but then they'll just make a ridiculous pass as if they have eyes on the back of their heads, of will get a foul... and the referee is so poorly programmed here, I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't for one single, and pathetic, thing in this, the CPU free kicks. It's just like PES2012, if it's a direct free kick, they'll score 9 out of 10, and the few that miss either hit the bar or go slightly above it, it's just really frustrating...
I'll often suffer hard tackles and slide tackles, and they might kill me, but it was on the ball, so it's not a foul, but then I'll often do a tackle, on the ball, and it'll be a free kick, and more often than not a goal. I'm trying to get used to Top Player, but rival/derby matches make Top Player downright miserable to play, but if I play on Professional it becomes a bit too comfortable. It's not just these matches though, these issues are present everywhere, it's just that the lower the difficulty, the less they are a bother, or even noticeable. CPU free kick accuracy, inconsistent fouls, too much space, no proper marking, no real interceptions.
It bothers me too because I own PES2018, and a lot of the flaws here aren't there, it sort of feels counter intuitive to have a yearly titles where flaws are put into it instead of taken out of it. Here it's way to common for my teammates to stumble onto one another, for my FUMA passes to select the wrong player, for the player switching in defense also never going to the player that it might make more sense to become even when using the right stick, for me to not intecept a pass even when it's going right through my selected player, I managed to intercept passes often in PES2018, but here it feels like it was programmed for it to not be a thing, players don't stretch their legs to stop the ball. I really wish we could've gotten a proper next generation PES2022, with better colors/lighting like in PES2019 or better, a UI that doesn't feel amateurish, a more interesting midfield battle thanks to proper marking, for the CPU attacks to vary, and free kicks not going in 100% of the time, a better referee and fouls that feel consistent, and of course improved modes. I know a lot of people are happy with this installment, mostly PC players with mods, but for console... it's a shame it ended here, this was good, but flawed, and there won't be a next PES to fix it all...
But im still happy we Got 21 at least.