Had a few games over lunch (and it's taken me until now to get the clips uploaded, converted and merged, I hate Microsoft sometimes).
It's a mixed bag - largely good, but I have to start with the first thing I notice, every time I play.
Jesus Christ on a jet plane, how bad is the animation now? Hypermotion seemed to help with this initially, but they seem to be deleting more and more of it in favour of instant-response, physics-defying bullshit for the FUT kids. This may be a new low, or it's just because I've not played for a while.
Players drag their trailing foot along the floor behind them (dragging their big toe along the ground) with every step they take. I paused video playback earlier and, mid-jog, several players were leaning so far forward (with their legs so far behind) they would fall flat on their face in reality.
It's not just an aesthetic problem, though. I was walking (not sprinting) with a player, towards goal (pressing right), then wanted to walk towards the sideline (pressing down). It took 3-4 seconds for some really crazy leg-flailing animations to stop and to allow the player to just change direction... and that's with agile dribbling disabled.
They never stop twitching, vibrating, and acting nothing like humans. It's insane to me how much they've sacrificed human physics for instant gratification when you look back at the likes of FIFA 16. Even the twitch-gameplay guys must see how broken this is.
However, the good stuff...
Though the AI doesn't just spam "slide tackle" any longer, it seems fouls remain and are much more realistic when they do happen. I had a couple of dangerous free kicks in each game I played. I really like this change.
Also, more driven passes are intercepted now - which I saw in the changelog and thought nothing of. However, it means that when the AI starts spamming these (particularly when you lower the pass speed slider), your defenders are much more likely to block them, and it helps a little with the constant counter-attacks.
It does, however, make you realise just how little effort your defenders make when a standard pass is made. If I could enable that enhanced AI defending logic permanently, and not just when a driven pass was made, it would be a much more thoughtful game...
Semi-shooting seems even more difficult and more dependent on the spin of the ball than before. I've never been so bad up-front, and I like it.
It's not massively different, but it's an improvement IMO.