Hello everyone, I was able to test "the beast" last Friday and will now tell you my impressions about this new opus.
CAREFUL IT IS VERY LONG.
Feel free to take a break when you'll get bored.
First, I want to make it clear that I attended the full 3h play-test and that almost every match I played were against real people. I won't therefore speak about the I.A
I'll talk about things that are worth mentioning and therefore I will not mention what hasn't changed since last year (the dribbling system for example).
My impressions will be presented as follows:
General aspects of the game:
1-goalkeepers
2-referees
3-passes -
4-controls
5-free-kicks
6-player's stamina
Attacking gameplay:
7-assists
8-shots
9-teammates
10-speed&accelerations
Defensive gameplay:
11-general aspects of defending
12-CB vs CF
Menus:
13-formations menu
14-new tactical menus
Conclusion.
-General aspects of the game
1-Goalkeepers
I will not tackle again some of the bugs and bizarre reactions of the keepers, many have already reported it. It was clear that they are still unfinished and it was later confirmed by one of the Konami's guys there.
I will try instead to address things that caught my eyes from the very first match.
Individualized ATTITUDE
What I mean by that ? Simply that the behavior of the keepers in the game match the ones of their real-life counterparts. Differences in attributes between keepers never felt so realistic, and it's an element that needs to be take under consideration now(especially in MLO I was told!).
Buffon for instance, goal-kicks are not particularly his strongest attribute, his lacking a bit of power.
Even when using manual(L2+O), you might witness the ball taking some kind of hyperbolic-bell curve trajectory and perhaps will not reach the halfway-line.
Moreover, he is not very uncomfortable in the air either. When there's cross coming Buffon tends to stay on his line and it's not quite reassuring for his defenders.
And it's not just "details" it is clearly visible in-game and it affects it!!
In contrast, the other keeper of this demo, De Gea is quite impressive, it's a whole different story with him. The Spaniard has really turned into a typical Premier League GK. The "Battle in the Air" do not scare him and long distance goal-kicks are definitely not a trouble for him. And again, it is easily noticeable.
On crosses and corners(that I will develop later) De Gea doesn't give much chance to the opponent striker. With a steady hand, he's clearing every ball aside (and definitely not in the middle of the surface avoiding any unwanted thunder-bastard volley in the top corner).
As for goal-kicks, he is simply mint. Unlike Buffon, strong manual goal-kicks allow him to fire some "rockets". When used wisely, on a break "a la Neuer" it can be deadly and turn into an superb assist !