Oh yes. Momma, get me a new pair of pants. I have the game.
I'll be editing this post soon with a quick review, so keep your eyes peeled.
EDIT: There's an update available for the game already!
EDIT 2: Okay,
first impressions.
Don't read this bit if you don't want to get depressed.
The very first thing I noticed was the lack of game modes and offline multiplayer options (and this, you have to bear in mind, is what killed FIFA for me). You've got UEFA CL (which you can only play from the group stages, whereas you can play the qualification stages on current-gen). You can select more than one team, but you can't drag a controller across to the other team - meaning that if you wanted to go one team and have your human opponent try to knock you out with the opposition team, you can't (and that's how I've played PES for years). I realise why you can't, of course - because of Gamerpoints. It would be way too easy to get Gamerpoints for the cheats, who would just win everything in two minutes by plugging a second controller in and not doing anything with it. But it's still sad.
The only other offline multiplayer game modes are friendlies, and the lounge - which restricts you to using either one team (how boring), or using random teams (Chelsea v some Russian team I've never heard of - no thanks). So for playing with mates, as with FIFA 07, it's a big let-down.
Single-player modes are limited as well, with the CL (which will get boring when you've won it after a day), and the Ultimate Team mode, which, as has been said, is "gash". You get given a random set of players and you're expected to use "gameplay cards", meaning cards that slow your opposition down or make your players run like cheetahs. Which is exactly what a game with this gameplay engine doesn't need; stupid, fantasy cards mixed in with realism.
It gets a lot better now.
The actual gameplay though, which is what we all play the game for apparently (at least that's been the excuse with PES lacking modes and teams for years), is stunning, and I mean stunning. It's been tweaked again since the demo, as has been mentioned, and it's fabulous. The best football game I've ever played, bar none.
Something that they've tweaked further is the freeness of the players. There were a few times where a player I've selected would automatically take a step towards the ball before being fully under my control (look into my eyes, not around the eyes, look into the eyes). I've not noticed that so far in the full game, and the players are more responsive as a result.
Something else they've tweaked (possibly in today's update?) is the goalkeepers. Shots that the keeper pushed away before he now grabs hold of.
I've switched off auto-selecting players and put the passing assistance down to 1 (if you switch it off entirely, you have to manually power every pass, which results in giving the ball away while you're holding down the button). It is a different world to PES. Seabass and his legions of fans will probably never play the game, and that's exactly why PES7 will be another game of chess with robots and automatic everything.
I've started a CL and my first three games I've lost versus the computer. What's impressed me so far is this; in PES I would get SO FUCKING ANGRY that I could literally kill someone, because of the stiffness of the players, the piss-poor 1mph constantly-intercepted passes, and the rest of the cheats. In this game so far, I've been furious so many times - but why? Because I've not timed a tackle properly, and the learning curve is so frustrating. But at the same time, it's brilliant, because YOU HAVE TO WORK YOUR ARSE OFF. It's amazing how hard they make you work for it.
All the "you get no satisfaction when you score" guys... I can't help you, but when I scored an equaliser, I was fucking jumping.
The lack of licenses for teams like PSV honestly doesn't worry me too much, because they have done something that Konami haven't. They've made the badges instantly recognisable, and the kits are next-gen. They may not have a logo or a sponsor on, but I barely notice.
What a game. More later.
