No miracle happened: free eFootball is still terrible
April 15, 2022
Konami completely lost to Electronic Arts – the game is unlikely to be saved by anything.
Early access started in September 2021 eFootball 2022which was a complete failure for Konami. Terrible graphics, choppy animations, a meager number of clubs and modes – all this led to the stigma of the worst football simulator in history, and with it the title of one of the worst games in history. The Japanese promised to fix everything in patch 1.0, which was supposed to be released back in November, but they had to wait until April.
And on April 14, eFootball 2022 got to a full release. We have already played it and are ready to share new impressions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVxJjrP5nE
What changed?
Despite the impressive size (regarding 25 GB), the 1.0 patch does not add much to eFootball. First of all, the changes are noticeable in the graphics – it has become clearer, the “soap” effect has disappeared, and the players now even have realistic sweat on their faces. At the same time, the lighting and the lawn itself still look rather faded and flat, reminiscent of PS3 and Xbox 360 foot sims.
For several matches there were no critical bugs – including visual ones, than so the game was famous last autumn. There are also new types of strikes and methods of protection that diversify the gameplay. The changes also affected the physics of the ball, because of which it became much more pleasant to make sheds and give powerful passes.
In addition, the developers have added the “Dream Team” mode – an analogue of the Ultimate Team from FIFA. You can collect your favorite players in one squad. In general, this is an almost complete copy of My Club from the previous parts of Pro Evolution Soccer. You earn in-game currency and buy players for it. You can even upgrade them and make a real monster with a rating of 99 out of some Cristiano Ronaldo.
There are no other important changes in the full version of the game.
Old pains still remain
Despite the changes, eFootball 2022 still looks like a miserable stub once morest the backdrop of FIFA 22. The game still has only nine playable clubs, two modes (online match and match with a bot) and a stripped-down Dream Team, in which the basic mechanics of obtaining currencies will be activated only with the start of the first season on April 21.
All 9 licensed clubs
The gameplay is also not impressive. Even the most dexterous football players are controlled as if they were running on ice, there is no responsiveness at all. Switching players works in a very strange way: the game can do it itself in one situation and not at all in another – even in the most obvious one. Passes often go the wrong way, and goalkeepers are still stupid at 1v1 exits. Penalties and corners in the game straight from PES 2014: there is no depth of mechanics in them.
Six months following the release, the game has only two difficulty levels: an ordinary player and a superstar. It is not clear why the developers for so long might not add at least a mode for beginners. By the way, the duration of the match longer than 5 minutes is also impossible to choose.
I am silent regarding the lack of realistic collision physics, which the competitor had 10 years ago. Even with version 1.0 of Konami’s foot sim, it feels like a huge step back for the series.
Worth playing?
eFootball 2022 is very hard to recommend to anyone. Absolutely every element in the game loses FIFA 22. If earlier PES was chosen for the sake of deeper gameplay and realistic ball physics, now Konami’s foot sim does not have such advantages. Even following exiting early access, eFootball feels like a demo that following a few matches you want to delete and forget forever.
Remember the coach career mode? Or the wonderful “Become a Legend” where you might become a football superstar? Well, these modes have not appeared in half a year – and are unlikely to appear in the near future. But even if they were suddenly added to the game’s anniversary sometime in September, they would not make any sense due to wooden gameplay and an incredibly meager amount of licenses.
FIFA 22 offers the football fan everything they want, from street football to winning the Champions League. eFootball has nothing to offer but two pathetic modes, nine clubs, and promises of new content coming soon. Konami has completely lost the competition to EA. And as a fan of the classic parts of PES, I am very sad to admit this.
