Ciro Immobile, poor guy. His national team’s absence from the World Cup following their victory at the Euros last year must be difficult for him to comprehend. In the eFootball 2022 Season 1 update, the last thing he needed was for me to select him for my Dream Team campaign. His campaign has been one of frustration and helpless wrath, as he stands out as the only superstar amid a group of 40-something unknown players. Ciro and I share something in common.
This was supposed to be the great atonement for the artist once known as PES. Konami’s eFootball 2022 debut last autumn could not have gone worse, with an unsettlingly little amount of content, a dreadful football match on the field, and the type of negative reviews typically associated with Activision movie tie-ins from the 2010s.
There was a lot riding on this first major upgrade, but the feature list seemed good: in addition to the ridiculously called Stunning Kick controls and the licensed Japanese and Korean Leagues, there was a significant mode that looked like it would be fun to play with. We now have a task to do in Dream Team.
Which brings us full circle to Ciro Immobile, who, sporting a Parma shirt, takes the field alongside ten players from the Sunday league. Dream squad starts you out with a squad of unfortunate fictitious players, much like an old-school Master League campaign. You may choose your team from a respectable assortment of licensed and unlicensed leagues from across the globe. In contrast to Master League, in this game, you construct your squad by using Konami’s incredibly generous daily login incentives to collect GP, which you can then spend on player cards. It’s not like signing a player the old-fashioned way; once you get that player card, you can do with its stats what you like.
For instance, you may elect to use all of the experience points (XP) that the unimpressive Serbian Dušan Vlahović accrues on his aerial ability metrics, making him a formidable target man who can complete any cross. However, you might also go in completely other areas, concentrating on his defensive or passing awareness. This has the makings of a really good concept. Online multiplayer football matches between the same 22 players might become somewhat monotonous after a while, but with this player development system, each Messi, Ronaldo, and Mbappe you play against in eFootball 2022 will be a little bit different. Regardless of player or position, I believe everyone will just decide to increase their speed metrics, but you can’t hold the game responsible for that.
Naturally, a lot of things are getting in the way of your enjoyment of that new function. Matchmaking is the first and most debilitating. I had always worried that I would never be able to record the events of an online battle since I had never really gotten to that stage. Connection drops are common on PCs, and since they frequently occur while the opponent is winning, they’re presumably not the result of players losing their cool. Additionally, I had a real rage-quitter who was offended by both my opulent un-skipped celebration and my 92nd-minute winner. That’s all on me, but what really bothers me about eFootball 2022 is that there was no incentive for me to continue playing after my opponent lost all the way.
The lack of online opponents ranks third in the trinity of connection annoyances. Less than 10,000 people are playing the game concurrently every day because it isn’t among the top 100 on Steam at the time of writing. The result is that it takes ten billion years to locate an opponent these days, and when you do, their squad is frequently far superior than yours. Apparently, all that negative publicity at launch had an impact. Not to be a downer, but you can tell you’re going to have a difficult time when you see that their poorest player is the legendary Carles Puyol of Barcelona and you only have one player ranked better than 45.
In case you were curious, here is what occurs after you successfully finish an online match. Every player that is deployed receives experience points (XP), which may ultimately be converted into better stats. The outcome of each game determines your position in the online league system. Additionally, you receive a little amount of GP for participating, which naturally attracts stronger players. If your match was a part of a limited-time challenge (there are two at the moment), you will receive bonus points (GP) for reaching goals like winning three out of five games.
That’s plenty structurally to add interest to assembling your Dream Team. Similar to FIFA’s chemistry concept, player ratings are also influenced by their teammates, which adds another degree of complexity to choosing the best starting lineup for your playstyle. However, the rabbit hole goes even farther. In terms of tactics, eFootball 2022 allows you to build up many strategies, such as macros, that you can switch between mid-match depending on the scenario. It also gives extensive customization in terms of formation, pressing, and counterattack techniques. Although this isn’t entirely new to the series, PES in more recent times was practically as good tactically. However, the menu system is now more complex.
What was it that this free-to-play model could do but a potential PES 2022 couldn’t? Why was it published in such crude, little pieces? What’s the purpose of everything?
Sadly, it doesn’t appear like anybody has informed the players on the field of this newfound tactical acumen. Players have occasionally left their station to protect another’s, resulting in them awkwardly sprinting four feet away from their teammate independently of your control. This is due to the much-discussed and revised AI. Back fours create huge openings for strikers to run through, and everyone appears genuinely perplexed in the instants following a challenge or a misdirected pass when the ball is not in anyone’s control. It almost looks like no one is brave enough to step in and take it. as it comes to the defensive controls, it seems like attempting to burst a balloon with another, slightly less inflated balloon as you throw in a shoulder barge or plant a foot on a surging opponent. A common occurrence in challenges is the ball being pinballed from shin to shin, at which point all players pause and observe the ball.
The movement and passing controls are really delicate, which makes it even more annoying. There is a fantastic football match lurking behind the layers of partially executed adjustments, and it is most apparent in the vast array of dribbles you are able to execute. Rapid pace changes, sharp twists, and sudden stops. Thumbsticks are used for feints, long sprints, skillful sidesteps, and cutting one-twos. When you spray a pass into space, you genuinely think the ball is traveling on a true physical trajectory. To further expand your arsenal, the new spectacular kick delivers a fresh weight and speed for shoots and passes. It still feels so much less bogged down in pre-made animations and flows more naturally than FIFA in that regard.
But even with the release of this significant upgrade, that amazing football game is still too deep down. Even if eFootball offers a lot more gameplay options, it is still unclear why Konami destroyed a well-known sports property and offered this as a replacement. What was it that this free-to-play model could do but a potential PES 2022 couldn’t? Why was it published in such crude, little pieces? What’s the purpose of everything?
At PES Productions, there is undoubtedly talent there. We just need to look at the most recent PES titles to see that the creators are capable of creating a better game than this one. I don’t think for a second that they can’t. These are really skilled, seasoned, and driven individuals doing their best work on an extremely faulty notion with a remarkably poorly explained approach. Even though they’ll undoubtedly receive criticism on social media, they don’t deserve it. On the other hand, eFootball 2022 is still not worth your time.