Rich

A few weeks back I was invited along to Konami’s European office in Windsor where I was fortunate enough to spend a good couple of hours playing an early build of eFootball 2022.

Whereas the online performance test back in June left me seriously underwhelmed and the trailers that have been released for the game had me rather worried; it was with great relief that this build I had hands-on access to actually left me feeling quite pleasantly surprised.

When you first load into a game, the cut scenes are genuinely impressive, with well detailed player models and licensed stadiums that looked extremely aesthetically pleasing. The atmosphere inside the stadium has clearly been worked on and is thoroughly impressive, and there was also a nice little touch where not only do you see the players entering the pitch in all their glory at the start of the match, but you also see them re-entering the pitch after half-time; a minor detail that really helps increase the realism and immersion.

There are definitely elements of the visuals that aren’t so impressive and the pitch itself for instance isn’t as polished or impressive as it perhaps could be, but I can’t really say that this impacted too much upon my overall enjoyment of the game.

Yes, it needs work, and in time it will surely be improved, but the beauty of the new release style this year will be that this game will be constantly evolving and improving throughout the course of the year. It definitely won’t be the perfect football game when it launches on September 30^th, but from what I played, there are some promising signs here that this can and will become a very impressive football game.

And that’s not to say that I think this is going to be a bad game when it initially releases either. Whilst I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t room for improvement; the collision system still needs work for example and in tight spaces the players could sometimes feel a little clunky, but there are also some genuinely really pleasing positives. The game had a really nice pace about it, some of the goals that I scored were incredibly satisfying, and with the ball boys constantly throwing the ball back to you as it leaves the field, there are some silky smooth transitions of play which provided a really nice touch and impressive fluidity to the gameplay.

It’s slower paced than we’re used to, but there’s also an impressive physicality to the game with the new physical defending that’s been introduced for eFootball 2022. You can really use your body shape to help shield the ball, and every physical battle felt incredibly realistic and rewarding to win.

Second man press is gone from the game and there’s definitely going to be a bit of a learning curve adapting to this change of defensive system when you first start playing, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. When I first started playing the game, I found my players skidding about all over the place as I then frantically switched players and attempted to recover from my mistakes, but the more I played the game, the more I found myself adapting. It is very different and it’ll take some time getting used to the physical defending and new ways of doing things, but learning these new mechanics is kind of all part of the fun and should help contribute to creating a skill gap when it comes to battling against other human opponents.

And speaking of new mechanics; the build that I had hands on access to did actually include the new sharp kicks, something that unfortunately won’t be in the game for the September 30^th launch. What I will say of those though is that they really added an extra dynamic to the gameplay that I personally very much enjoyed. Sharp kicks take longer to execute, so they’re not ideal in every situation, but if you get them right then the payoff is absolutely worth it. Some of the goals I scored using sharp kicks were absolutely stunning, and when they are ultimately introduced to the game they should be a very welcome addition.

So would I recommend giving this game a try? Absolutely! It’s completely free to download. Why wouldn’t you at least give it a few games to see what you think of it?

What I do perceive to be a slight problem though, and where some people will inevitably be lost, will be in the first few months of the game’s life cycle. We’re still a couple of months away from getting hands on with the new creative team mode and there’s also no estimated time of arrival on Master League, so to begin with, this is going to be extremely bare bones and it’s definitely going to take time before the game really begins to start taking shape and showing signs of what it can truly become.

Initially there will only be local matches with nine teams to choose from (Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Corinthians, Flamengo, Juventus, Manchester United, Sao Paulo and River Plate), but as stated previously; this game will be a constant work in progress, receiving quality of life upgrades throughout the year that will help improve and enhance it, more modes will be coming, and eventually I can really see eFootball flourishing.

Just try not to be too discouraged when you load up eFootball 2022 tomorrow and in its initial launch form it feels more like a demo than a fully fledged football game.