We have finally entered into the inaugural season of eFootball games. After many years of Pro Evolution Soccer, Konami had decided to try a different approach. Firstly, by changing the name, and secondly, the content. It is interesting to get to try this because it is of course the first official season, and you’d be wondering if it is any good or not. Also, this is now a free-to-play game, so you wouldn’t have to think about spending on this. With that being said, this will motivate you to try it out for yourself and make your assessment.
Unfortunately, it goes downhill from pretty much there. There are only a few positives, but that’s just about it. You cannot possibly know where to start when speaking on the negatives, because there are far too many for anyone’s liking. It makes you wonder if they thoroughly tested the game before releasing it, and you would think the answer is probably not. Shockingly, gaming icons and geniuses like Konami would develop a game this poor. For a developer that aims to compete with FIFA and regain the crown as football gaming kings, this is indeed an abysmal start.
eFootball 2022 is a football simulation game developed and published by Konami and is available on platforms ranging from Microsoft Windows to iO5. The number of teams you start with is very limited and unexciting. Plus, the selection of the teams isn’t much better. Especially, if you do not support any of the teams. But if you are a supporter of any of the available teams, you probably wouldn’t necessarily be as annoyed, but you might find yourself wanting to play as other teams rather than just your own. However, the only positive you could find from this, is that the teams are from different leagues around the world, rather than just a couple.
Also, the number of stadiums isn’t good either. There are only a few to choose from, as well as an additional stadium they had developed themselves; the good news is that there is a new update scheduled to increase the number of teams, and also stadiums and hopefully, that number would be much greater to improve some quality of the game. The very low number of game modes is also a major worry.
The gameplay is probably the worst I’ve seen in a modern football game. It is virtually lifeless. There is no fluidity with the mechanics, and incredibly slow, which makes the game unrealistic. The passing is atrocious, even when you hold the pass button because you figured that if you improve the quality of passing, it doesn’t. It’s pretty much the same volume. The long balls and crossing are just as poor. The players move like robots, and it is extremely difficult to perform nice plays as the passing mechanic is weak. The shooting isn’t much better. It is also a struggle to score a nice goal.
The AI of your teammates is also a problem. It’s like they don’t know when to make a run, or where to move in nearly all instances. This, combined with the abysmal passing and long ball performance is a recipe for disaster, and can most definitely frustrate any gamer. The gameplay is without a doubt the issue that needs to be addressed urgently. If I could find a positive from the gameplay, it would be the signature celebrations of certain players. It seems like Konami had focused more on that, than the core gameplay. Dribbling is also an issue, as it is troublesome to keep control of the ball, which ends up being dispossessed far too easily on many occasions, no matter how good of a dribbler a player is. And do not get me started on the array of glitches and bugs that you simply cannot ignore.
The visuals are touch and go. There are some nice colors, the designs of the team’s kit are realistic, and there are some photorealistic effects on parts of the stadium. It does help a little if you are playing in 4K. But the player’s model looks awkward and their facial expressions are horrendous. Especially when opening their mouths.
The audio is also not great. Although Konami has done well in sticking with the commentators for this installment, not even the iconic Peter Drury and his poetic commentary could save this game. The fans in the stadium are uninspiring, you should get some motivation from the fans when you are losing, you get very little of that in the game. Even when they are screaming after you score.
Ultimately, this installment looks rushed. This game possesses a shockingly high number of errors to be considered unplayable. This is unacceptable by any standard. For a developer that wants to reclaim their crown as football gaming kings, this is not a great start whatsoever. However, there is some hope that if Konami were to rectify these problems by developing an update that would improve the quality of the game, and give a shout of standing a chance against FIFA. But until then, Electronic Arts have nothing to worry about.
