eFootball PES 2021
"Disappointing Season"
Technical analysis summary
Graphics: 7.0
Sound: 6.0
Playability: 8.0
Longevity: 6.5
Impact: 6.0
Pro
- Budget price
- All the usual editability
- As always, a more realistic and staid approach to football simulation
- Minor, but useful, gameplay improvements
Cons
- No new game modes or game mechanics
- Interest in online multiplayer drastically wanes after a couple of weeks due to lack of content...
- ...due to a total absence of new game modes and very few online objectives capable of keeping attention and desire of playing high
- Overall, the technical sector needs a breath of fresh air and this has never been more tangible than this year
Overall Verdict
6.7: The usual satisfying and pleasant football simulation capable of entertaining enough fans of football video games.
No news worthy of note compensated by the reduced price, if you have played the previous PES you will have fun as usual and you will even be able to appreciate some minor positive tweaks, but we look forward to the development of the next game hoping to finally be able to see noteworthy improvements.
Recommended to PES fanatics and to those who have never approached Konami's football game before.
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eFootball (PES 2022) - What we know so far and some thoughts
Since its official announcement, eFootball has known how to unleash the attention of critics and audiences. The abandonment of the historic name PES and the transformation into a digital-only free to play game has created a real rift among fans, between who's in favor and who's against the new course undertaken by the Konami series. What is perplexing is a certain lack of detail and clarity on what the content will be at launch in terms of modes, teams and options. The Japanese house suggests that the debut of the game in early autumn can be considered as a sort of demo: the reason why at the beginning there will be few teams and modes is precisely because Konami intends to distribute the title to players the most quickly as possible, and then update it a little at a time also following the previously confirmed Road Map. Furthermore, at launch eFootball will not have microtransactions and everything will therefore be available for free. In addition to online matches against other players, it will also be possible to play games against the CPU, while the Master League will not be present at launch and will be added in an unspecified future. A Match Pass system will also be implemented, both free and paid. An Edit Mode is in Konami's plans and will be made available on platforms shortly after launch as a free update. Regarding the cross-gen and cross-platform nature of the game, the developers confirm that eFootball is a title designed for consoles, but it will also be fully enjoyable on PC and mobile systems, with the game that will make the most of the technical characteristics of each platform (we hope for a good scalability of the game system). There will also be filters for cross-platform matchmaking, thus leaving users the freedom to enable or disable it.
Konami confirms that the next-gen and PC versions will not undergo any graphic downgrade, regardless of the cross-play with all the other versions, including the mobile ones. On iOS and Android systems there will be specific graphic adjustments to ensure the correct/stable functioning of these editions. The gameplay of eFootball will be shown sometime in August.
All this is interesting but also frightening and perplexing (especially for the longtime fans). What Konami is facing is a very delicate step that could relaunch (or heavily damage) its IP. A maneuver that in today's era of video games MUST go hand in hand with a substantial marketing campaign, especially for a genre like football games. We look forward to see the final result.