After a far from easy start, Konami has managed in the last twelve months to painstakingly get the ambitious eFootball project back on track. The transition to the Unreal Engine has not a little complicated the plans of the Japanese developers, while the choice to embrace a “free-to-play” business model complete with cross-play between consoles, PCs and mobile devices has confused the players, who suddenly found themselves orphaned from the beloved Pro Evolution Soccer series and, above all, with a problematic replacement.
The wanted, sought after and probably necessary rebrand in Konami’s intentions to stem the overwhelming power of the FIFA/EA pairing (now at the end of the line, from next year we’ll move on to EA Sports FC) for now hasn’t given the desired results. After months of discontent, fans have found their smiles again with the 2.0.0 update (here our recent special on eFootball 2023) which fixed a good number of technical/graphic flaws and gave – finally – a twist to afflicted gameplay by numerous problems and questionable design choices. So let’s move on to examining the latest update, made available by Konami “only” a few days before Christmas (it was originally scheduled for December 15th).
Gameplay changes (once again)
The 2.3.0 update of eFootball 2023 did not bring what many expected, namely the Master League (or Master Championship). The latest patch, in fact, does not add any type of particular content if we exclude the updates to the values of the players / coaches, the squads of the Brazilian championship teams and the official shirts of the main clubs, billboards and images of the players.
In other words, the changes within the new version focus on the gameplay that has been – for the umpteenth time – distorted and give the idea of how the development team is trying in every way to find the classic squaring of the circle. The experience offered by eFootball 2023 is confirmed on two sides: offline Konami’s simulation works in a certain way, with more reasoned game action, while in online mode the pace is much more sustained and frenetic.
A solution that on paper should please everyone a little, net of the lack of important content. The eFootball 2023 update 2.3.0 does not offer significant innovations regarding the two main game modes available, namely the Authentic Teams and the Dream Team. The Japanese collective has sought a new gameplay balance by making a series of changes to the physics engine of the simulation: in particular, work has been done on dribbling, on the protection of the ball and on hand-to-hand clashes.
The first touch has been remodeled as well as the handling of the passes. In a nutshell, the CPU should choose the recipients of the ball more rationally. The same thing also applies to the filters, directed with greater precision in open spaces. Konami has tried to give the players additional balance in aerial contacts and better control of the ball in mid-air. Several changes have been made in defense, primarily in blocking crosses and shots and above all in man marking: with the new update, defenders position themselves in a more realistic way with respect to the opponent than they did with the previous update. And to make the behavior of the teams more credible, work was done on the movement of team members in the offensive and defensive phases and with certain styles of play. As for the referees’ whistles, an offside problem has been resolved and several bugs, errors and crashes have clearly been eliminated that affect not only the gameplay but also the menus, commentary and more.
Our impressions
First of all, the experience offered by eFootball 2023 changes significantly whether you play offline or online. It’s above all a question of pace: when you face the CPU at the highest levels (Superstar and Legend) and regardless of the selected game speed, you are forced to a slightly more reasoned approach to try to open the gaps in defense. The AI-managed teams diligently occupy the spaces, protect the ball and spin it waiting for the winning pocket.
Online the action is much more furious and at times chaotic: the aim is immediately to recover the ball with suffocating pressing (slides and various types of contacts) to speed up the opposing defenders. Human players, in fact, have a tendency to unload the ball quickly to get to the conclusion as soon as possible. In the strongest divisions (the top three) there is no shortage of players who are able to bet one against one or protect the ball to raise the team.
Question: Do dribbling work better? The answer is “no”: controlling Messi, Neymar or Di Maria you feel less lightness in the movements – in some cases the “weight” of the players is not simulated adequately – even if a certain harmony and fluidity in the animations continues to be missing. The spin effect on the field is decreased overall and ball protection becomes essential when facing strong opponents.
As far as passes are concerned, the ball moves faster from one side to the other while rebounds on the turf still seem too artificial (especially low shots): what still doesn’t work is receiving the ball. In certain situations, in fact, the CPU tends to direct the ball to the closest partner instead of the desired player. With the 2.3.0 update, errors in passing and accidental rebounds in the middle of the field have increased: blocking the ball and turning around on many occasions becomes a feat.
Often it is possible to intercept balls that are impossible on paper, other times they are sensationally missing despite being half a meter away (the players sometimes abruptly interrupt their run). The addition of new animations in the event of an error is appreciable: when an athlete misses an elementary stop or takes the ball out of the field, we will see him become desperate and angry. The AI seems to suffer less pressure and exhibits more variety not only in passing but also in plays, especially when pressed in its own area. The CPU tends to take the initiative more, trying to jump past the opponents in dribbling and playing on the side to favor insertions into the penalty area. When he doesn’t find space, however, he intelligently restarts the action from behind waiting for some sudden verticalization. This improvement in offense is countered by a less “badness” in defense: the teams managed by the AI have become less aggressive in tackles and dogfights.
Defensive responsiveness has overall improved even if contacts/clashes in certain situations can be reviewed as well as fouls, which remain a problem for the developers to solve: the frequency with which the referees stop the game and bring out the cards is insufficient (to put it mildly). In essence, the maxi recoveries seen in Qatar 2022 have not – for now – been contemplated. Finally, it should be noted that the Superstar and Legend difficulty levels have been adjusted upwards, so as to offer more demanding challenges.
