It's been a while since I've played, and after some comments in the sliders thread after the last update (and, you know, being desperate to play a new football game)... I gave it another go, for a couple of hours.
What's really crystallised for me, after giving it such a break, is how absolutely nothing is the result of clever passing play, grinding out opportunities, the patience of holding the ball and managing to force some space to move into (because the space is always there)...
You're not earning anything. You're essentially just waiting for the game to part the red sea for you. How does that feel good?
As a result, I only saw one goal over and over again; runners go level with the defensive line, through-ball (or chipped through-ball), goal. (Okay, very occasionally - shot from distance, goal.)
No 1-2s, no passing triangles, no dummy runs, no teamwork, no thought. This is stuff that PS1 games had, and the stuff that makes us love football. No, instead of all that, we get tricks, flip-flaps and double-digit scorelines.
I think that's the core of why I - to be frank - hate it, to the point of it being (in my mind) the modern equivalent of a Ubisoft "Pure Football" type game (especially considering the total lack of physics in every way).
It is so boring, completely unrewarding, and - the way it's so hectic, individual players flying around like bees around a hive (in a similar circular motion - no friction in their movement, no fatigue)...
When a defence DOES (occasionally) feel hard to break down, it's simply because of that constant flying (moonwalking) speed all players move with, and not because of teamwork, positioning, intelligence.
Compare that to pretty much any other PES or FIFA, where you have to pass sideways, and occasionally BACKWARDS (WTF!!!1!!) to disrupt the opposition's shape, because there's a team AI (rather than 1v1 AI).
