Spent countless hours with both demo and full game and I am now convinced that in order to fully enjoy the game (or at least avoid some of the frustration), I need to play with full manual controls on Professional difficulty.
Based on my observations, what that does is the following:
For USER
- You get more unpredictable passes – it introduced a level of uncertainty and error which is akin to real life.
- Even at level 1, pass assistance is too assisted. As an example, go to Training and try passing the ball between two players with pass assistance at 1. No matter how long you hold the button and no matter what direction you apply, you passes will be identical, both in terms of speed and trajectory.
- I have found that by having assist on 1, the games are too repetitive, too predictable and ultimately unsatisfying (even when I win).
- By removing pass assistance, you are forced to think. Also, you get situations which you would not normally experience with pass assist of 1.
- Shooting on manual allows for some incredibly interesting situations – lots of great shots from outside the area, garbage goals on rebounds, etc. – reminiscent of real life situations. You also get incredible misses, but that’s what makes a game exciting IMO.
- The game is choppier, with frequent changes of possession, thus less predictable, and ultimately more fun.
- Cons here are that crosses are very hard to execute precisely but that’s the price to pay for a much more realistic gameplay.
- Yes, you will be frustrated with some passes going astray (even easy passes) but this is how football is in real life if you think about it.
For CPU
- In order to balance out the error element introduced with manual controls, you must drop the CPU level to Professional.
- On Professional level, the CPU will also make errors in their passing and their shooting accuracy drops dramatically.
- Unfortunately, the problem with the CPU’s irritating 20 yard pin point pass to the flanks and CFs (even when under pressure) is still present, but it is less effective (I am still trying to figure out ways to reduce this).
- There are more midfield battles and midfield is a factor now (in contrast to roaming through huge empty spaces when you have pass assistance).
- I can play 20 minute games with realistic stats and realistic number of goals. Last night I played 3 games between Napoli and Liverpool. First game ended 1:0 to me, second game was 3:1 to the CPU and third game was 0:0.
It’s not perfect, and at times it’s incredible irritating. I have situations where I pass to a teammate, but the AI does not recognise that that’s what I intended to do and as result the recipient does not engage and the ball sails past their foot. Also, the player switching is still a big problem in this game. This is very evident when you lose the ball. Another teammate could be literally one pace away from the ball, but he will make no attempt to get the ball, purely because the AI has switched to a further player, even though you have pressed L1. But when you score a goal, it feels like you’ve earned it, it feels you applied some strategic thought rather than relying on help via pin point passes. Ironically the manual pass actually offers you more strategic opportunities, because when executed correctly, it is more devastating and somehow throws the CPU off.
Based on my observations, what that does is the following:
For USER
- You get more unpredictable passes – it introduced a level of uncertainty and error which is akin to real life.
- Even at level 1, pass assistance is too assisted. As an example, go to Training and try passing the ball between two players with pass assistance at 1. No matter how long you hold the button and no matter what direction you apply, you passes will be identical, both in terms of speed and trajectory.
- I have found that by having assist on 1, the games are too repetitive, too predictable and ultimately unsatisfying (even when I win).
- By removing pass assistance, you are forced to think. Also, you get situations which you would not normally experience with pass assist of 1.
- Shooting on manual allows for some incredibly interesting situations – lots of great shots from outside the area, garbage goals on rebounds, etc. – reminiscent of real life situations. You also get incredible misses, but that’s what makes a game exciting IMO.
- The game is choppier, with frequent changes of possession, thus less predictable, and ultimately more fun.
- Cons here are that crosses are very hard to execute precisely but that’s the price to pay for a much more realistic gameplay.
- Yes, you will be frustrated with some passes going astray (even easy passes) but this is how football is in real life if you think about it.
For CPU
- In order to balance out the error element introduced with manual controls, you must drop the CPU level to Professional.
- On Professional level, the CPU will also make errors in their passing and their shooting accuracy drops dramatically.
- Unfortunately, the problem with the CPU’s irritating 20 yard pin point pass to the flanks and CFs (even when under pressure) is still present, but it is less effective (I am still trying to figure out ways to reduce this).
- There are more midfield battles and midfield is a factor now (in contrast to roaming through huge empty spaces when you have pass assistance).
- I can play 20 minute games with realistic stats and realistic number of goals. Last night I played 3 games between Napoli and Liverpool. First game ended 1:0 to me, second game was 3:1 to the CPU and third game was 0:0.
It’s not perfect, and at times it’s incredible irritating. I have situations where I pass to a teammate, but the AI does not recognise that that’s what I intended to do and as result the recipient does not engage and the ball sails past their foot. Also, the player switching is still a big problem in this game. This is very evident when you lose the ball. Another teammate could be literally one pace away from the ball, but he will make no attempt to get the ball, purely because the AI has switched to a further player, even though you have pressed L1. But when you score a goal, it feels like you’ve earned it, it feels you applied some strategic thought rather than relying on help via pin point passes. Ironically the manual pass actually offers you more strategic opportunities, because when executed correctly, it is more devastating and somehow throws the CPU off.
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