Here´s my little review, after about 20 matches, mostly on 4*
First of all the menus have a complete new structure and are much brighter, personally I don´t care that much about it, but it´s very decent. They´re user-friendly as always. Also the menu music has changed, no Japan-Techno-Pop anymore, a bit more rock style.
You can play the 3 licensed leagues, and you can create an own league with up to 20 teams. Haven´t touched ML, edit mode or cup mode yet.
Lets have a look at the gameplay. I should start with the negative things. Keepers aren´t improved, also their animations are still the same, at least I haven´t seen any new animations. In those 20 matches I´ve conceded at least 5 goals which came from stupid keeper AI.
Passes, well, for some reasons 1/3 of the passes are totally stupid outside of the foot or pike passes, even when there´s no need for that. It spoils the new passing system, which is great, a little bit.
Another thing, slowdowns, there are slowdowns, at almost every corner. It doesn´t happen when I cross normally during the game though. I´m using the normal camera, not the wide-angle.
Haven´t noticed any great inside of the foot kicks so far, except in the penalty area in 1 on1 situations with the keeper
But lets get to the positive aspects of the game
There´s much more freedom in the players movement, it´s not so exaggerated like in FK though. It takes some time till you get used to it, but it´s very realistic. The controls are more sensitive than in WE7, the players react better and faster to eg changes of direction compared to WE7.
Also more variety for :x: passing, you can chose whether you want to pass to the player who´s next to you or to a player who stands a long way off. For example the LB passes directly to the RB, without using the central defenders. Through passes are improved, looks like offensive players are more active and are running into open spaces with much more intensity. I´ve had a great situation while playing with Liverpool, Riise was on the left wing, then I suddenly saw that Kewell is accelerating, I pressed :triangle:, Kewell overtook his defender at full speed, tried to cross, but the opponent fouled him with a desperate tackling in the last moment, the animation of the falling Kewell was superb btw.
:L1: + :triangle: passes are very effective for counter-attacks, however I haven´t found the right timing yet.
Crosses are superb, they´re not as slow as in WE7, but not rocket-like, like in WE7:I. The speed is almost perfect, so is the aiming. It´s a bit harder to get into a good header position than in previous versions though.
The power bar for shots seems not to be that sensitive anymore.
The refs are ok, I haven´t conceded any stupid ridicolous red card like in WE7. The animations for tacklings and fouls are fantastic, sometimes if you tackle an opponent hard (but clean) and the ref doesn´t call a foul the player doesn´t stand up but sits on the ground waving his arms and looking at the ref while hoping for a free kick.
There are many different referees, some are more strict some are less. The advantage rule was adapted from WE7:I I think, it´s almost perfect, not screwed up like in PES3 or WE7. Haven´t noticed any handballs yet.
Then there are also a few details like special animations for corners (eg Beckham, Pires), different nets in different stadiums, the non-original kits don´t look dull anymore, seems that some keepers have also long pants, not only shorts. Maybe we had this also in WE7:I, can´t remember anymore
![Kewell[AUS]](/data/avatars/m/2/2764.jpg?1589305201){kind=avatar}
