Unfortunately the game has its downfalls, with lag being one of them. It’s not so noticeable in offline gaming; it happens occasionally but doesn’t have a detrimental effect on your gaming experience. There are frame rate issues in replays too, but replays are irrelevant on the whole. It’s when you venture online that the slow down really hits you. You’ll score a cracking headed goal, only for the screen to seemingly freeze up for 2/3 seconds and next thing you know, your opponent has got the ball on the half way line. The whole online section feels rushed too, with no game lobbys as in previous games. Konami though have already acknowledged the problem, suggesting that a patch may be released to resolve the issues, and frankly, it can’t come soon enough.

So if one doesn’t play online, the game’s perfect? Not quite. Edit mode has taken a turn for the worst too. No longer can you import or pixel-create club logos and sponsors. All you can really do is edit player and team names and player appearances. There is an import feature, which lets you import scans of kits in to the game, but this can only be done via webcam, and there’s no real definitive guide on how to do it (Konami have conveniently left it out of the instruction manual, as well as their official guide).

There are also flaws in the gameplay. Players no longer slide to try and keep balls in play, meaning that cross field pass by Beckham bounces right in front of your man on the other side who does nothing except watch it fly out of play. The advantage rule is maintained, but hack down a player who has just released the ball and you won’t get punished at all, if the ball goes to a player on his team.

Other things that are missing include the ability to select what kits teams where in league modes and the mix and match kit selection that we haven’t seen since PES5. Another disappointment is the fact that Master League has had no improvements whatsoever. In fact the only major noticeable change is that the divisions have increased to 20, meaning you now play more games in the league campaign.

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