Now that I’ve had to chance to play this properly online I have to say I’m disappointed. It still is the best soccer game and the online play has been improved since last year…but the reality is it’s a lazy conversion and update.
Where’s the widescreen options, why are the graphics still average, the dodgy pitches that make it difficult to see the ball – I could go on with grumbles. Oh – not forgetting that you can’t really use the PS2 pad on Xbox as they stop you swapping the controls round properly – I’m just sticking with the Xbox pad as the controls tweaks brought in for the PSP means only one trigger doesn’t make much difference. 2vs 2 online was promised but only if 2 are on the same Xbox – doh!
Lag has improved but isn’t a thing of the past. Each player now hosts one half which in theory makes it fair – in practice I’ve found the player not hosting plays very defensively for the half hoping that his smooth half will result in goals – not the way it should be played. It’s also difficult to get a random game. From looking at the forums it seems to be because leagues have been introduced – you get points for games you win and then you are allocated into a league – if a player with high points loses against a player with less points then they lose quite a bit more than if they were equal. Pretty sad really but stats still rule the roost.
Live is also still full of sore losers. Why does everyone want to play with the best teams only – missing so much by playing with the same teams over and over. There are also so many people who can’t take a beating. Hello to the guy that beat me on penalties (Chelsea v Arsenal) this afternoon and then when I suggested a rematch with swapped teams he agreed but then picked a better team instead of Arsenal. Made the 4-1 drubbing even sweeter – the language he came out with – I guess me laughing over the headset didn’t help. Child.
Worth the purchase if you intend to play online although 11 vs 11 online seems further away than ever.