Recent reviews by Xul

I tried the multiplayer out with a friend at the weekend and it was immediately obvious that this is unplayable (for me). I really don't see the appeal of such a bad shooter that is clearly from a console heritage and thus lacking everything a good shooter should offer.
- the menu structure is just messy; the whole microsoft log-in crap is pure garbage; additionaly, everthing has unacceptable loading times
- you cant bind weapon (slots) directly which lead to annoying moments where "overscrolling" brings you back to the empty rifle instead of the pistol -> dumbest implementation ever (basically forces you to use a single switch key)
- the whole movement is clunky as hell and quite slow; in something like Splitgate this gets outweighed with the portals and makes still a good enough game, in something like Quake 3/live or Dirty Bomb (also games with high TTK) you have a very dynamic, fast and accurate movement
- the weapon balancing is all over the place with way too much focus on melee and upper tier weapons
- no rewards for headshots (until shield is down) combined with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ overall accuracy (the 5 cm crosshair basically tells it already) and refilling hp lead to a terrible experience that doesn't reward raw aiming skill or even prevents it; I like long TTK games but this is just spongy and random
- all of the models (players, weapons) are as unimaginative and boring as it could get; this is something that Halo always struggled with but here it seems to be even more emphasis on bland look to "encourage" in-game buys
- overall the graphics are a joke (even on extreme settings), I normally don't care much about this but if you want to sell me campaign for 60€ you better offer some graphics that arn't from the Windows 7 era

It basically plays like a bad console shooter from the early 2000s – because in essence it IS one. Just play Dirty Bomb, Quake Live (well, campared to Halo even Quake Champions is great) or Diabotical if you want long TTK and some real arena shooter feeling.

Another lazy scam from Konami ... I mostly play ML but it is just utter frustration.

- scripting and a "game on rails" feel in higher difficulties is rampant: you don't really play against harder opponents it is just that your players get handicapped, the AI gets stat boosted and you are losing control over your players
- AI players of your own team suck at defense and don't support at offense, unless you do it manually - it doesn't matter what general tactics you choose; it's always a struggle against stupid hard-programmed AI
- AI player in enemy team are allowed to foul as much as they like while rarely getting booked, their sliding tackles work immediately while your's have to be basically planned 5 seconds in advance
- the game still has occasional lags and stutters (yes, on a 3700x with a 2080ti – what a joke)
- music is extremely annoying mainstream garbage you cannot simply swap out for your own music – you have to mod the game to actually get somewhat bearable music
- menus have an idiotic structure (you cant even quit the game without going into the options menu, that's 4D-stupidity), overview of ML player improvement through training and after matches is basically gone (well-hidden)
- instead you get lazy and random cut scenes in ML that don't add anything substantial

This year will probably be the last time I gave PES the benefit of a doubt. Despite the mostly positive reviews before release it is pretty much the same garbage as last year:

- scripting is still everywhere on the highest skill setting though it might have been toned down a bit (the through balls on the wings don't seem to be as ridiculous anymore) and the AI in general is still stupid (not attacking players that just stand there with the ball; scoring one-touch goals from behind the defender while pretty much having the back to the goal etc.). So instead of really playing the game you are still forced to basically resort to lazy tactics like scoring first and then playing the ball between your defenders ... because even with very defensive settings your defenders move up to the middleline like morons when you attack while leading 1-0

- the game has weird microstuttering: At the normal FPS cap of 60 it was basically unplayable (even though I have a G-sync monitor); after manually unlocking refreshrate it is playable at 200 fps while still feeling occassionally sluggish (which is just ridiculous at such high refresh rates). Not having smooth gameplay out of the box on a Ryzen 2700x with a 1080ti is just silly.

- menu structure is still a usability nightmare – comparing/buying/training players in master league is mind-numbing donkeywork – but at least the menu is a bit more responsive, so that's some improvement I guess ...

- there is still no option to load in your own music/playlists – I'm tired of having to turn down that extremly annoying repetitive pop garbage of background music every year. Having to start own playlists with external programs shouldn't be necessary

- commentary hasn't changed in 5 years – still the same phrases

To sum it up: Only visual improvements; the game itself is still the same mess from last year. I'll still play it but it is VERY disappointing,

Edit: After trying one and the same ML match (against a mediocre team) for more than 10 times while each time reveiving ridiculously scripted goals as sooon as i don't just let time run out after scoring a leading goal (we are talking about defenders just refusing to follow your input and randomly stopping to let enemies score) I finally uninstalled ...
It's just constant fighting against stupid scripting instead of playing a football game.

Bought this game (on DVD) on sale some years ago and gave it a chance last week. But despite the (still) nice looks there were so many issues in the games mechanics that I quit after only half an hour.

Here are the things that made me stop playing in utter frustration:
- awful, non-intuitive menu structure and differing mouse speeds in-game and in menu
- seemingly never-ending intro(s) that you cannot skip
- annoying tutorial sequence and waiting time till NPCs finish their silly monologue
- just "fake" freedom: invisible walls, "unjumpable" rocks and pre-destined routes everywhere – it's basically a rail shooter
- imprecise feel while shooting, no real indication that you have hit (no ragdoll physics and hit detection is rather random)
- pretty animations of the enemies but it's just for show – AI is stupid as $*/%#

All of this was so damn aggravating that I quit while raging about all console diseases that ruined a game that could have been rather okay. And even quitting to Desktop wasn't possible in a direct manner ...