The eFootball Championship Pro began at the weekend. But after an unfinished release, is the game now eSport-ready at all – and perhaps even better than FIFA?
After a long wait, the time had finally come: The first official eSports tournament of Konami’s renamed football simulation began with the eFootball Championship Pro. While FC Bayern Munich had to hold their own against Celtic Glasgow and Manchester United, one of the best German eFootball pros and national players stayed away from the tournament.
‘MeroMen’ in the talk instead of the tournament
Mehrab ‘MeroMen’ Esmailian had deliberately decided against a short-term engagement that would probably have ended after the tournament. Which is why he didn’t put the finishing touches on his gameplay last Thursday.
There, he discussed with host Jan ‘GamingAlm’ Bergmann and eSports coach Lukas Hennig whether eFootball is now eSports-ready after the disastrous first half of the year and whether FIFA might even be a bit ahead of the competition in this area.
For the pro, eFootball is not yet eSport-ready: “There’s too much randomness, there’s too much bouncing and that results in goals, you can only shake your head. It doesn’t run completely smoothly yet – especially as far as the servers are concerned. That’s just a big drawback and a big feature, which is why I don’t think it’s eSports-ready yet.”
In this regard, according to ‘MeroMen’, many small aspects would outshine a solid base: “The basic framework is right, but there are still many small things
that need to be done.
For football coach and eFootball fan Bergmann, too, the constant changes and updates are a hurdle for eSports: “If you’re constantly putting out patches that change the game, that’s absolutely deadly in terms of eSports.” Serious preparation for tournaments is simply impossible: “How can you prepare for a tournament if a new patch comes out three days before? That’s a huge problem.”
However, our host sees the greater random factor in the competitor from EA SPORTS: “I find the random factor in FIFA incredibly large, the variance brings me to the edge of madness. I didn’t perceive that in my sessions in eFootball.”
Lukas Hennig feels similarly. The eSports coach of the former VBL team Eintracht Braunschweig looks back on several years of PES experience and is also active in eFootball again. “I have to say, if you look at the duel physics, it is worlds better than in FIFA. I think in general there’s a lot less variance in it than in FIFA. “
The gameplay rewards, the basis is right
For Hennig, working against the ball in particular is a discipline in which Konami has surpassed EA SPORTS: “In eFootball, a tackle is actually a tackle 95 to 98 percent of the time and also a ball win.” Utopia for him with the competition: “In FIFA, we counted some in the analysis and what are you going to say when it’s your turn seven times and the game gives the ball back to the opponent every time?”
The gameplay of eFootball is also more rewarding in the offensive: “If you play an attack well and finish well, then the goalkeepers don’t hold back much either, but you don’t see a sick reflex anymore, for example, when you pull the trigger from four metres. There are no standard saves like in FIFA, where the goalkeeper makes another easy save in the short corner. “
The fact that eFootball is still not enough for Esmailian to win the eSports title also depends on the comparative value for him: “You always compare with the past and how you know something. For example, the connection wasn’t always perfect, but it was okay. In general, the trappings were always okay, Konami put a lot of emphasis on gameplay and when that falters, it’s disturbing.”
The eFootball national player therefore only expects a good game after more big patches: “I think we will only see a game that is really top from version 2.0 or 3.0. In the long term, we will see whether the good basis is used – or not. “
