New animations, new burst sprint mechanic to help you get past players with pace.
Dev walkthrough showed off some new AI changes but then in the next scene, show’s you defenders just standing and watching as a striker makes a run and they don’t attempt to track him or the ball.
So same shit with a new coat of paint.
Re: defensive movement, I think it's hard to balance, really. You don't want defenders tracking everything or else there's little human input required. One of the craziest things on the current games is that it's often harder to score against someone who puts their pad down than it is if they actively defend. It's difficult to say from video previews how the game would actually play.
A big hope of mine is that they do away with the need for so many skill moves. Clever passing and left stick dribbling isn't sufficient on the current games. Maybe this new sprint mechanic will provide another weapon for good players to master, yet still resemble something like football. If you play beyond a certain level on 21 you seldom see any goals scored that don't involve a skill move. That's not football.
Importantly, they mentioned in this preview that they've implemented a similar speed burst for defenders. My hope is that they're at least thinking of equipping you with some tools in defence to actually do something. Defending shouldn't just be about mirroring your opponent as he does a million skill moves, then winning 6-3. There's also one clip in there which seems to show second man press sprinting towards the opponent, so hopefully that makes a return. Defending should be more about retaining shape, clever positioning and covering teammates, and doing away with the second man press being in any way effective really, really reduced the skill gap IMO. If a menu tactic can make your team pressing machines that can trouble far superior players then there's something very, very wrong.
I don't think there can be much room for optimism based on recent years, but I do think from the previews that the game at least looks quite different. And it can hardly get any worse, so I'm open to radical changes. What is clear is that they're giving zero attention to current gen, and I have no interest in a game that plays similarly to 21. I'll be picking up the next gen version on Stadia, I think.
