The latest football game from Konami has arrived on Switch 2 with little-to-no fanfare. With roots firmly in its franchise predecessor Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven, the game focuses on gameplay and ease of access. It’s a lesson that its noisy neighbour could and should learn from.

The first thing that strikes you when you load up the game is just how easy it is to navigate around the menus. The first thing you see is a choice of Solo, Local or Multiplayer. In my favoured mode (solo), the options are again limited: Quick Match, World Tour or International Cup. It’s a simplicity that feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the bulky, clunky process you need to follow on EA FC (and have done for years) – a sea of updates, inboxes to check, packets to open. There’s none of that here, just straight to the pitch and on with the next match.

I spent a lot of time in World Tour mode, which will remind long-time players of Master League at least in part. Here, you take over management duties for a squad of generic players (plus Messi if you buy it early enough). By playing matches against increasingly difficult opposition, you unlock better players. This is done one of two ways. Either you choose a player from the squad of the team you beat, or you save up points from each win (300-500) and spend them in the Hall of Fame. It’s a fun grind that allows you to progress at a decent pace. Importantly, there are no hidden charges or loot boxes here. You can only progress by winning.

The gameplay itself feels just like Pro Evo in its heyday. Quick passing, intelligent player movements, satisfying finishes. The controls haven’t changed much, with a few extra modifications that are introduced via training games and mini challenges within the matches. The physics engine is realistic and basically becomes unnoticeable very quickly, which is a good sign that the team at Konami got it right.

The game doesn’t have loads of authentic teams and kits, but that never feels like a huge let down. Of course, every realistic football game will inevitably be compared to FIFA, the dominant force in the genre for a long time. The balance of power has always swung between the two franchises, with FIFA effectively killing off Pro Evo a few years ago in 2020. FIFA had the market share and the consumers voted for the game with the team and player licences. I was never fully behind the idea that you could pay to improve your team, even though that is the way of a lot of video games now. The gameplay always let the franchise down, and that issue has carried itself over to the rebranded EA FC.

I’d take this cheaper and very enjoyable game over the alternative every single time. Strong recommend.