That contributed to the feel, but I meant from a gameplay perspective. Very little depth, finished in a few hours, felt like a demo to me - was a pretty skeleton.
All of their games are better on the second playthrough when you've unlocked all the idols/resistors and all the weapons/talents. The depth of gameplay doesn't really hit until New Game+.
Probably the only games on the planet where I've finished and immediately started a new game without breaking.
Pretty sure you have three party members and you control one at a time in a competition. If you successfully "score" with one they are then removed from the competition (per the bombcast). I wouldn't get hung up on sports. People started saying that because in the story it's a sort of sports competition to earn the right to continue your journey to perform the rites. From what GiantBomb said and what was shown in the trailer this is about as far away from eSports as you can get.