You guys are talking about angle of attack, side to side movement...

I use SPD cleats. When I bolt to cleat to my shoe I can adjust it:

Fore and aft
side to side
angle. I can bolt the cleat down so that when engaged my toe is pointing in towards the bike or bolt it so my toe points away from the bike.

Once the cleat is bolted tight and the cleat is engaged in the pedal I get about 3-6mm of float. Not slop. The multirelease cleat is a bit different.