The same procedure as every year?
First of all the engine of this game is great, the players look amazing and the animations are breathtaking. Never in a soccer game have I seen such a realistic movement.
Having played the previous game all the way till this one came out I was calling myself a good player. So naturally I expected the 2014 version to be maybe a little different but still in my league of abilities. I was so very wrong :)
And this is the part where it's the same procedure as every year: Back when I was considering myself a champion PES 2011 player PES 2012 came out and I sucked donkeybones. The same with PES 2013 which took the longest time for me to get used to. I cursed that game so much until I finaly was able to use all movements and tactical possibilities to the fullest. Which can take a few months for players who don't play 20 matches a day. And I know that it is just the same thing with this game. It WILL take a longer time to be able to control the players like you really want to but it will be worth it.
My review is also based on settings that completely shut off any help from the computer to guarantee realistic conditions while playing the game.
The passing system feels a lot different from the previous game but in fact it's quite the same. They just reduces the speed and increased the accurecy of the Joystick which makes way for even more controlled passes but as many other things in this game, makes them very hard to do.So yes, you will be making a lot of passes that never reach their destination and yes, you will curse about it a lot!
Shooting is enhanced in the way that Konami reduced the speed of the ball but also the speed of the players performing the actual shot. So if you're running towards the goal, pressing the shoot button the player will not shoot at the same second your finger left the button but rather when it fits into the aniation process. The player will be most likely have someone running beside him who is disturbing him. The player has a favourite foot and he is waiting until he has the ball on that particular foot. Or hes just running too fast and can't control the ball good enough to make a fast shot. So you will have to think ahead a lot but that adds to the simulation factor. But then again, you will be cursing at this too! :)
Let's talk about the one on one system. In previous games you could control your player almost on every foot of the field, in PES 2014 it's very hard not to lose the ball by just trying to manouver around an opponent. It's quite the big success if you do and should not be taken for granted, even with legendary players. You will have to work around players, often avoiding them or trying to get past them by exploding next to them with speed. Like in real soccer there's no player who can get around every player all the time.
Also the body itself makes a big advancement in this game. You can now use the right stick while in defense to control your body and for example shove it into the opponent or blocking the ball from him.
It is now even possible to send players not only forward while they are not in control of the ball but send them in every direction you wish, which is a great thing if you mastered the basic controls first that is :)
Another thing concerning the movement of players who are running. You can now change the direction better while your running than in PES 2013, where the player almost stopped when you tried to head in another direction while running. This gives the game more overall dynamics. Still, like I said before, the speed of the players when you simply move them without running is a little too slow in my opinion but only time can tell how this will develope if one masters the game more than I have so far, which is not quite that much :)
With every new PES Konami announced a better and more intelligent goalkeeper. Well, lets just say everyone who played the series so far knows that the truth can look different at times. This time at least the animations of the goalkeeper look, like every other animation in the game, stunning. Some shots from a close distance just touch his arm and bounce to the floor. Other who are very hard he will fist just out of the dangerous zone. So it looks and feels very natural.
Still the AI on "Professional" (only played on that so far) especially the defense sometimes seems a little stupid. The last line of defence sometimes compeletely ignores an attacker whos in a great position to be passed to. They sometimes even run in the opposite direction of what should be the right way.
Another thing is due to the circumstance that passing got so manually, if you pass to another player of your team, he sometimes doesn't recognize that pass as a pass that was shot to him and just runs passed the ball or not towards the ball at all and you're not able to select that player either. But like I said, it will take some training and work to master a lot of features which will only be revealed to the player after investing quite some time and frustration into the game.
Like I already mentioned the graphical presentation of the game is superb. It is still possible to play it on aa little older PCs but the game then looks extremely bad, especially the field. So that's why I am going to buy a new graphic card...
I am now waiting for the great PESEDIT.COM team to create their magnificent patches and the game will also have every official team, player, stadium and league anyone can expect to find in a great football game.
So only a lot of training and time will make this game incredible again, all previous abilities aside...
"The same procedure as last year...